Description
Ropemakers Fields was laid out under the auspices of London Docklands Development Corporation on derelict land, together with land above the new Limehouse Link Tunnel. Although a new park it is of some historic interest in that it was formerly the site of ropemaking in Limehouse where rope for marine anchors, rigging and mining was made for many centuries. Samuel Pepys refers to a visit to the ropeyard in 1664, and Tsar Alexander II of Russia visited in 1871.
Practical Information
| Site location | Oak Street/Narrow Street, Limehouse |
|---|---|
| Postcode | E14 8DA |
| What3Words | ///dogs.sides.orders |
| Type of Site | Public Park |
| Borough | Tower Hamlets |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted |
| Facilities | Playground |
| Public Transport | DLR: Westferry, Limehouse. |
| Research Updated | 1 March 2004 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Limehouse Link Tunnel was built in 1989-93 in order to create an underground link between The Highway and the Isle of Dogs instead of building an overground route that would have disrupted much of Limehouse. The park was laid out by the LDDC with landscape architects Churchman Associates and extends from Narrow Street in the south to the canal that leads to Commercial Road near St Anne's Church Limehouse (q.v.). The history of the area is alluded to through the design of railings and bollards with a rope motif, and a sculpture by Jane Ackroyd, Herring Gull (1994), depicts a copper gull on a coil of rope. The undulating landscape includes areas of grass and trees including Indian bean trees, with paths, seating and a bandstand with cast-iron columns that came from a warehouse in St Katharine's Docks. To the south of the park is a terrace of C17th and early C18th buildings, a well-preserved and rare survival in this area of Docklands, which has seen much new building in the last few decades.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ366807 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | LB Tower Hamlets |
| Site Management | Leisure Services, Parks and Open Spaces. Friends of Ropemakers Fields |
| Dates | 1994 |
| Designers | LDDC and Churchman Associates |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Tower Hamlets |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Rectory Gardens is on the site of the former garden of St Anne's Rectory, an early C18th house that was destroyed in WWII. Now a public garden owned by Tower Hamlets Council, the roughly triangular site is bordered by the Limehouse Cut, London’s oldest canal built in 1766-9, with Commercial Road to the north and Docklands Light Railway viaduct, originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway, along its former southern boundary.
St Anne's Church Limehouse was built to serve the new parish of Limehouse. Designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, it was built between 1714-24, but not consecrated until 1730. At that time the surrounding area was largely fields, with some industrial activity nearer the river. House-building developed particularly after the opening of the Limehouse Cut in 1769. The churchyard was the burial place for many people associated with seafaring. After it was closed to burial it was converted into public gardens in 1887.
Lavender Pond Nature Park was created in 1981 by LB Southwark in conjunction with the Trust for Urban Ecology and Landuse Consultants Ltd. It was once in the northern part of the Surrey Commercial Docks established in 1864, which finally closed in 1969. Nearby are remnants of the earlier industrial use, the Lavender Lock built in 1863 to serve a timber pond that belonged to the Surrey Docks, and the Pump House, built by Port of London Authority in 1928/9 over the channel through to the Thames. It was used to regulate the water in Lavender Pond and was converted to educational use in 1982 and from 1997 it was the Rotherhithe Heritage Museum (now closed). The site was designated a local nature reserve in 2005, becoming one of the oldest urban nature reserves in the country.
