Deadman’s Dock

Deadman’s Dock was a wharf in Deptford.

Re-securing the mooring lines of lighters at Deadman’s Dock, Limehouse Reach in Deptford on 29 April 1934.

The photographer A.G. Linney recorded that the previous night had been foggy and a steamer had hit the lighters, causing them to break adrift.
In the background is Snowdons Wharf at Millwall on the Isle of Dogs.
Credit: Albert Gravely Linney

When the wharf was originally built in 1704, bodies were frequently washing ashore due to its position at the bottom of the curve of the Thames.

The dock was built by John Winter for the Evelyn family. It was described in 1726 as having a great depth of water and as being the best private dock upon the river.

William Dudman then established a yard in partnership with Henry Adams of Bucklers Hard and William Barnard of Ipswich. When William died in 1772, his son John Dudman took over. From 1808 the yard is shown on maps as Dudman & Son. The Dudman surname was a near homonym to ’Deadman’. By 1814 the yard had five building slips and two double dry docks.

By 1807, the wet dock was in use for convict transports by ship to Australia. Additionally, between 1776 and 1857, prison ships were used to house convicts in the area. The prisoners would labour at the docks in the day and return to their floating jails at night.

Main source:	Wikipedia
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LOCAL PHOTOS

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Wells House on the Howland Estate, Lower Road, SE16 (2009) The estate is just south of Neptune Street and consists of two blocks - Wells House and behind it, Ritchie House. All the estate names are connected with the Great Howland Wet Dock. Credit: Geograph/Chris Lordan TUM image id: 1627909359 Licence:	Alpha Grove (1962) Alpha Grove (previously Alpha Road) runs from Strafford Street to Tiller Road on the Isle of Dogs. Alpha Grove ran right through to the West India Dock fence dock - its cranes can be seen at the end of the road. When built in the 1800s, Alpha Road followed a section of the old island path, Dolphin Lane. The road running across the view in the photo is Byng Street. TUM image id: 1489324044 Licence:	Grove Street, Deptford looking north from Evelyn Street (c.1937) Credit: London Metropolitan Archives TUM image id: 1620301256 Licence:	Watergate Street, Deptford Formerly known as King Street, there were so many King Streets in London, it needed a new name as postal workers were complaining. The new name was given as it had access to the River Thames (and because there were no other Watergate Streets). Many large houses were built in the street during the 17th and 18th centuries and lived in by those connected to the maritime trade. By the twentieth century the street had became run down and post-war, new housing was built. TUM image id: 1570963350 Licence:	Deptford Windmill was situated at the junction of Windmill Lane and Deptford. This sketch dates from 1840. Credit: Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1620909429 Licence:
Derrick Street, SE16 (1932) The entire street disappeared after the Second World War with a modern estate replacing it TUM image id: 1606860548 Licence:	Abinger Grove VE Day street party This road runs up to Evelyn Street in Deptford TUM image id: 1625500582 Licence:	Children playing street cricket in Alpha Road, Millwall in August 1938. A ship - the Union Castle line “Dunbar Castle” can be seen in the background. The photo was taken close to its corner with Manilla Street. In the background, behind the dock fence are the West India Docks. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images TUM image id: 1685036340 Licence:	The North Pole Credit: Island History Trust TUM image id: 1575559918 Licence: CC BY 2.0	L’Avenir in the Millwall Docks (1908) TUM image id: 1630317490 Licence:
Robert Price - yet another fence! He’s a one man fence erecting machine... Credit: The Underground Map TUM image id: 1621596286 Licence:	Derrick Street, Rotherhithe in 1932. The street went under bulldozer after the Second World War and was replaced by the Redriff Estate. TUM image id: 1607621241 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Trains once ran down the centre of Grove Street in Deptford. Originally called the Thames Junction Railway, the Deptford Wharf Branch was a goods-only branch built to a railway-owned wharf on the Thames incorporating the old established Deadman’s Dock. This connected in to the lines to New Cross Gate and the South London Line and its route crossed the Grand Surrey Canal, first on a lifting bridge then further north at a higher level on an over bridge. The wharf was more or less divided into two halves with Grove Street forming the boundary. There was a line which came out of the east side of a yard and formed the Grove Street Tramway that ran down the middle of the road to the Corporation of London Foreign Cattle Market. Between the Wharf and the cattle market was the Royal Victualling Yard, later the Royal Victoria Yard. The Locomotive is a London and Brighton and South Coast Railway Class D1. Credit: London and Brighton and South Coast Railway TUM image id: 1620902713 Licence:	Beer in the evening Credit: Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1675427151 Licence: