Seven Bollards

Seven bollards, dating to circa 1821 and circa 1838, were likely installed around the 1850s. The bollards are cast iron and the group has group value as surviving examples of street furniture. Two bollards, located closest to the junction with Bow Road, are of a chamfered and horizontally reeded type with a shallow pointed hexagonal cap and a square base. One of these is inscribed on one side with "Dodgson (illegible word) London" at the base and "Dodgson 1821" in a semi-circular plaque in the centre. One bollard at the corner of the junction is painted black, the other is blue, and the remaining bollards in the group are also blue. The remaining five bollards are of a typical cannon-type design and appear to be from a similar date. Three of these are unmarked and differ slightly in dimensions from the two marked ones; these marked bollards read "Dodgson" in the top section and "Limehouse P Commission 1838" in the middle section.

The bollards have historically been used to control traffic, deter parking, protect entrances, and mark boundaries. Following the Napoleonic Wars, surplus cannons were repurposed as bollards, inspiring the design of subsequent bollards. The Dodgson mark refers to John Dodgson, an iron and brass founder of Lower Shadwell, mentioned in the 1841 Post Office London Directory. It is probable that the bollards were positioned along the road to prevent congestion outside Bow Station, which opened in 1850. The area around Bow Station would have been busy due to the railway line's role in transporting passengers and goods from the docks and beyond. At least two of the bollards were moved from Limehouse. The station was part of the North London Railway, originally the East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway, which linked the docks via Poplar, and later expanded in the 1860s. The bollards are designated for their survival as early 19th-century examples of street furniture used for traffic calming near Bow Station, their rarity, and their survival as a group with dates and the manufacturer’s name embossed.