Durand’s Wharf is a small, peaceful riverside park overlooked by Canary Wharf on the other side of the river Thames. Named after a wharf that was previously on the site since at least the beginning of the 19th century. Timber was one of the main goods handled in the Surrey Commercial Docks and for many years Durand’s Wharf was a timber yard.
In February 1804, Durand’s Wharf was the finishing line for a rowing race held between a team of watermen from London and a team of watermen from Gravesend. Rowing in cutters, the race commenced in Gravesend and, eight hours and 82 miles later, the watermen from Gravesend reached Durand’s Wharf. The London team took defeat hard.
During World War II Rotherhithe was subject to devastating bombing during the Blitz, being an obvious target for it’s commercial and shipping activities, and much of the area was flattened with many civilian casualties.
The wharf closed some time in the 1970s as a result of the docks closing. The site was cleared and work commenced on the extension to the Jubilee Line in the early 1990s to accommodate the newly regenerated docklands on the north bank. Part of the route of the new line runs right underneath Durand’s Wharf.
There are proposals to build a bridge to carry pedestrians and cyclists from Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf. One of the proposed routes starts in Durand’s Wharf. At present, the new bridge is at the feasibility study stage.