Puddle Dock

View of docks on the north bank of River Thames, with St Paul's Cathedral behind, in the 1820s. Puddle Dock is situated at the far left.

Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars in the City of London, was formerly the site of one of London's docks. It is now a minor street and the site of the Mermaid Theatre which closed in 2003.

The area was dramatically altered by major works in the 1960s, involving the reclaiming of foreshore of the River Thames at Puddle Dock and the rebuilding of Upper Thames Street as a major traffic thoroughfare.

Today its name survives as the name of a street connecting Upper Thames Street and Queen Victoria Street.

Berkeley's Inn, the town house of the Barons Berkeley of Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, stood nearby, at the south end of Adle Street, against 'Puddle Wharf', as reported in 1598 by John Stow in his Survey of London, at which date the house had been abandoned by the family and had been split up into multiple-occupation apartments, in a dilapidated state. Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, son-in-law of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, lodged in this house, in the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe.^[1]

Puddle Dock formed part of the marathon course of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The nearest London Underground stations are Blackfriars (Circle and District lines) and St. Paul's (Central line).

References

1. Quoted in Thornbury, Walter, Old & New London, Vol.1, 1872, pp.302-3

Coordinates: 51°30′40″N 0°06′07″W / 51.511°N 0.102°W