The Custom House.—London Docks. 203 the upper rooms of which Fish Dinners are to be had daily, at 1 and 4 o'clock, comprising every kind of fish in season, at a very small cost, but served in rough and ready manner. THE COAL EXCHANGE in Lower Thames Street, nearly opposite Billingsgate, a fine edifice of its kind, was built by Bunning, the City Architect, in 1849, and is decorated by some curious examples of ferns, palms, &c., found fossilized in the coal formations. The London coal trade is said to employ 10,000 seamen. THE CUSTOM HOUSE adjoins Billingsgate and faces the river. The business of this establishment has been of course considerably narrowed by the removal, of late years, of a large number of articles from the list chargeable to the Inland Revenue, but there is, nevertheless, an amazing sum levied at this port annually. The present building was designed by David Laing upon a portion of the site of the former Custom House, destroyed by fire February 1814, but Laing's front was altered when the foundation gave way in 1852, and the present façade was erected by Sir Robert Smirke. The interior contains a great many warehouses, cellars and apartments, and the 'Long Room,' 190 feet by 66, is a fine room, but not equal to that which was taken down at the failure of the foundation. Articles seized at the Custom House are sold by auction, quarterly, in Mark Lane. The Thames Subway, from Tower Hill to Tooley Street, runs beneath the river. It is 1330 feet long, and was made by Mr. Barlow the engineer at a cost of only £16,000. THE TOWER OF LONDON (see p. 80) is a prominent feature at this point of the river, from which is to be had the best view of Traitors' Gate-the entrance for prisoners formerly brought hither by water, but now closed. Immediately behind the Gate is seen the Bloody Tower, where the infant princes were smothered by command of Richard III. Traitors' Gate was restored and rebuilt in 1866. ST. KATHARINE'S Docks are the nearest to London Bridge of the eight docks (six on the north and two on the south side of the Thames) which receive the London shipping, and occupy altogether 900 acres, the whole of them having been constructed within the present century. St. Katharine's Docks, planned by Telford and opened in 1828, at a cost of about £2,000,000, cover 24 acres, nearly half being water, and occupy the site of the old HOSPITAL OF ST. KATHARINE, transferred to Regent's Park (see p. 103). LONDON DOCKS, amalgamated with St. Katharine's in 1863, were planned by Rennie and opened 1805, and contain 90 acres, about a third being water, and cost £4,000,000. Here are the great warehouses for tobacco, rented by the Crown. Here also are the Wine Vaults, covering many acres of ground; the Mixing House, having one vat of over 23,000 gallons; the casks of wine for which "tasting orders are obtained from the wine owners; the wool, spices, tea, drug, sugar, and other warehouses, seemingly innumerable. The 204 The Thames Tunnel.-Wapping. public are admitted without ticket to the docks and shipping, but an order from the Secretary at the London Dock-House is necessary for admission to the vaults and warehouses. For 66 For "tasting orders" apply to your wine-merchant. The Docks, being one of the few public places where employment can be had without character or recommendation, attract many hundreds of persons out of work. "Here," wrote Mayhew, "at half-past seven in the morning, may be seen swarms of men of all grades, looks, and kinds, decayed and bankrupt butchers, bakers, publicans, grocers, old soldiers, old sailors, Polish refugees, broken-down gentlemen, discharged lawyer's clerks, suspended government clerks, almsmen, pensioners, servants, thieves, indeed every one who wants a loaf and is willing to earn it." THE THAMES TUNNEL, formerly one of the sights of London, is now used by the East London Railway, to carry its lines from the north to the south side of the Thames; that is to say, between Wapping and Rotherhithe. The Tunnel consists of two arched ways, 1200 feet long, 14 feet wide, 16 feet high, and 16 feet below the river, and was opened in 1843, having been built by Brunel, at a cost of £468,000; the Railway Company bought it for £200,000 in 1865. It was never a profitable undertaking, but it was reckoned a wonderful and unprecedented example of skilled engineering. WAPPING derives its name, as is supposed, from Wapp, a ship's rope, and it maintains its reputation as a place for shipping and seafaring people. Wapping will long be remembered as the birthplace of Arthur Orton, of Tichborne notoriety; but yet longer for its landing place, still in use, called 'Wapping Old Stairs,' for ever associated with the genius of Dibdin, and with his Molly-the most constant and affectionate of sweethearts, whose name is indelibly engraved upon the hearts of all true Jack Tars. Opposite Wapping is Rotherhithe, vulgarly Redriff, famous as the supposed birthplace of Lemuel Gulliver. Gay writes à propos of waterside constancy "In five long years I took no second spouse, What Redriff wife so long hath kept her vows?" In Rotherhithe churchyard was buried Prince Lee Boo of the Pelew Islands, who died during his visit to England. Stowe tells us that Rother meant Red Rose, and that Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire broke out, was originally known as Rother Lane. Jacob's Island, near Rotherhithe, was rendered notorious by Dickens's description of it in Oliver Twist.' "It is surrounded," he then wrote, "by a muddy ditch eight or ten feet deep, and fifteen or twenty feet wide, when the tide is in-once named Mill Pond, but known in these days as Folly Ditch. It is a creek or inlet of the Thames which can always be filled at high water by opening the sluices at the Lead Mills, from which it took its name,' "Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days."-Eccles. xi. 1. Patron.-THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY. THIS Society ministers to the spiritual necessities of the vast fluctuating population on the Thames, consisting of Seamen, Emigrants, Troops going on Foreign Service, Bargemen, Steamboatmen, &c. SERVICES are held on board Troop, Emigrant, and Passenger Ships, Screw and Sailing Colliers, and every description of Vessel; also in the Mission and Reading Rooms. Three Clergy (licensed by the Bishop of London) and twenty-two Laymen constitute the Mission Staff. The Chaplains hold services on the Lord's Day on board the Worcester, nautical training college for young gentlemen intended for officers in the merchant service; also (with weekly classes) on the training-ships Arethusa, Chichester, and Cornwall. The field of labour on the Thames extends from Putney Bridge to the Nore Light-ship. Contributions to sustain and increase this important HOME MISSIONARY WORK are much needed, and will be thankfully received by the SECRETARY, and by Messrs. LLOYDS, BARNETTS, & BOSANQUETS (Limited), the Society's Bankers, 60 and 62, Lombard Street, E.C. Books, Magazines, Tracts, and Cuffs and Mufflers, are greatly needed. REV. HENRY BLOOMER, Clerical Supt. and Sec. FORM OF BEQUEST. "I give to the Treasurer or Treasurers, for the time being, of the THAMES CHURCH MISSION, instituted in London in 1844, for the general purposes of that Mission, the sum of to be paid, free of Legacy Duty, out of such part of my Personal Estate as I may legally devise to the said Institution." |