is a place in the
London Borough Of Tower Hamlets . It is on the northern bank of the
River Thames opposite
Cuckold's Point and between
Shadwell to the west and the
Isle Of Dogs to the east.
Geographically, Limehouse is commonly thought to be centred on
Narrow Street and the
Limehouse Basin . It gives its name to Limehouse Reach, a lengthy section of the Thames which actually runs all the way from Shadwell to
Millwall .
The name 'Limehouse' is often thought to have been derived from the nickname for the seamen that disembarked there, who had earned the name '
Lime-juicers ' or '
Limeys ' after the obligatory ration of lime juice the English Navy gave their sailors to ward off
Scurvy . However, the name is in fact due to the local lime-kilns operated by the large potteries that served the London docks.
on
Regent's Canal where it meets the
Limehouse Basin ]]
]]
From its earliest days, Limehouse, like neighbouring
Wapping , has followed the sea. This was one of London's most important ports from late medieval times, with extensive docks and wharves, including the enclosed Limehouse Basin.
Limehouse Basin was actually opened in 1820 as the Regent's Canal Dock. It was an important connection between the Thames and the British canal system where cargoes could be transferred from larger ships to the shallow-draught canal boats. This mix of vessels can still be seen in the basin, canal narrow boats rubbing shoulders with sea-going yachts.
The dock basin with its marina is, then, still a working facility. The same is not true of those wharf buildings that have survived, most of which are now highly desirable residential properties.
The Limehouse area was also notorious for
Opium dens in the late 19th century. This notion of Limehouse as a lurid, crime-ridden area was often featured in
Pulp Fiction works by
Sax Rohmer and others. Like much of the
East End it was a focus for
Immigration , particularly by
Chinese People . As the community prospered it moved west to the current
Chinatown in
Soho .
The area inspired
Douglas Furber (lyricist) and
Phillip Braham (composer) in
1922 to write the popular
Jazz standard ''"Limehouse Blues"''.
Sir
Humphrey Gilbert (
1539 -
1578 ), the exponent of opening up the
Northwest Passage lived here. This inspired
Martin Frobisher to sail to
Greenland returning with a mysterious black rock. Gilbert set up the
Society Of The New Art with
Lord Burghley and the
Earl Of Leicester who had their alchemical laboratory in Limehouse. However their attempts to transmute the black rock into gold proved fruitless. (Humphrey's brother
Adrian Gilbert was reputed a great
Alchemist and worked closely with
John Dee .)
Captain Christopher Newport was born in Limehouse in 1560. He rose through the sailing ranks from a poor cabin boy to a wealthy English privateer and eventually one of the Masters of the Royal Navy. He became rich pirating Spanish treasure vessels in the West Indies. In 1607 he sailed the Susan Constant, followed by the Godspeed and Discovery, as Admiral of the fleet to Jamestown. He helped secure England's foothold in North America through five voyages to Jamestown. He sailed his entire life, dying on a trading voyage to Bantam, on the island of Java in present day Indonesia. His sailing experience in Limehouse made him known as Captain Christopher Newport, of Limehouse Mariner.
Charles Dickens ’ godfather ran his sail-making business from Limehouse and
James McNeill Whistler and
Charles Napier Hemy sketched and painted at locations on Narrow Street's river waterfront. Contemporary residents include the actor Sir
Ian Mckellen and
David Owen , and it was also the home of the late film director Sir
David Lean , whose Narrow Street house is still owned by his family.
St Anne's Limehouse was built by
Nicholas Hawksmoor . A pyramid originally planned to be put atop the tower now stands in the graveyard. The church is next door to
Limehouse Town Hall . For several years this housed the
National Museum Of Labour History and included trade union banners and other artefacts including the table that once belonged to
Peter Kropotkin , the
Russian Anarchist Prince . Now it is the home of the
FacultyUnix FreeBSD workshops,
Boxing Club and the
Space Hijackers . Across the road is the
Sailors' Mission , where the
Situationist International held its conference in
1960 . The building subsequently became a run-down hostel for the homeless which became notorious for its squalor.
Further to the southwest, Narrow Street, Limehouse's historic spine, which runs along the back of the Thames wharves, boasts one of the few surviving early Georgian terraces in London. Next to the terrace is the historic Grapes pub, well-known to Charles Dickens. He featured it in ''Our Mutual Friend'' as 'The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters'.
Limehouse library has a statue of
Clement Attlee , who was
Member Of Parliament for Limehouse from
1922 and
Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom from
1945 to
1951 .
On
January 25 ,
1981 MPs
Shirley Williams ,
Roy Jenkins ,
William Rodgers and
David Owen made the
Limehouse Declaration from Owen's house in Limehouse, which announced the formation of the Council for Social Democracy in opposition to the granting of block votes to the
Trade Unions in the
Labour Party to which they had previously belonged. They soon became leading politicians in the
Social Democratic Party .
From Sunday
May 11 to Sunday
June 15 ,
2003 the
Cartographic Congress , a meeting of maps and mapmakers from all corners of
Cartography took place in
Limehouse Town Hall .
Nearest stations:
