Docklands Museum

We visited the London Docklands Museum on June 12. London wouldn't be London without the river and port that sustained it for 20 centuries, and the Docklands Museum interprets and celebrates that long history from Roman times to nearly the present. Among topics covered, more or less chronologically, are ships and shipping, the evolution of the port itself, docks and cargo handling, warehousing and distribution, the slave trade, sail and steam and the industrial revolution, the port during the many wars, particularly Napoleonic, WWI and WWII, the Docklands population over the centuries and its evolution, the later 20th century development of the Docklands area, and so on. And more. Much more. The museum fills two large floors of a huge old (1802) sugar warehouse on the West Indies Wharf, very close to today's popular Canary Wharf. Most of the Museum's collections are from the old London Port Authority, which went to the London Museum, were held for some years in storage, and then brought out to join with other collections when the Docklands Museum was created. It is all administered now by the London Museum, a splendid collection, beautifully displayed and interpreted. I'll just post some of our better pix, hoping they can tell some of the great story. 

The great bend of the river came to create Dog Island...once the canals
and wharves were built, it became, sort of, actually, a real island

A gibbet; looks very restful, once you're dead

Sugar from the West

Tea from the East

The quays that make it an island

There was a vast exhibit on the slave trade, Britain's profit from it
and eventual departure from it; and apologies; much of this
museum  is about justice and injustice...a continuing story; the Brits
are uncomfortable with their history but are dealing with it honestly
straightforwardly...unlike some nations...

Earlier steam-powered vessel...note both side-wheeler and screw

The Great Stink, a topic on which we are better versed
than most tourists

Street scene...depicting the vastness of the museum

Much art work adorns the collection...this, Charles Deane, Waterloo
Bridge and the Lambeth Waterfront from Westminster Stairs, 1821

The rise of unions

Inspections, standards, etc.

Sainsbury's (our favorite supermercado) had its beginnings
in the Docklands, and funded much of this museum (and others)

 

Anti-aircraft batteries in the river

Developed and manufactured in the Docklands, the cross-Channel
pipeline that fed the Allied invasion at Normandy and its aftermath

Much of the Docklands area was bombed away in WWII,
and the consequent suffering and displacement of the resident
population became the story

Moving on...in the 1960s

Development

And anti-development

Stay tuned...the story continues right outside the museum's door

Michelin House

I'd seen it from afar on a couple previous forays into Chelsea and South Kensington, but this time, walking home from the V&A, we passed right by it, and Vicki indulged my desire to document it as fully as reasonable. (Our definitions of "reasonable" diverge occasionally). Anyhow, "it" is the Michelin House, built in 1911, Michelin's original office and tyre (tire) distribution center in Britain. It features the Michelin Man, Bibendum, of course, and is as close as you're going to get to an Art Nouveau tire store. Anywhere. Among many other items, Michelin House features a couple dozen tile depictions of the great automobile races of 1890s and early 1900s. I have pictures of all of them now, should anyone be interested. Most will be posted below anyway. Michelin House became a mixed-use business facility in the late 1900s, but has retained all its many beautiful exterior ornaments. Look here and here for further information and amusement.

Muy importante...first use of Michelin tires in a race

Incredible place, if you're into London architecture, business history,

art nouveau, tires...