Silvertown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Silvertown | |
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference: | TQ415795 |
| Latitude: | 51.496661° |
| Longitude: | 0.039393° |
| Administration | |
| London borough: | Newham |
| County level: | Greater London |
| Region: | London |
| Constituent country: | England |
| Sovereign state: | United Kingdom |
| Other | |
| Ceremonial county: | Greater London |
| Historic county: | Essex (1965) |
| Services | |
| Police force: | Metropolitan Police |
| Fire brigade: | London Fire Brigade |
| Ambulance service: | London Ambulance |
| Post office and telephone | |
| Post town: | LONDON |
| Postal district: | E16 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Politics | |
| UK Parliament: | |
| London Assembly: | City and East |
| European Parliament: | London |
| London | List of places in London | |
Silvertown is an industrialised suburb in the London Borough of Newham dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar factory and transformed since 1970 by the construction of the Thames Barrier, an adjacent park, new housing areas and the London City Airport. Up until 2004, Higgs International Logistics were also situated in Silvertown. It formed part of the County Borough of West Ham in Essex until 1965.
Access was much improved in 1999 with the completion of the Jubilee Line extension from Green Park to Stratford and has been further enhanced through an extension of the Docklands Light Railway from Canning Town to King George V which opened in December 2005.
On 19 January 1917 parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory. 73 people died and hundreds were injured in one of the largest explosions ever experienced in the British Isles.
Silvertown is featured in a ballad by Mark Knopfler titled ‘Silvertown Blues’ and describes the area as it once was before redevelopment.
