Burrells Wharf

Burrells Wharf is a riverside residential estate in London, England in the south-central Docklands. Rectangular and adjoining on a shorter side the River Thames (facing Deptford) Burrells Wharf is in part of Poplar historically and sometimes termed Millwall on the Isle of Dogs close to that part of Poplar which became Cubitt Town in the 19th century^{[n 1]}. The latter twin riverside communities have a shared large green area including a city farm. The residential estate is one of 18 buildings or groups of buildings on the peninsula to be architecturally listed in the national sense.

Burrells Wharf Square. Burrells Wharf is one of the popular developments in the Isle of Dogs, London, UK.

History

For centuries all of Millwall and Cubitt Town was an occasionally flooded but fertile meadow land, supporting a small Middlesex fishing, watermen and farming community. By the 19th century Millwall Iron Works had been built on this land. From 1855-58 Sir William Fairbairn built early iron ships here and undertook the model tests for the development of the box girder original Britannia Bridge^[1] which connected Anglesey until damaged by fire and replaced with a different type of tall bridge.

John Scott Russell bought the works and was instrumental in building here The SS Great Eastern, where it was launched. This was an uppermost size steam and sail ship built in 1858 and designed by engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The ship may not have lasted long in its commercial use, but the shipyard and site where it was launched have fared better.^[2]

Some of the land developed in the 20th century into a pigment/dye factory, having immediate access to the various imports required in Poplar. These relocated elsewhere in the late 1980s with the decline of the Poplar docks as a functioning commercial port in favour of larger facilities for container ships.

In 1988 Burrells was converted to residential use and consists of c. 400 apartments with central leisure facilities.

Architecture

One of 18 such buildings (or groups) on the peninsula which is listed, Burrell Wharf appears like most such buildings in the starting category, at Grade II. Three structures in the cluster are listed:

• William Henry Dorman's Ironworks Building (1860)^[3]

The ironworks twin surviving and remodelled halls in 1863 contained six steam hammers, powered by high-pressure air from a steam blowing engine - fed by fresh water carried through the columns imported from Britain's valleys - in an 1854-60 conjoined workshop (demolished). The forgings, plates and angles made in this building from scrap iron and puddled iron bars made were obtained from London's vast scrap market, a technique which had underpinned the continuation of London shipbuilding into the age of steam and iron. It and the adjoining rolling mills for the manufacture of armour plate (demolished) were supplied by a works railway. The forge building was part of an establishment that in the early 1860s employed up to 5,000 men, who had, remarkably for the time, a canteen, a sports club and a works band. It ceased operation in 1872-3, and in 1889-94 was converted, through the insertion of a gantry frame, into a workshop for Joseph Westwood and Company Limited, structural engineers and bridge builders whose 1910 trade catalogue shows that their work ranged from the construction of airship hangars for the army to internal steelwork for buildings and railway bridges in India and Brazil. It was used for the manufacture of iron and steel girders until about 1951. The drawn out construction of the HMS Northumberland here triggered an end to a small commercial bank which funded the project and of London's shipbuilding in the 1870s.

• Slipway House and Taffrall House (1860)^[1]

Dual long buildings. Converted-to-apartments, tall and large buildings which were once the works of the ironworks, they have two sets of moulded indent brickwork corbelled gable ends and one side of each has some degrees of view up or down the Thames towards the redeveloped shores of Deptford and Greenwich.

• Former Offices (1-37 Burrells Wharf Square)(1860)^[4]

This administration block served the former iron works and Burrell's Colours business in the latter 20th century. Inlaid with various depth brickwork, this three-storeyed stock brick block is arranged parallel to the above units, separated by Burrells Wharf Square where a construction dock once stood. Upper floors have glazing bar sash windows with flat-gauged arches and stucco sills.

Amenities

Significant amenities other than maintained communal parkland and football, walking and farm facilities a few hundred yards to the east are the Masthouse Terrace Pier 25yrds from one corner. At 1 mile (1.6 km) north are the multiple shops on the lower floors of Canary Wharf and well-documented restaurants.

See also

• Isle of Dogs
• Canary Wharf
• Masthouse Terrace Pier
• Mudchute
• Island Gardens
• SS Great Eastern
• HMS Northumberland

External links

• The Great Eastern
• Burrells Wharf History
• Another old picture of BW
• Burrells Wharf Residents' web site
• Burrells Wharf web page
• A website with other info on BW
• The Architect's website
• The Architect's notes and photos of Burrells Wharf

Notes and references

Notes

References

Coordinates: 51°29′16″N 0°01′11″W / 51.4879°N 0.0196°W / 51.4879; -0.0196