The Docks in Operation
Storing and Distributing Goods
Warehouses
Warehouses were used for the long-term storage of goods. Certain commodities like sugar arrived in the docks at particular times of the year.
They were stored in warehouses and taken out throughout the year as they were required.
Warehouses tended to specialise in particular commodities. For instance, tobacco, wool and wine were kept in particular warehouses in the London Docks.
The goods were kept under strict supervision by Customs as duties had to be paid on all goods passing through.
Owners and buyers came to inspect the merchandise in the warehouses and perhaps take away samples for their customers.
In the case of the London Docks the wine vaults became extremely popular and were opened to the general public. It became fashionable in Victorian times to go to the vaults to taste the wines.
Some warehouses held sales at regular intervals. Ivory was collected at St Katharine Dock and sales were held twice a year. Not all warehouses were in the docks.
As the business of the port expanded more and more were built until the tall warehouses lined the riverside almost continuously from Blackfriars to Limehouse on the north bank and from Bankside to Rotherhithe on the south bank.
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A: 'E' Warehouse, St Katharine Dock, built 1828, photographed in the 1960s.
B: Engraving by Gustave Dore, c1870, showing St Katherine Dock.
C: Engraving by Gustave Dore, c1870 showing activity in London's warehousing district.
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The Dockers|
The Strikes of 1889 |
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Contact
Nigel Sagar
Design and Technology
London Borough of Barking
and Dagenham
Email: nigel.sagar@lbbd.gov.uk
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