Surrey Commercial Docks and environs, Rotherhithe, Southwark, Greater London

The word 'hithe' means a haven or landing-place on a river. Surrey Commercial Docks, a large group of docks built on marshland at Rotherhithe, originated when a wet dock was built in 1696 as a harbour before becoming a commercial dock. Expansion followed before decline set in after the Second World War. The docks closed in 1969, most filled and the area redeveloped for housing and leisure, and renamed Surrey Quays.

Historic England Archive EPW060799.