Cannon workshops

Image: © Natasha Ceridwen de Chroustchoff Taken: 26 Jun 2008

Through the archway was Rennie’s Quadrangle, an area of workshops, at the centre of which was a cooperage, a vital part of dock operations. Designed by John Rennie in 1824, the quadrangle eventually came to include a carpenter’s shop, a smithery, printers’ and bookbinders’ shops, and various other stores. These workshops became the Port of London Authority’s Central Stores Depot in 1923. The cooperage was destroyed by bombing in 1941 and was partly rebuilt in 1957. It continued to be used until about 1970. The eventual closure of the up-river docks made the Central Stores and works yards redundant. In 1980, the PLA set up a project for the refurbishment of the Stores, with clearance and redevelopment of the works yard, making it an estate of lettable workshops for small businesses. It was designated Cannon Workshops after a cannon which had been inside the entrance arch since around 1914. (From www.visiteastlondon.co.uk) On the far right is the single survivor of two round 1803 guard houses, which were once situated next to the drawbridge over the moat round the dock walls. This building was used for storing arms and the other for holding prisoners taken by the guard stationed at the wall of West India Docks. It now houses a computer business.

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