Picked up another issue of the Illustrated London News to bolster my collection – and this one had a few drawings of the London Docks including a quite famous picture of the docks shortly after the completion of the new tea warehouse.

The tea warehouse is now occupied by the Docklands Museum along with a row of dockside restaurants.

According to the accompanying article in the newspaper, the engineer of this “stupendous pile” was Messrs. W. Cubitt and Co., of Gray’s Inn Road. The foundations are concrete and extend some 18 to 20 feet below the vault floor, which was used for wine storage. On this are placed inverted arches, supporting the plinth bearing the columns of cast iron, which in turn, carry the girders and flooring.

The image below covers an area of 90 acres; 35 acres of water; and 12,980 feet of quay and jetty frontage; with three entrances from the Thames, of the following widths, viz., Hermitage and Wapping, 40 feet; Shadwell, 45 feet; where the depth of water, at Spring tides is 27 feet. The Western Dock comprises 20 acres; the Eastern, 7 acres; and the Wapping Basin, 3 acres.

Click on the image for a larger version.