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and saw a huge process of re-urbanization and requalification. Through the work of the LDDC, 8½ square miles of east and south London were regenerated, leading ...
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Tesi di Laurea
Relatrice Prof. Tania Rossetto Laureando Marianna Feriotto 1046538 / LMLLA
Anno Accademico 2014 / 2015
I am thankful to my supervisors, Professors Tania Rossetto and Fiona Dalziel, for their helpfulness and kindness. They guided and supported me from the initial to the final level enabling me to develop my thesis.
This thesis would not have been written without the help of the Accademia dei Concordi of Rovigo and of the Libraries of the Geography and Anglo-German Departments of the University of Padua.
Marianna Feriotto
In the last decades London’s skyline and riverscape have changed quite significantly. Although new buildings, bridges and skyscrapers have been located in the City or in the centre of London, there is another area in the eastern part of this city which has seen deep transformations: the Docklands. Situated along the river Thames, the Docklands area, which covers 2000 hectares of riverfront land and centres on the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Southwark, Lewisham, Southwark and Greenwich. Vital part of London’s port, the Docklands have always been the centre of London’s trade and economy since their Roman foundation, in 43 AD. At the beginning of their history, the docks expanded rapidly and saw periods of growth, success and prosperity. Attracting merchants from all over the world, trade increased and thousands of ships and vessels arrived at the harbour with a huge selection of cargo, from fur to timber, from spices to wine. Thanks to their strategic position, the Docklands helped to establish England as a world power. However, this long period of affluence and prosperity was interrupted in the 1960s, when the Docklands saw years of steep decline caused by deteriorating labour relations and the introduction of containerisation: new container ships replacing smaller vessels could not be safely accommodated in the port of London. Indeed, the river Thames was not deep enough to allow their navigation and trade switched to ports better able to cope – such as Tilbury, downstream^1. This situation led to the gradual abandonment of the docks and more than ten thousand workers lost their job with the dismissing of the area, which became a derelict wasteland. In 1981 a new chapter of the story of the Docklands began and the key words became regeneration and redevelopment. Thanks to the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), an agency created by the UK Government, the area became the site of the largest
(^1) Fautley C., Discovering London’s Docklands , Oxford, Shire Publications, 2011, p. 10
regeneration project in Europe^2 and saw a huge process of re-urbanization and requalification. Through the work of the LDDC, 8½ square miles of east and south London were regenerated, leading to the creation of houses, buildings, offices, infrastructures, such as the Docklands Light Railway or The London City Airport, as well as university branches and seats of multinational companies. Internationally renowned architects have worked in this area. Richard Rogers worked to create the Millennium Dome, an exhibition space which housed the Millennium Experience, and designed the Riverside South skyscraper department in Canary Wharf, London’s new business centre. In addition, many Docklands’ buildings were drawn by other great and famous names of international architecture, such as Cesar Pelli, Terry Farrell and Norman Foster. Thriving port, desolate wasteland, centre of London’s business, it is clear that the look and feel of this part of East London have been transformed. However, even though these changes have been quite extreme, they have led to the creation of a new vital centre in London’s heart and have helped to establish London as a leading global city.
(^2) http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/whats-on/permanent-galleries/new-port-new-city-1945- present/#sthash.bzli1hou.dpuf
that this part of London has played for its country and the entire world, from the Roman period to the present day.
London’s docks, these ‘enclosed bodies of water’^8 that lie on both sides of the River Thames, ‘are as old as the city itself’^9. However, even though ‘their story belongs to the story of the growth of trade on the Thames’^10 , there is no precise information about the foundation of Britain’s capital and the beginning of its story is mythical. The first accounts about the origins of Britain appear in two medieval sources, the Historia Britonum (The History of the Britons), a collection of historical stories commonly attributed to the ninth-century Welsh monk Nennius, and the Historia Regum Britanniae (the History of the Kings of Britain), written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Both these texts describe the settlement of Britain by Brutus, a Roman consul and descendant of the legendary hero Aeneas, who had been banished from his homeland for having accidentally killed his father^11. After travelling across the Mediterranean with a crew of Trojan ex-slaves, Brutus arrived in Albion – the ancient name for Britain – an island populated by a race of giants^12. During the supposed foundation, he declared himself king, renamed the island, coining the name ‘Britain’, and established his headquarters in Troia Nova or New Troy, the area he had chosen and which corresponded to today’s City of London^13.
(^89) Fautley C., Discovering London’s Docklands , p. 10 Rule (^) Williamson^ F.,^ London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter E. and Pevsner N. with Tucker M., London: Docklands ,^ Ian Allan Publishing, 2012, p.20 ,^ p. 11 (^1112) Rule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. 17 13 IbidemIvi, p.
However, there are neither historical documents nor archeological findings that confirm or support that Brutus truly existed. What is undoubted is that ‘if Brutus’s New Troy ever did exist, all evidence of it had been lost by the time the great Roman Emperor Claudius arrived on British shores in AD 43’^14. Indeed, the Roman gradual, but successful, invasion of Britain was a turning point for the history not only of London but also of the entire island. According to Cassius Dio’s account about the Roman conquest of Britain^15 , written in A.D. 175, when the Romans arrived in this area in 43 A.D., they found sparsely populated banks and a watery wasteland. After subduing the native Britons, they ‘immediately set about creating an infrastructure across the wild landscape of south-eastern Britain and began to construct commercial and military routes through the area’^16. They transformed what had been a small hamlet into a prosperous town, called Londinium, the ancient name for London. The colons started building the first London Bridge to link the northern and southern banks, as well as a fort and a dock along the Thames. Soon, the new town established itself as a convenient port and its trade flourished thanks to a desirable and strategic position. Indeed, being situated in the south-eastern part of Britain, the site of Londinium’s harbour offered sufficient deep water for a port serving the continent of Europe^17. So, even though ‘the Thames was much broader and shallower, the comparatively small boats of the time could be readily beached or moored along London’s fortified riverbank’^18. Another advantage was that the harbour was both sufficiently inland to discourage sea pirates’ raids and easily accessible from the Rheine, the Elbe and the Seine – the three major rivers on the Continent^19. The port saw a period of wealth and prosperity also because trade was vital to the Roman Empire. The Romans had ‘the intention of using the site as a distribution centre for goods from (^1415) Ivi , p. 19 16 IbidemIbidem (^1718) Williamson E. and Pevsner N. with Tucker M., London: Docklands , p. 20 19 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/347049/LondonRule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. 23-Docklands
precious cargo was re-distributed and they initially attacked the ships whilst at sea. But, soon, they invaded the hinterland, venturing up the Thames. In this way, the Saxons put the island under attack and the officials of the local government were forced to build a wall to defend the town, but especially the docks and its surrounds, from the invaders. Even though a wall had already been built before, it had not protected the town, since the pirates had entered Londinium via the north bank of the river. So, another wall was created, ‘this time around the perimeter of the docks in an attempt to stop the Saxons from venturing further into the city’^23. Nonetheless, this solution was a disaster for the docklands’ community, because it isolated this population from the rest of the town. In addition to the Saxon menace, there was another serious problem: the level of the Thames was decreasing. The situation created serious difficulties to larger ships and vessels to reach the port and worsened the problems of Londinium. However, the main reason for the decline of the town proved to be the end of the Western Roman Empire. In AD 410 the Roman occupation of the island officially ended and when the Roman army of Emperor Constantine left Britain, Londinium was cut off from the rest of the Empire. The docklands area experienced a period of steep, inexorable decline, and became even more vulnerable to external attacks from new invaders.
The Middle Ages saw a period of colonization of South-East England and the Midlands by a group of Germanic tribes, which are collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons. They included three groups: the Jutes, coming from northern Germany and Denmark; the Saxons, from Lower Saxony, in Germany; and the Angles, who originated from Angeln, in Germany^24.
(^2324) Rule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. 38 Ivi , p. 43
Left with no military protection after the departure of the Romans, Londinium and its port were soon conquered by the new invaders. They moved their port further west, ‘away from the city walls to an area of the riverbank that had an open foreshore and a shelved beach that was more suited to their craft’^25. London was thus divided into two areas: Lundenwich, in the western part, which became the economic centre, and Lundenburth, which corresponded to the walled city of Londinium. As a consequence, after an initial period of decline for the docks, trade flourished again and ‘the new Anglo-Saxon dock proved to be as successful as its Roman predecessor’^26. However, because of a series of increasing attacks by another population coming from the Continent, the Danish Vikings, the inhabitants of Lundenwich were forced to find shelter behind the city walls, rebuilding the old and ruinous roman harbour. Nevertheless, the reign of King Alfred led to a huge regeneration project, moving the king’s headquarters to Lundenburth, drawing new plans for improvement, reinforcing the old fortifications and encouraging international trade. A new fort was built opposite the port to protect ferries across the river from attack by invaders. The original name of this settlement, ‘suth weorc’, corrupted into Southwark, the name by which the area is known today^27. In order to create a modern and efficient harbour, the successor of King Alfred, Ethelred, made a new complex built in a site west of the old Roman dock. This contributed to the revival of the Lundenburth docks, which sent wool to various Saxons kingdoms across the North Sea. Indeed, wool was the main export of Lundenburth, but various goods were also imported from abroad, such as pottery from France, or silk garments from Byzantium and the Levant. Trade was also conducted with the Frisians and the tribes living along the coast of Scandinavia. With the reign of the new Danish king Cnut, who had taken control of this area and had proclaimed himself monarch of the West Saxons in 1016^28 , the town and its docklands experienced
(^2526) Ivi , p. 27 IviIvi , p. 45, p. 46 (^28) http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensofEngland/TheAnglo- Saxonkings/CanutetheGreat.aspx
Since London saw the affluence of a huge number of people – not only Norman families, bur also merchants from abroad – new houses, inns, shops and offices were built, and a powerful commercial alliance, known as the Hanseatic League, was created to protect the merchants’ investments. In addition, the city was divided into wards and the docks comprised seven of these new areas, leading to the specialization of each dock ward in handling specific commodities. However, even though ‘by the mid- 14th^ century the London docks had established themselves as the kingdom’s premier port’^35 , the following years brought a disastrous event: the arrival of the Black Plague from the Continent, in November 1348. The advent of the terrible disease led to a series of negative consequences. First of all, there was widespread panic in the port because the plague ‘was carried by fleas that lived on the rats on board ships’ and, ‘once a ship had docked at port, the rats swarmed into the town looking for food’^36 and transferring the plague to human beings. Working in the port and living in overpopulated tenements at a short distance from it, the first victims of this disease were poor dock labourers, which were decimated and let the plague spread to the whole town. In only twelve months, 20,000 people had died in London (over an initial population of 40,000-60,000 inhabitants^37 ) and merchants and quay owners had lost up 30% of their work force. Chronic labour shortage and competition from foreign merchants, tension and isolation of foreigners, considered the responsible for the spreading of the disease, and a long period of inflation were the immediate consequences. However, by the end of the 14th^ century the Docklands, and the entire city of London, saw the beginning of a new phase of improvement, cooperation and organization. Including the activities of two merchants’ companies, the Mercers and Merchant Staplers, a new organization was created, known as the Merchant Adventurers, and trade started to expand and flourish again.
(^3536) Ivi , p. 37 IviIbidem , p.
During the 16th^ century a new phase of prosperity and expansion began with the reign of one of the most famous monarchs of the English history: Henry VIII. Apart from court intrigues, six marriages and the separation from the Roman Catholic Church, the sovereign is remembered for playing a fundamental role in the development of the Royal Navy, which was to became the finest fleet in the world^38. Furthermore, realizing that England would require protection during the hostilities with France, the king commissioned the first great English warships. The area the king chose for their building was the Port of London because of its proximity to the royal palace at Greenwich and because in this way Henry could control their proceedings. Thus, the Docklands area was farther expanded, including two Kentish villages, Woolwich and Deptford. The former became the location to build the Great Harry , ‘the most impressive and formidable ship in Europe’^39 , while the latter saw the creation of the Peter Pomegranate. Another warship, the Mary Rose , although built in Portsmouth, ‘sailed to London where she was fitted with huge bronze and iron guns at the Deptford yard’^40. In this way, Deptford, locally known as the King’s Yard, became a shipbuilding centre and a place where existing ships could be repaired. During the reign of Mary, the Catholic daughter of Henry VIII, the Thames was not only a place where trade and shipbuilding flourished, but also ‘the river down which the first explorers sailed’^41. This age of discovery was inaugurated in 1553, when Deptford saw the departure of two voyagers: Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor. Searching a new north-west passage, they landed on the Russian coasts and established trade relations with the merchants of Moscow. Even though they had failed to discover a new passage to China, they had granted exclusive trading
(^3839) Rule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. 40 IbidemIvi , p. (^41) Ackroyd P., Thames: Sacred River , Vintage, London, 2007, p. 105
‘bestowed a knighthood on Drake and decided to put his ship, the newly renamed Golden Hind , on permanent display at the royal dockyard in Deptford’^47. However, this period is to be remembered also for the inauguration of a despicable form of trade: black gold. In 1562 James Hawkins left London with tree ships to Sierra Leone, in Africa, where he seized 300 Africans and, after crossing the Atlantic, sold them into slavery in Hispaniola (Haiti), in the Spanish West Indies. Then, he returned to England with ‘tropical produce such as ginger, sugar, pearls and hides, which he then sold to City merchants’^48 , making a fortune in the process. In this way Hawkins inaugurated the slave triangle: English ships left London, reached the Western Coasts of Africa, especially the Gulf of Guinea, where slave traders kidnapped thousands of people or bought them from local chiefs in exchange for cloth, guns, ironware and drink^49. Then, captives were brought to the West Indies, after a terrible transatlantic voyage, densely packed in the English slave ships. Once in America, they were sold to the highest bidder to work in cotton or sugar plantation, while the English merchants came back to London’s docks with their ships’ holds full of riches. This inhumane practice went on for more than 250 years, until the Slave Trade Act was passed on August 1st^ 1834, outlawing the trafficking of human beings throughout the British Empire^50. With the reign of Elizabeth’s successor, James IV, new exploring expeditions were organized, as the voyage to Virginia of John Smith, in 1607. After leaving Blackwall, the captain set sail to North America, establishing the colony of Jamestown – in honour of his king – which ‘was destined to become the first permanent British settlement in North America’^51. Some years later, in 1620, another ship was to cross the Atlantic Ocean: the Mayflower. Sailing from Rotherhithe with a group of Puritan dissenters, the pilgrim Fathers, the Mayflower reached Cape
(^4748) Rule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter p. 122 slave-trade.htmlhttp://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.103/chapterId/2247/London-and-the-transatlantic- (^4950) http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_43.html 51 Rule Ivi , p. 132^ F.,^ London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. 141
Cod on November 11th^ 1620. Soon after, the Plymouth Colony, in today’s Massachusetts, was created. Trade, shipbuilding and explorations were not the only activities linked to the port of London. Indeed, by the second half of the 17th^ century, the area behind the docks ‘had grown into a centre for all manner of noxious industry including dyeing, rope making, soap making, brewing and salt boiling’^52 and the air had become polluted because of the extensive use of coal by most of these workplaces. In the same period two events devastated London: the Great Plague, which took place in 1665, and the Great Fire, the following year. If the docks escaped the worst of the plague outbreak, which had caused the death of 100,000 Londoners, the latter catastrophe completely transformed the landscape of the area and of the entire city. Caused by a fire out of control which had originated in Thomas Farriner’s shop, a biscuit bakery on Padding Lane, on September 2nd^ 1666, the flames spread to the rest of the city and the fire was extinguished only three days later, after ‘having destroyed 373 acres of the City – from the Tower in the East to Fleet Street and Fetter Lane in the West – and [having burnt] around 13,200 houses, 84 churches and 44 company halls’^53. After the Great Fire, 65,000 Londoners had lost their houses and, westwards from Tower Wharf, the entire dock complex had been destroyed^54 : it was necessary to rebuild the city and its port. The reconstruction ‘greatly changed the prospect of the city from the Thames’^55 and the docks transformed their image. They were not moved and ‘proved to be a decisive factor in keeping the centre of the city within the area surrounded by the old Roman wall’^56. During the Docklands’ rebuilding, new regulations, plans and guidelines were drawn up to avoid another devastating fire and, at the same time, to provide a solution to the question of congestion, due to the presence of a huge number of ships and vessels (which caused severe delays and problems of security). The
(^5253) Ivi , p. 142 54 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_01.shtmlRule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p. (^5556) Ackroyd P., Thames: Sacred River , p. Rule F., London’s Docklands, A History of the Lost Quarter , p.
