![Puddle Dock - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Puddle_Dock_-_geograph.org.uk_-_967946.jpg)
Puddle Dock is a street in
Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
. It was once the site of one of London's docks, and was later the site of the
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new thea ...
. The dock was filled in during redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s.
As a dock
![The City from Bankside, 1820s MoL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/The_City_from_Bankside%2C_1820s_MoL.jpg)
Berkeley's Inn, the
town house
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...
of the
Barons Berkeley
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
of
Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...
, Gloucestershire, stood nearby, at the south end of Adle Street, against 'Puddle Wharf', as reported in 1598 by
John Stow
John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...
in his ''Survey of London'', at which date the house had been abandoned by the family and had been split up into multiple-occupation apartments, in a dilapidated state.
Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (25 or 28 January 138230 April 1439) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.
Early life
Beauchamp was born at Salwarpe CourtRichard Gough, ''Description of the Beauchamp chapel, adjoin ...
, son-in-law of
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (5 January 1352/53 – 13 July 1417), ''The Magnificent'', of Berkeley Castle and of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, was an English peer and an admiral. His epithet, and that of each previous and s ...
, lodged in this house, in the parish of
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe.
In an article on Puddle Dock by Charles White in 1920 he describes it thus : ''Puddle Dock is situated at the Western extremity of Upper Thames Street, near our
Blackfriars station
Blackfriars, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway station and connected London Underground station in the City of London. It provides Thameslink services: local (from North to South London), and regional (Bedford and ...
. It is a square opening in the river bank, between two blocks of warehouses, a place where the dark, drift-strewn waters of the Thames flow right up to the streets of the City. Barges still put in here to discharge their cargoes, as they have done for many centuries. It is the smallest of the
draw-docks of
Thames-street, the quayside of old London and the germ of what is now the greatest of the world's ports.''
Charles White notes that in the deed relating to the sale of the remains of nearby
Baynard's Castle
Baynard's Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in the City of London, between where Blackfriars station and St Paul's Cathedral now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard ( 1086), 1st feudal ...
in 1275, the sale also includes ''all other things belonging to the said castle, or barony, as well in rents, his ports and putting in of ships.'' He suggests that this is Puddle Dock, and is the same dock referred to as ''wharf at Castle Baynard'' in ''
Liber Albus'' and other city archives. He points out that the present Castle Baynard wharf in Thames Street dates back no more than 2 centuries or so, and the so-called Castle Baynard that stood there has no connection with the original Castle Baynard built by William the Conqueror. Recent studies tend to support this view with Puddle Dock found to lie "within the south-eastern corner of the outer defences of the Baynard's Castle" according to a 1989 study.
There is an indirect link to
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, as he gifted in his will a house to his daughter,
Susanna Hall, a house described in the conveyance as "abutting upon a streete leading down to Puddle Wharffe on the east part, right against the King's Majesty's Wardrobe ... now or late in the tenure of one William Ireland or of his asignee or assignees."
Puddle Dock suffered a major fire in 1841 causing "utter destruction to the large bonded warehouses and stores belonging to Messrs Smith & Co, corn factors, situated near Puddle Dock". The warehouse facing the Thames was 7 stories high, and "the principal front fell with a tremendous crash into the river, about 5 o'clock in the morning."
Puddle Dock appeared to be one of the outlets for the London sewers before the great Victorian reforms in that area with numerous complaints in the 1830s, and in 1849 an account stated that "in the course of mid-day, not only waggons arrived loaded with putrid filth, but bones in the worst state of decomposition". However Puddle Dock wasn't alone on this and in complaints in 1849 in relation to raw sewage mentions "Puddle Dock, Whitefriars Dock, Broken Dock and other parts of the shores on the Thames within the City, where the contents of the sewers are discharged".
In 1852 Puddle Dock was mentioned all over the country in an advertisement about the application of sewer treatment to the sewer in Puddle Dock from 1849, which it claims permitted " the conversion of the sewage into dry manure, postable in sacks and perfectly inodorous". After then the dock gets very little mention in the newspapers.
In 1872 there was another major fire at the City Flour Mills built on the "Old Puddle Dock". The building is described as "the largest flour mill in the world", and was 250 feet long, 60 feet wide and 8 stories high. It was owned by Messrs J & J Hadley, who had built the premises in 1852 on a vacant piece of land stretching to the riverside, and within it there were steam powered grinding mills as well as a large grain store.
In 1909 it was reported that the wardsmen of Castle Baynard had been petitioning to fill the dock in.
The Mermaid Theatre was opened in 1959 in a bombed out warehouse alongside Puddle Dock, and the dock was still usable after this, with the
Thames sailing barge
A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narr ...
Henry visible in postcards of the theatre from around 1960. The redevelopment of the area was a protracted affair, with Simon Jenkins of the Illustrated London News commenting in 1971,
[The blight around Blackfriars, Illustrated London News, 1 October 1971, p35] of the "Blight around Blackfriars" with the destruction of the Gothic and renaissance warehouses. He refers to the barge that was in the Puddle Dock "just 10 years" ago alongside the Mermaid Theatre, which is now "an underpass slip-road".
Later use
The area was dramatically altered by major works over a long period of time from in the 1960s and early 1970s, involving the reclaiming of
foreshore
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of ...
of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
at Puddle Dock and the rebuilding of Upper Thames Street as a major traffic thoroughfare. Today its name survives as the name of a street connecting
Upper Thames Street
Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it ...
and
Queen Victoria Street.
Puddle Dock formed part of the
marathon course of the
2012 Olympic and
Paralympic
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...
Games.
The nearest
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
stations are
Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
(Circle and District lines) and
St Paul's (Central line).
References
{{coord, 51.511, N, 0.102, W, type:city_region:GB, display=title
Geography of the City of London
London docks
History of the City of London
Streets in the City of London
Port of London
Blackfriars, London