Hidden London: Episode 14
Shad Thames is Victorian Warehouse District and is one of London’s most photogenic streets.
London has plenty of pretty little streets and mews many of which still have cobble stoned roads. Shad Thames (such a cool name by the way), is one of these cobbled streets full of Victorian warehouses converted into shops, cafes, restaurants and apartments. A lot of these have retained the overhead gantries (bridges between buildings that were once used to roll barrels), cranes and anything related to the docks during the redevelopment of London’s East End.
Many of these warehouses date from 1819 with Butler’s Wharf being completed in 1873. It once referred to as ‘the larder of London’ as the warehouses stored mostly sugar, grain, spices, fruit, coffee, tea etc. Shad Thames is within the Pool of London, a deep, still section of the river Thames between London Bridge and Rotherhithe and was ideal for docking ships in those early days.
The docks were very busy in the 1700s that many of the ships were stuck still laden with their cargo waiting for days or even weeks to unload that they became targets for pirates and robbers. Those who were caught were hanged by the ‘Devil’s Neckinger Neckerchief’, a London slang used for the rope or noose that hung pirates and robbers at the mouth of the docks. The river that fed the nearby inlet took the name Neckinger. The docks were eventually closed in 1972 with the area being regenerated with the warehouses being converted into shops, cafes, restaurants and apartments.
Shad Thames can be found here, Butler’s Wharf, London SE1 2QY. The nearest tube/underground/metro stations are Bermondsey, London Bridge and Tower Hill.
