Grain Elevators in Surrey Commercial Docks, 1912

The Surrey Commercial Docks were a large group of docks on the Rotherhithe peninsular on the south bank, or Surrey side, of the Thames. The Commercial Dock Company acquired the old Greenland Dock in 1807. The main commodities that passed through the complex were timber and grain.

This atmospheric painting by Dora Meeson records the pneumatic elevators that were built to service the huge granaries erected in the late 19th century. The presence of barges in the scene is a reminder that there was no railway access to the Surrey Docks. Barges were used to transport cargoes along the three-and-a-half-mile Grand Surrey Canal, or to wharves on the Thames.