Surrey Docks, 1983

21 August 2011 at 21:04 | Posted in Docklands past | 7 Comments
Tags: Canada Water, Rotherhithe, SE16, Southwark, Surrey Docks

The photo below shows the Russia Dock area from above in 1983, largely cleared and awaiting development (click for larger version).

At the far bottom right lies the (then) new Downtown Health Centre. Top centre is the new home of Fisher Athletic FC, the Surrey Docks Stadium, which hosted Conference football when Fisher Athletic were flying high. Sadly the club moved out a few years ago, forcing the Fish to share with Dulwich Hamlet. The club subsequently folded, to re-emerge as fan-owned Fisher FC, playing further down the football pyramid.

The foreground shows the former docks filled in and largely awaiting development, although Downtown to the right has been built. Stave Hill, Russia Dock Woodland, Bacon’s College and the Albion Channel will soon appear in this area.

At the top left, just past the gasholder (still there), a very neat square of levelled land shows where my own house will shortly be built (in the 1980s, that is).

The view below shows a more recent view of the same area, from Google Earth.

7 Comments »

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Fascinating to see this. Can I ask where you got the photo from?

I don’t suppose you know of any older photos, perhaps showing other parts of the area prior to redevelopment?

Comment by Matt Collins— 21 August 2011 #

Reply
- Hi Matt, thanks for the comment and linking to me!
  The photo is one of a number taken at the same time for a public authority in 1983, and which were fortunately saved from the dustbin by a friend. I’ll post some more here, though it’ll take time to get them all online so I thought better to drip-feed!
  Are you interested in anything specific or just local pictures generally?
  Regards
  Tony
  
  Comment by SELondoner— 21 August 2011 #
  
  Reply
  - Personally, I’d love to see anything to do with Greenland Dock and any photos showing how the area in general looked before redevelopment began.
    
    Comment by Matt Collins— 21 August 2011 #
[...] already has a fascinating aerial photo of the Russia Dock area, taken in 1983 when a huge area of it had been cleared for [...]

Pingback by London’s Docklands Past and Present | Surrey Quays and Canada Water— 21 August 2011 #

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[...] The map is slightly odd in being formed of two separate surveys, with the northern part of the map obviously a year or two ahead of the southern part, with the northern part looking very similar to the 1983 aerial photo. [...]

Pingback by Surrey Docks map, 1984 « London's Docklands, past and present— 4 September 2011 #

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Thx for this. As we live smack in the middle of the area, it’s really interesting to see this stage of the redevelopment. I had not realised the whole dock area was flattened and filled in before development started. Great to see!

Comment by Mark Parker— 11 September 2011 #

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I would also like to say a big thank you for this!!

I also have linked to your site from our “I live in maple quays” Facebook group.

How many do you have?

The feedback from residents has been great

Comment by Ferg— 11 September 2011 #

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