Docklands and the St. Fride Swide Mission House

Historically, great wealth passed through the Docklands, some of the greatest ever; but little stayed. The area was a gritty workplace, populated by some of London's poorest. The destruction wrought by German bombings in WWII made it all the worse. One can get a glimpse of post-WWII Docklands in the great BBC series Call the Midwife. After touring the Docklands Museum, we undertook a walking tour of the area, heading to Canary Wharf, where things have changed, massively, and the populace is now very different from what it once was. Next we crossed the tracks, literally, to Poplar, and ended at the mission of St. Fride Swide, the real setting of Call the Midwife. Things have changed there, mostly the population, now mostly immigrants.

Still on the West India Quay

At a resto adjacent to the museum; we had lunch nearby,
an unmemorable fish and chips at a trendy place whose name
has been forgotten; trendy is the word for everything there

Fancy a boat ride along the wharfs? There are many options...

we saw a BBQ boat at Vancouver last summer...

Hot tub boats; I doubt that they allow these on the river, which is 
crowded, busy, and tidal

St. Peter's Barge...London's floating church

A BBQ boat; no takers that afternoon

Sort of summed it all up for me

A remnant of the grit; or perhaps sculpture?

Now approaching Canary Wharf

Looking back toward the central city

Now in Poplar, in a park, a monument to school children
killed by German bombing in WWI

Public baths (and recreation); very newish

The high-rise is from the 1960s, a major part of the
neighborhood's change

Emmaus is there, as well as other charity shops...away from all the
high-rise development, retail, restos, etc., it's still not one of London's
posh neighborhoods

And now at St. Fride's...Nonnatus House, in Call the Midwife;
presumably pretty much as it was throughout the 20th century,
and some of the 19th too

Now mostly residential, flats...

At least it's still there...for now

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