The East India Docks was a small group of Docks in the Blackwall area of East London, just north of the Isle of Dogs. This entry concerns the area of London known as Blackwall For the type of merchant sailing ship first built there and named after it see Blackwall Frigate The Isle of Dogs is a former island in the East End of London that is surrounded on three sides (east south and west by one of the largest Meanders in

History

Following the successful creation of the West India Docks which opened in 1802, an Act of Parliament in 1803 set up the The East India Dock Company, promoted by the Honorable East India Company. The West India Docks are a series of three docks on the Isle of Dogs in London. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or

The docks were located to the north east of the West India Docks. They were based on the existing Brunswick Dock, which had been used for fitting out and repairing ships as part of Blackwall Yard. Blackwall Yard was a shipyard on the Thames at Blackwall, London, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years The Brunswick Dock, which had originally been connected directly to the Thames to the south, became the Export Dock. To the north the company built a larger 18 acre Import Dock. Both were connected to the Thames via an eastern entrance basin.

The Company was rapidly profitable, with commodities such as tea, spices, indigo, silk and Persian carpets. The tea trade alone was worth £30m a year. The docks spawned further local industry, with spice merchants and pepper grinders setting up around the dock to process goods.

In 1838 the East and West India Companies merged. In 1886, in the last act of a ruinous game of leapfrog with the London & St Katharine Dock Company they built Tilbury Docks. Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. In 1909 the docks were taken over by the Port of London Authority, along with the other enclosed docks. The Port of London lies along the banks of the River Thames from London, England to the North Sea.

While much smaller than the West India Docks or the later Royal Docks, the East India Docks could still handle East Indiamen of 1000 tons and up to 250 ships at one time. The Royal Docks comprise three docks in east London - the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock. An East Indiaman was a Ship operating under charter or licence to the Honourable East India Company. However the advent of steam power and larger ships reduced the importance of this dock and by the mid-20th Century most of the trade had left.

The docks played a key role in the Second World War as a location for constructing the floating Mulberry harbours used by the Allies to support the D-Day landings in France. A Mulberry harbour was a type of temporary Harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy. D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote

Following the Second World War, in which all the docks were badly damaged, the East India Docks were confined to occasional Channel Islands traffic and to the maintenance of dredger equipment etc. The Channel Islands ( Norman: Îles d'la Manche, French: Îles Anglo-Normandes or Îles de la Manche) are a group of Islands

Brunswick Wharf Power Station 1974

Brunswick Wharf Power Station was built on the site of the Export Dock in stages between 1946 and 1956. Brunswick Wharf Power Station was a coal-fired power station on the River Thames in Blackwall, London This was a monumental brick structure with fluted concrete chimneys after the style of Gilbert Scott's designs for Battersea and Bankside. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, OM, FRIBA ( November 9 1880 – February 8 1960) was an English Architect Battersea Power Station is a defunct coal-fired power station in Battersea, London, that was the first in a series of large coal-fired electrical generating Bankside Power Station is located on the south bank of the Thames in the Bankside district of London. It ceased generation in 1984 and was demolished in the late 1980s.

The docks were the first London docks to close, in 1967.

East India Docks today

Today the docks have been mostly filled in. Only the entrance basin remains, as a wildlife refuge and an attractive local amenity. The area is predominantly residential with several major developments either complete or under construction around it.