Silvertown is a district in the London Borough of Newham, in East London, England. It lies on the north bank of the Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, hundred of Becontree, and the historic county of Essex. Since 1965, Silvertown has been part of the London Borough of Newham, a local government district of Greater London. It forms part of the London E16 postcode district along with Canning Town and Custom House. The area was named after the factories established by Stephen William Silver in 1852. The riverside of central Silvertown continues to be dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery, with residential developments being built to its east and west. Central Silvertown features St Mark's Church (now Brick Lane Music Hall), London City Airport, and a community arts and creative space called The Factory Project. A £3.5 billion redevelopment of part of the district was approved in 2015.
History The area was part of the ancient parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Essex, from the 12th century onwards. In 1852, S.W. Silver & Company moved to the area from Greenwich and established a rubber works, originally to make waterproof clothing. This subsequently developed into the works of the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company, which constructed and laid many submarine cables. By the 1860s a number of manure and chemical works and petroleum storage depots had been set up. In 1864, the area became an ecclesiastical parish of its own, centred on the church of St Mark's. Sugar refiners in the area were joined by Henry Tate in 1877 and Abram Lyle in 1881, whose companies merged in 1921 to form Tate & Lyle. Prior to the merger, which occurred after they had died, the two men were bitter business rivals, although they had never met. Tate & Lyle still has two large refineries in the area. In 1889, Silver's factory was the scene of a twelve-week-long strike by the majority of its 3,000 workers. The strikers were demanding higher pay and were inspired by the recent successes of New Unionism in the East End of London. Management refused to negotiate with the strikers who had immense popular support. Leading figures in the strike included Tom Mann and Eleanor Marx. The workers were eventually starved back to work, with many being victimised for their role. In the aftermath of the strike, Silver's declared a half-yearly dividend of 5 per cent. The rest of the industry congratulated Silver's management for holding a line against New Unionism. On 19 January 1917, parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory, in what is known as the Silvertown explosion. Seventy three people died and hundreds were injured in one of the largest explosions ever experienced in the British Isles. In the early 20th century the area suffered greatly from road congestion due to being located between the Thames and the Royal Docks, then the largest and one of the busiest dock groups in the world. The area was cut off for much of the time by lifting bridges over dock entrances and level crossings which were closed for up to three-quarters of each hour by train movements. This led in the early 1930s to the construction of the elevated Silvertown Way, one of the earliest urban flyovers. On the first night of The Blitz, Tate and Lyle's sugar refinery, John Knight's Primrose Soapworks, and the Silvertown Rubber Works were all badly damaged by bombing. Silver's was eventually taken over by the British Tyre and Rubber Co, later known as BTR Industries. The site closed in the 1960s and is now the Thameside Industrial Estate. Another major local employer was the Loders and Nucoline plant at Cairn Mills, a traditional port oleo industry and formerly part of Unilever. This originally milled seeds but later concentrated on production of fats from palm kernel oil.
Local government The Local Government Act 1894 created East Ham Urban District. West Ham became a county borough in 1900, before merging with East Ham to create the new London Borough of Newham in 1965.
Regeneration
After the former mainline Silvertown rail station closed, the small former commercial area in central Silvertown suffered, with a loss of shops, a post office, a local social club, and a library. Of the numerous previous pubs in the area, only one now remains. Some small pockets of residential development occurred in the 1980s, however since then, little has been done to improve the historic centre of Silvertown, despite the arrival of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), the Elizabeth Line and London City Airport. In 2007, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester visited Silvertown, to formally open the new Silvertown Ambulance Station on North Woolwich Road.
West Silvertown Further west, the residential area of Britannia Village was developed in the 1990s in what would come to be known as "West Silvertown".
Royal Wharf Royal Wharf is a mixed-use, high density, managed neighbourhood built between 2014 and 2021. It is located between the River Thames and North Woolwich Road, and comprises three- and four-storey terraced houses, apartment blocks and towers, providing accommodation for about 10,000 residents. The development includes a 'high street' with retail units, together with open spaces and a primary school. A westward extension bordering Lyle Park was completed in 2025.
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