london surrounding walks. Docklands. The London Charles Dickens Knew.

Great changes have taken place in Docklands since Dickens’s day, and a whole new city has been created where once ships from all over the world moored along the vast, cliff-like walls of the docks. In The Uncommercial Traveller Dickens wrote that this part of London was generally known as ‘Down by the Docks’, and described it as being ‘home to a good many people – to too many, if I may judge from the overflow of local population in the streets – but my nose insinuates that the number to who this is Sweet Home might easily be counted.’ Now, the massive warehouses, where cargoes from all over the world were once stored, have been converted into luxury apartments and the pubs, once some of the most violent in London, have been spruced up to cater for their new well-heeled clientele. But scratch the surface and remnants of old Docklands are still there.