A 35mm magnetic film pot
The area was a shipbuilding yard from 1702 until 1708 when Edward Swallow had the site and built ships including the 50-gun Leopard and the 40-gun Southsea Castle.
Between then and 1773 the yard was held by a number of ship builders supplying ships to the Royal Navy.
In the early 19th Century it was split in two, with the dry dock and related ship building structures next to the remains of today's lock, and Lavender Wharf, as it became known, immediately downriver. The dock was taken over as a ship breakers in the early 1800s. Ship breaking became a popular activity as the ship building industry went into decline, and there were several along Rotherhithe's frontage. Many famous naval warships met their ends at ship breakers like this.