Бассейн Темзы: История и Возрождение

Area of the Thames
the film

The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were the original part of the Port of London. The Pool of London is divided into two parts, the Upper Pool and Lower Pool. The Upper Pool consists of the section between London Bridge, which blocked tall masts from continuing west, and the Cherry Garden Pier in Bermondsey. The Lower Pool runs from the Cherry Garden Pier to Limekiln Creek.

Originally, the Pool of London was the stretch of the River Thames along Billingsgate on the south side of the City of London where all imported cargoes had to be delivered for inspection and assessment by Customs Officers, giving the area the name of "Legal Quays". Smuggling, theft and pilferage of cargoes were rife, both on the busy open wharves and in the crowded warehouses. The term was later used more generally to refer to the stretch of the river from Rotherhithe upriver to London Bridge, with the venerable bridge being the farthest reach that could be navigated by a tall masted vessel. The Pool of London was of vital importance to the capital for centuries as early as the 7th century Bede wrote that it was the reason for London's existence but it reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries. By this time the river was lined with nearly continuous walls of wharves running for miles along both banks, and hundreds of ships moored in the river or alongside the quays. The Pool of London saw a phenomenal increase in both overseas and coastal trade in the second half of the eighteenth century. Two thirds of coastal vessels using it were colliers meeting an increase in the demand for coal as the population of London rose. Coastal trade virtually doubled between 1750 and 1796 reaching 11,964 vessels in 1795. In overseas trade, in 1751 the Pool of London handled 1,682 ships and 234,639 tons of goods but by 1794 this had risen to 3,663 ships and 620,845 tons. The congestion was so extreme that it was said to be possible to walk across the Thames simply by stepping from ship to ship. London's Docklands had their origins in the lack of capacity in the Pool of London which particularly affected the West India trade. The West India Dock Act 1799 allowed a new off river dock to be built for produce from the West Indies

In 1996, an organisation the Pool of London Partnership was established to help promote urban renewal of the areas north and south of the river. It also extended its remit slightly further eastwards to include the docks and wharves of St Katharine Docks and Shad Thames. After a decade of regeneration and an investment of approximately £100m, the Pool of London Partnership was due to dissolve in March 2007 with its work to be partially continued by three new organisations: Team London Bridge, the Potters Fields Park Management Trust and the Tower Hill Management Group. The 'core area' includes Borough Market, London Bridge, Guy's Hospital, London Bridge station, Hay's Galleria, HMS Belfast, City Hall, Shad Thames, Tower Bridge, St Katharine Docks, the Tower of London, Tower Hill Underground station and the Monument to the Great Fire of London.

André Derain painted four works of the Thames, and his The Pool of London painted in 1906 is on display at the Tate Gallery. Derain was a leading Fauvist and had been sent to London by his dealer to produce Thames views in the Fauvist style. A British film, Pool of London (1951), is a crime drama set within the Pool. The film was directed by Basil Dearden, and features actors Earl Cameron, Susan Shaw, Joan Dowling, and Bonar Colleano, and comic actors Leslie Phillips, Alfie Bass and James Robertson Justice. The Pool has also featured as a location in various other films. Patrick O'Brian refers to the Pool of London in his novels The Commodore and Blue at the Mizzen, both in the Aubrey Maturin series.