Until 1800 the Isle of Dogs, also known by its original name of Stebunheath or Stepney Marsh, was pastureland.

It was protected from the high tides of the River Thames by a great bank of earth, wood and stones, erected in the distant past.

From time to time the river broke through this bank and flooded parts of the Island; on one occasion it left a permanent inland lake, The Breach, or Poplar Gut.

The fields were divided by drainage ditches and a rough road ran round the top of the bank. Another road led from Poplar High Street to the Greenwich Ferry.

Windmills for grinding corn were built on the western side of the bank between 1680 and 1720, giving the area its name: Millwall.

The Island was a rather isolated place in those days, inhabited only by millers, graziers, ferrymen, fishermen,cowherds and their families.

Increasingly in the 17th and 18th centuries, there was ship-building activity at nearby Limehoouse and Blackwall.

In the years that followed, the western foreshore of the Island was developed with shipyards, barge builders, mast makers and iron works.

Skilled workers and labourers came to Millwall to live. Rows of cottages were built for them, and smart villas for the better-off. There were new roads, shops, pubs and clubs.  The air resounded with the noise of industry and with the accents of all parts of the United Kingdom.

The name "Millwall" became associated with the most advanced engineering of the day, leading to the construction of Brunel's famous and ill-fated Great Eastern steamship in the 1850s.

On the eastern side of the Island, William Cubitt, master builder, had developed Cubitt Town. New streets were laid out and more industries opened up around the eastern foreshore.

By the 1860s, the Island population had risen from a few hundred in 1800 to over 14,000.

Photograph on right: Manchester Road looking towards Christ Church, c.1900

Shipbuilding declined in the 1860s, but engineering, chemical works and food processing flourished. The Millwall Docks were opened in    the Centre of the Island in 1868 to handle imports of grain and timber.

Photograph on left: Millwall Dock, on the quayside, 1919.

By the end of the 19th century, the population had risen to over 21,000 and the entire foreshore was ringed with factories and workshops.

Some of the famous products associated with the Isle of Dogs in its industrial heyday were chain cables made by Brown & Lennox, suppliers to the Admiralty; McDougall's Self-Raising Flour; Duckham's Oil; Maconochie's Pan-Yan Pickles; Cutler's gas holders;  Westwood's bridges; and the Hercules rope made at Hawkin's and Tipson's rope works in East Ferry Road.

Photograph on right: inside Morton's confectionery factory in Westferry Road, c.1900.

In the 20th century a settled working-class community lived on the Island in the streets of terraced houses crowded in amongst docks and factories. This community, still somewhat isolated from the rest of East London, had its own schools, pubs, churches, clubs and societies, traditions and customs - and a very low crime rate!

See Story Time

Parts of East London were badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War and because the docks were a prime target, the Island suffered greatly. Many homes and businesses were destroyed and the population was scattered.

Photograph on right: St. Cuthbert's Church, on the corner of Cahir Street, early in the Blitz. The church was never rebuilt and the site is now part of the playground of Harbinger School; 1930s flats in Cahir Street are in the background. See under Wartime Memories for a first-hand account of this particular incident

The community survived the Blitz and after the war,  local authority housing was built to replace the ruined terraces. The photograph shows a tower block going up on the Barkantime Estate, which had been a network of little streets.  A new population was moved here from other parts of London .
Tenants' and residents' associations sprang up to replace old neighbourhood connections.

During the 1950s and 1960s, there was plenty of work in the docks and factories. Many people could now own a motor car and a television and other comforts;   a new era of prosperity appeared to have opened.

This was not to last and the 1970s saw a general economic downturn. Island factories were absorbed into larger companies, or they moved away from their Victorian buildings on the Island to modern premises outside London. The West India and Millwall docks had also closed by the early 1980s, in response to changing technology and new patterns of international trade.

There was a period when the Island environment, once so busy, was a silent one. The dominant views were of still waters, rusting cranes and corrugated iron fencing round derelict riverside sites.

McDougall's Flour had been incorporated into the larger company, Rank Hovis McDougall. The mill and silos on the Island were demolished in 1985, as seen here in this photograph by Mike Seaborne.

There was a lot of debate at both local and national level, about what to do with "Docklands", as the area from the Tower to Tilbury was now designated. Eventually the government created the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) with powers to attract investment capital into the area.

After 30 years, the success of the redevelopment programme is highly visible, particularly in One Canada Square, the tower on Canary Wharf. The Docklands Light Railway links the Island with the City, Lewisham, Stratford and Woolwich; the Jubilee Line extenson connects to the London Underground system; there are a host of new people to fill the new jobs which have replaced the traditional port work and engineering.

While the tall towers dominate the northern end of the Island, the southern half has retained much of its charm and sense of community. New residents are quick to recognise that the Isle of Dogs is a very special place.