Dry Dock At Blackwall Engineering

The dry dock at Blackwall Engineering is a late 18th century structure that has been in existence since at least 1803. It was enlarged and rebuilt to its current dimensions before 1850. In 1988, the dry dock was truncated to two-thirds of its original length, and the north end was reprofiled by the Richard Rogers Partnership. The dock features brick and stone construction with a typical stepped bottom.

The plan of the dry dock is rectangular, with a waisted east side at the north end and curved corners. Above the water line, one step is visible, paved with millstone slabs on the lower step and edged with granite facing blocks. The side walls are made of yellow stock brick laid in English bond, while the terminal south walls are constructed of red stock brick with millstone coping. There are granite-faced steps on either side at the south end and opposite each other at the point of waisting. A steel caisson gate at the south end was renewed in 1988. This dry dock is one of the earliest large dry docks still remaining on the Thames and was used by the Greens in their Blackwall Yard, which was famous for Blackwall frigates and later adapted for repairing paddle wheel tugs.