If you type ‘’Blood Alley’’ in Google Maps, the app will take you to Vancouver, Canada. A bit too far for a day trip…
But guess what, there is one in London too ! Or used to be at least…
Vancouver’s Blood Alley, now a very lively road with plenty of renowned restaurants, is said to have gotten the name from the many butchers doing their trade here, and from the blood of the slaughtered animals which flowed in the street, leaving the 19th Century cobbled alley stained red forever.
Spoiler alert : it seems that it is actually just an urban legend.
Not as gory as you may think…
London’s ‘Blood Alley’ is (was) in the West India Docks, on the Isle of Dogs.
The West India Docks used to be the busiest docks in the world, accommodating over 600 vessels sailing to and from (as the name suggests) the British West Indies.
The place was bustling with activity with hundreds of dockers, merchants and warehousemen transporting goods from around the world including coffee, spices, timber, bananas, tobacco, rum and …
Elephants?
Well yes that too, but a bit less on the anecdotal side…
Sugar!
Here we are…
All the cargoes were constantly on the move, taken from the hold of the ships, to the quayside and then into the warehouses through these special doors that you can see in the picture.
But we are talking 19th, early 20th century here, so there were no fancy computerized cranes or motorized forklifts.
Just sheer human strength. And cords. And pullies.
Sugar is rough, mean little cristals chafing the skin, and the dockers carrying the sticky bags of West Indies sugar inevitably ended up with bleeding scratches on their hands and all over their backs, from shoulder to shoulder.
Voilà. Hence the name: Blood Alley.
A sore back for a sweet tooth?
English sugar imports (almost solely from the West Indian colonies) increased dramatically, from 22,000 tonnes in 1700, to over 150,000 tonnes in 1800.
That means an average consumption of 10 kilograms of sugar per head by 1800 – five times as much as a century before!
An what about today ? Let me see… Whoohoo, nearly 30 kg per head in 2019! (Source : FAO stats)
West India Docks
The West India Docks were commissioned by the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants, and officially opened in 1802.
They covered 295 acres (120 ha) including the three-quarter-mile-long (1.2 km) canal which ships entered through the lock in Blackwall reach, allowing the ships to by-pass the Isle of Dogs.
At the time, it was the largest and most expensive building project in the world, costing £82million in today’s money.
Each storey was of a different height – according to the products to be stored:
The ground floors were made to store two tiers of hogsheads of ‘clayed’ sugar.
In case you’re wondering (I was!) A hogshead is a type of barrel, like those:
The upper floors stored the muscovado sugar, while the top floors held lighter cargoes such as coffee and cocoa.
The West India docks remained central to Britain’s import and export trade for generations. The site underwent various stages of redevelopment and expansion in the mid-19th century, but after nearly 200 years of activity, the docks closed in 1980 due to the advent of cargo containers and cargo ships.
A traveler from the past would certainly be quite shocked (amazed?) to see how this place changed
from this ??
To this ??
Now the wider area of Canary Wharf(*) is one of London’s two main financial centres and is home to Barclays, HSBC, KPMG and many more, but two of the warehouses survived on the West India docks, one now being home to the fantastic Museum of London Docklands.
(*) And yes, You’re right, the name Canary Wharf also stems from its trading past : many of the goods which arrived there were from the Canary Islands.
Helene
