BRENTFORD'S DOCK
In 1855 the Great western Railway company purchased
land from timber merchant James Montgomrey (sometimes
spelt Montgomery) on which to build its railway line and
a dock. The three and a quarter acre site consisted of
Old England on the western bank of the Brent and the
eastern bank of the canal at its junction with the Thames,
together with land west of the canal and east of the Brent
The dock was to provide a direct connecting link between
goods brought by rail from the West Country to London.
Cargoes were transferred from railway wagon to barge for
ultimate delivery alongside ships or wharves at the London
docks. Brentford Dock was designed to plans drawn up by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1859. In 1918 the
Thames frontage to the Dock was adapted to take boats up
to 300 tons. There were customs and weighing facilities
there, lifting apparatus, a coal tip and warehouses. The
wooden warehouse designed by Brunel was destroyed by
fire in 1920 and replaced in 1923 by steel and iron
structures. Many different commodities went through
Brentford Dock. Imported goods included wood pulp,
asphalt, cork, starch, timber steel bars and sheets,
dried fruit, coffee beans, grain and seed skins and
pelts. Exported goods included chemicals, coal,
condensed milk, china clay, malt and machinery. The
progressive closure of the London docks meant that
Brentford's importance as a centre for the transhipment
of goods gradually diminished and in 1964, British
Railways (Western Region) closed its Dock and railway
line due to he 'rigid economy measures' then being
applied to the railways and the fact that 'declining
traffic had reached such a low ebb'. Brentford Dock
found a new use as a marina around which the Greater
London Council developed a housing estate in the 1970s.
The marina is now only half the size it was when used
as a dock.

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Last Updated: 22nd NOVEMBER 2005