King George V Dock, London
| King George V Dock | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | London |
| Coordinates | 51°30′13″N 0°03′35″E / 51.5037°N 0.0597°E |
| Built | 1921 |
  Location of King George V Dock in London Borough of Newham | |
King George V Dock, in the London Borough of Newham, is one of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.
History
[edit]Begun in 1912 by the Port of London Authority, the King George V was the last of London's upstream enclosed docks to be built. After delay by the First World War, construction was completed in 1921.[1] Although at 64 acres (26 ha) of water it was smaller than the other royals, it had its own entrance from the Thames through a lock and bascule bridge. The dock could berth liners as large as the RMS Mauretania. At its western end was a large graving dock (since filled in) and machine shop used for ship repairs by Harland and Wolff. From the 1960s onwards, the King George V Dock experienced a steady decline – as did all of London's other docks – as the shipping industry adopted containerisation, which effectively moved traffic downstream to Tilbury. It finally closed to commercial traffic along with the other Royal Docks in 1981.[2]
Redevelopment in the late 20th century included the construction of London City Airport which was built on the north bank of the dock with a single runway and completed in 1987.[3] King George V station on the London City Airport branch of the Docklands Light Railway, which opened in December 2005, is named after the dock.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ "King George V Dock". Port Cities. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ "History". London's Royal Docks. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ "The Royals". BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ "Government Approves DLR Woolwich Extension". Transport for London. 26 February 2004. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
Further reading
[edit]- Carr, Robert J. M., ed. (1986). Dockland: An Illustrated Historical Survey of Life and Work in East London (2nd ed.). London: North East London Polytechnic/Greater London Council. ISBN 0716816113. OCLC 310797917.
- Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher; Keay, Julia; Keay, John, eds. (2008). "Royal Group of Docks". The London Encyclopaedia. Photographer: Matthew Weinreb (3rd ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 721–722. ISBN 9781405049245. OCLC 141381380.
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