Surrey Commercial Docks

The Surrey Commercial Docks once formed a busy network of nine docks, six timber ponds and a canal on the south bank of the River Thames in Rotherhithe. They began as Howland Great Wet Dock in 1696 and grew through the 18th and 19th centuries to handle timber from Scandinavia, food from Canada and cargoes from the Baltic. The docks were named after their trade—Canada Dock, Quebec Pond, Norway Dock and Russia Dock—while the Grand Surrey Canal linked them inland. The docks developed a distinct working culture, with ‘deal porters’ carrying heavy timber baulks on their shoulders and wearing protective headgear. After the Second World War, bombing and the shift to container ships led to their closure in 1969. The area became derelict for over ten years until the London Docklands Development Corporation began redevelopment in 1981 under Margaret Thatcher’s government. Today the area is known as Surrey Quays, with Greenland Dock and South Dock remaining as open water. South Dock is now London’s largest marina, while Greenland Dock hosts a watersports centre. Russia Dock Woodland and Canada Water have become wildlife reserves, and ornamental channels like the Albion Channel link the surviving waters. New homes, leisure facilities and the Surrey Quays shopping centre have transformed the former dockyard into a residential and commercial district.