Surrey Commercial Docks - London's docks and shipping

Surrey Commercial Docks (1807-1970)

Main trade

Types of vessel used

Statistics

Life Story

	Send this story to a friend
	Printer-friendly version
	View this story in pictures

The only docks in South London

Main trade

Surrey Commercial Docks. © NMM

The Surrey Docks were originally occupied by many different companies, trading in commodities such as timber, hemp, flax, tar, grain, salt, fruit, cheese, bacon and coal. After the formation of the Surrey Commercial Dock Company, timber and grain became the staple produce traded at the docks.

Greenland Dock from the air. © NMM

Timber deals, boards and staves came from North America and the Baltic and softwood was imported from Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. The Deal Porters were a specialist group of dockers who dealt solely with timber, and were based at Surrey Docks. There were also a number of small independent timber wharves established along the banks of the Grand Surrey Canal.

Types of vessel used

Like so many of the docks in London, the Surrey Commercial Docks were designed for sailing vessels, but were able to accommodate steam ships as they grew in popularity and size. After the Greenland Dock was enlarged, it was able to handle large passenger liners, of up to 14000 tons.

The Surrey Commercial Docks had to cope with a lot of barge traffic, as there was no railway access to the site. Timber was transported by barge to wharves along the Surrey Canal or on the Thames.

Statistics

The dock system covered 372 acres.
The engineers for the canal and docks were Ralph Dodd, John W. Rowe and William Jessop.
Surrey Commercial Docks comprised of 10 docks: Lavender Dock, Stave Dock, Albion Dock, Island Dock, Lady Dock, Russia Dock, Canada Dock, Greenland Dock, Norway Dock and South Dock (formerly East Country Dock).
The docks also had 1 basin: Surrey Basin; and 14 timber yards: Lavender Yard, Acorn Yard, Stave Yard, Island Yard, Russia Yard, Baltic Yard, Centre Yard, Canada Yard, Quebec Yard, Station Yard, Steel Yard, Commercial Yard, Swedish Yard, East Country Yard.
The Surrey Entrance Lock measured 16 metres across and 8.2 metres deep.
The Grand Surrey Commercial Canal was 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres) long.
The docks had grain warehouses with a capacity of 35,000 tons and 46 acres of timber storage sheds.
The reconstructed Greenland Dock covered 22 acres of water featuring a lock 168 metres long by 24.4 metres across. The engineer on the project was Sir John Wolfe-Barry.