The View From Above in 1965

Recently, friend and fellow Island historian, Con Maloney, pointed out to me a photo for sale on eBay, which I promptly purchased. It shows the Millwall Docks and much of the surrounding area in approximately 1965. Scarily, this photo was taken more than half a century ago, but the views are so familiar it feels just like yesterday.

Millwall Docks and area, c1965 (low-res version)

Mind you, some things I don’t recognise. For example, I never got to see the old houses in Glengall Grove, which were demolished a few years after this photo to make room for new flats. In 1965, the Mudchute was still PLA-land and the Transporter Yard and adjacent sheds were occupied by various firms at the time. Opposite Glengall School, just out of sight, there were still a few prefabs.

And what about these box-shaped things over the Mudchute? Allotment sheds? I am doubtful because the land doesn’t look like it was being cultivated, and all the ‘sheds’ seem to have windows pointing in the same direction. Perhaps preparation for new allotments?

Left of the possible allotments was the PLA football ground, close to the Pier Street entrance to the Mudchute.

Plenty to see over East Ferry Road to the right in the photo. The shed under construction was one of the first of a few to be built along this side of Millwall Inner Dock by Fred Olsen & Co. (see here for article). Below it in the photo, the Glass Bridge – its construction was completed in 1964, but the machinery to raise and lower the bridge was not installed until the year of the photo.  There are no ships waiting to pass through, so it looks like the machinery was not yet installed at the time.

Further to the right, the area around the newly renamed Tiller Road (formerly Glengall Grove). No sign of the Island Baths, though, as they were being rebuilt at the time.

North of Tiller Road, on the other side of the Millwall Outer Dock was McDougall’s with its iconic 1930s-built silo building  Beyond the flour firm, a yard full of timber which was in use by Montague Meyer’s. In the background are – from letft to right – Hesperus Crescent, Harbinger Road and Cahir Street.

Left of McDougall’s in the photo was the Millwall Dock Graving Dock (aka Dry Dock) where ships (including the Cutty Sark) were repaired or refurbished. By the time of the photo, the dry dock was rarely used and was losing money. In 1968 it was permanently flooded and was later redeveloped as Clippers Quay.

Back to Mellish Street, and then a little lower in the photo, a large area with demarcated lanes for waiting lorries. It’s by no means full, and I don’t know what the lorries are waiting for. This area of the docks was occupied mostly by the Central Granary and the Western Granaries (right in the photo), so I expect it had something to do with grain transport.

Here is the aforementioned Central Granary, at the time the main store of grain for London, but which would a few years later be replaced by a new granary at Tilbury Docks. The Central Granary was closed in 1969 and demolished a year later.

Finally in this little journey around a photograph, Millwall Cutting, which connected the Millwall Docks to West India Docks. South Quay DLR Station is today on the site.