The Blackwall Yard was once, for over 350 years, a place where ships were built and repaired. It was a bustling hub of activity. It was a place where fortunes were made and lost. We are standing on a patch of land which was once a shipyard. This location is one of the oldest shipyards on the River Thames.
Blackwall Yard’s history starts with the East India Company in the 17th century. The company, which traded with distant lands in Asia, was in need of a shipyard. They decided to build their own ships and leased a yard in Deptford. The first ships built at Deptford were more cost-effective than the vessels they had previously leased. However, the shipyard in Deptford became too expensive to operate.
It was William Burrell, the company’s shipwright, who suggested Blackwall as a suitable location for a new shipyard. Burrell was an ingenious man who knew the Thames well and he chose Blackwall because of the deep water and its sheltered position. By 1617, the new shipyard was fully operational and the company built and repaired its ships there.
The East India Company did not build ships at Blackwall for long. In 1656 they sold Blackwall Yard to Henry Johnson, a successful shipwright, for a bargain price. Johnson went on to build and repair ships for both the East India Company and the Royal Navy.
The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the late 17th Century put a strain on the Royal Navy, requiring more ships, and Blackwall Yard’s capacity for building large ships like those of the third rate made it an invaluable resource. In 1666 the yard was surveyed by Samuel Pepys, who was then Clerk of the Navy, and it was noted that Blackwall Yard had the greatest capacity of any of the commercial yards on the Thames.
The yard continued to build and repair ships for the East India Company and the Royal Navy for over 200 years. But by the end of the 19th Century, the yard was in decline. Iron ships had replaced wooden ships, and the yard was unable to compete with the newer, larger shipyards.
In the early 20th Century, the yard was filled in and used as a fuel oil storage yard. The last ships were built in the yard in 1987. Today, the Blackwall Yard is a residential area. The old dry dock is now an open-air swimming pool. But although the yard is gone, its rich history remains in the stories that are told about the ships that were built there.