Westferry Circus: Where the Ferry Once Ran

Westferry Circus in London is a two-level road interchange and elevated roof garden designed by landscape architect Lorie Ohlin above a former historic shipyard. Construction began in 1987 over the northern section of Union Dock, where the famous tea clipper Cutty Sark underwent repairs in January 1922. Beneath the circus lies a subterranean complex of shopping malls, while the site historically served as a 17th-century ferry landing known as Limehouse Hole.

London Β· from the walk β€œDocks to Dollars” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

Westferry Circus: Where the Ferry Once Ran

Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London E14

What historic tea clipper was repaired in 1922 at Union Dock beneath London's Westferry Circus?

Now take a breath. Look around you. Where the glass towers of Canary Wharf now gleam, the river once lapped against muddy stairs... and this spot, Westferry Circus, holds the memory of that vanished waterfront.......... The very name gives it away. "West Ferry" β€” at the start of the nineteenth century, Westferry Road was called the Deptford and Greenwich Ferry Road. It was the route people walked to reach the ferry crossing, one of the Only ways off this marshy peninsula for centuries. One road led across the marshes to an ancient ferry, at Ferry Road. That's how isolated this place was. The Isle of Dogs β€” surrounded on three sides by the Thames β€” was effectively cut off from London.......... And here's something most visitors never realize. You are actually standing on a giant roof garden. Can you feel it? Beneath your feet, there's an entire subterranean world. Most public spaces in Canary Wharf are on a roof of an entire subterranean town complete with shopping malls, gyms, and restaurants.......... But dig deeper into history, and you find something even more remarkable. In nineteen eighty-seven, construction started on Westferry Circus, which covered the northern section of the former Union Dock β€” a working shipyard where vessels were repaired for decades. And one of those vessels? The Cutty Sark, which had been renamed Fereira after being sold to a Portuguese firm... was in Union Dock for repairs in January nineteen twenty-two. That's right β€” the world's most famous tea clipper once sat Right Here, in a dry dock now buried beneath this elegant garden.......... And before the shipyard, before the docks, before anything... this was Limehouse Hole. This was one of the first parts of the parish of Poplar to be developed. As London's riverside grew, Limehouse Hole was built up with shipping-related enterprises β€” shipbuilders, barge-builders, boat-builders, ropemakers, sailmakers, mastmakers, blockmakers and ship-chandlers.......... Limehouse Hole was a plying place for watermen from the seventeenth century. There were two sets of river stairs in sixteen eighty-seven. Watermen would row you across the Thames for a penny or two β€” London's oldest taxi service!......... Westferry Circus is a road interchange and public space containing a two-level road interchange... with two roundabouts, one above the other. It was designed by Lorie Ohlin, the celebrated American landscape architect. Built high above the original quay and disguising the swirling roundabout traffic both around and beneath it, it was conceived in the manner of a traditional London crescent.......... And here's a wonderful detail β€” Ernie Bennett, who began Ernie's Snack Bar, was Canary Wharf's First retailer! When Olympia and York started the development, he moved his burger van to a pitch right here at Westferry Circus and became a favourite with the construction workers. Before the banks, before the trading floors, before the billions... there was Ernie and his cup of tea.......... From ancient ferry landing to shipyard, from watermen's stairs to a burger van, and finally to this grand circle of flowers and sculpture surrounded by towers of finance. Every layer of London is buried right beneath your feet.

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