South Wharf Rotherhithe.
In 1883, despite considerable public objection due to the hostility and fear roused by smallpox, MAB (Metropolitan Asylums Board) purchased Acorn Wharf in Trinity Street, Rotherhithe, for £13,000. The 2-acre site had been chosen as a receiving station for the River Ambulance Service (RAS)
In 1885 Acorn Wharf was renamed South Wharf. In 1901, just as another smallpox epidemic began, the Wharf was further expanded.
With the decline of smallpox, the river service was reorganised in 1913, with the South Wharf dealing with general fever cases while the North Wharf continued to receive smallpox cases.
By 1921 the South Wharf had expanded its land facilities and had 24 beds in various 'shelters' where patients could be kept overnight if necessary.
In 1933, the LCC sent the steamers, having been disinfected and certified as such by the Port Sanitary Authority, to Erith for mooring prior to disposal. In the last six months of their working lives, from January to July 1930, the steamers had transported over 2,500 patients to Long Reach.
In 1940, during WW2, the South Wharf Receiving Station, still being used as a collecting point for smallpox cases, was destroyed by firebombs. The South Wharf site is now the site of the Surrey Docks Farm.
ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
Last edited by kiwi on Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
South Wharf, Rotherhithe, River Ambulance Service staff and crew on the Geneva Cross, c. 1902.
The man at the far right of the top row is Frederick Showell, and the man in the centre of the bottom row is thought to be Captain George Livett.
Last edited by kiwi on Sun Jul 21, 2019 2:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
The Thames was also one of our playgrounds, these children are playing on the barges with Pococks of Rotherhithe Street in the background.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
Horseferry stairs. These were located half way down what is now Sovereign Crescent but have now gone. They were a public plying place and a right of way. They are said to have once been called ‘Shepherd and Dog Stairs”
Last edited by kiwi on Sat Mar 28, 2020 2:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Last edited by kiwi on Tue Jul 14, 2020 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
Thames Tunnel Mills, Rotherhithe Street, facing onto the river on one side and overlooking St Mary's Church on the other, were built in the 1860s and consisted of warehouses and flour mills. Latterly the mills produced flaked rice and tapioca made by White, Tomkins and Courage until they closed the mills in 1972. It was one of the first warehouses to be converted into residential use in the early 1980s by the London and Quadrant Housing Association.
Last edited by kiwi on Sun May 13, 2018 2:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: ROTHERHITHE,WHARFS & DOCKS.
Last edited by kiwi on Fri Mar 17, 2023 1:50 am, edited 4 times in total.
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