I was up in London last week for work and during lunch I fancied revisiting St Katherine’s Docks which aren’t far from our offices. The weather was mild for October and the light was bright, in that right-at-your-eyes kind of way.
Built on the site of what was once a former hospital, St Katherine’s by the Tower, which dated back to the 12th century, the new docks opened in 1827. Some 1200 homes along with the medieval hospital were torn down to make way for the development. It was estimated that some 11,000 people were made homeless, many of whom were port workers. Only the property owners were compensated. The docks were designed by engineer Thomas Telford.
Later during WWII the docks were badly damaged by German bombing, many of the buildings on the eastern basin were destroyed and there it remained in a state of dereliction well into the 1960s. It wasn’t really until the early 70’s that the docks began a new life, with a sequence of restoration projects and new projects taking place. This continued into the 90’s resulting in what we see today.
Vodafone made the first ever mobile phone call in the UK on the 1st January 1985. It took place from St Katherine’s to Newbury in Berkshire. Later that same year the company launched their service to the public across the UK.
Nowadays the area is a mixture of residential, restaurants and of course up market marina space. I spotted a number of beautiful boats on their moorings, I think I’ll go back a few times again, it’s an interesting area.
A selection of the photos I took are below: