Editing Limehouse (section)

===Maritime links===
{{see also|Shipbuilding in Limehouse}}
From its foundation, Limehouse, like neighbouring [[Wapping]], has enjoyed better links with the river than the land, the land route being across a [[marsh]]. Limehouse became a significant [[port]] in late [[Middle Ages|medieval times]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foley |first1=Michael |title=London's Docklands through time |date=2014 |publisher=[[Amberley Publishing]] |isbn=9781445640495 |page=24 |edition=2014}}</ref> Although most cargoes were discharged in the [[Pool of London]] before the establishment of the docks, industries such as [[shipbuilding]], [[ship chandler]]ing and [[rope]] making were established in Limehouse.
[[File:John Boydell - View of the riverside at Limehouse 1751.JPG|thumb|right|[[John Boydell]]'s view of the riverside at Limehouse in 1751 shows respectable houses and shipyards crowding onto the riverfront]]
[[Limehouse Basin]] opened in 1820 as the ''Regent's Canal Dock''. This was an important connection between the Thames and the canal system, where cargoes could be transferred from larger ships to the shallow-draught canal boats. This mix of vessels can still be seen in the Basin: [[canal]] [[narrowboat]]s rubbing shoulders with seagoing [[yacht]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConFactFile.80/Regents-Canal-Dock.html |title=Regent's Canal Dock – London's docks and shipping |publisher=Port Cities |date=29 October 2012 |access-date=14 December 2016}}</ref>

From the [[Tudor period|Tudor era]] until the 20th century, ships crews were employed on a casual basis. New and replacement crews would be found wherever they were available – foreign sailors in their own waters being particularly prized for their knowledge of currents and hazards in ports around the world. Crews would be paid off at the end of their voyages and, inevitably, permanent communities of foreign sailors became established, including colonies of [[Lascar]]s and [[Ethnic groups of Africa|Africans]] from the [[Guinea (region)|Guinea Coast]]. Large Chinese communities developed at [[Shadwell]], Limehouse and the adjoining Pennyfields area of [[Poplar, London|Poplar]].<ref>On the Chinese at Pennyfields, Poplar 'Pennyfields', in Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs, ed. Hermione Hobhouse (London, 1994), pp. 111-113. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp111-113 [accessed 22 September 2021].</ref> These were established by the crews of [[Cargo ship|merchantmen]] in the [[Opium#Prohibition and conflict in China|opium]] and [[tea]] trades, particularly [[Han Chinese]]. The area achieved notoriety for [[opium]] dens in the late 19th century, often featured in [[pulp magazine|pulp fiction]] works by [[Sax Rohmer]] and others. Like much of the [[East End of London|East End]] it remained a focus for [[immigration]], but after the devastation of the [[Second World War]] many of the [[British Chinese|Chinese community]] relocated to [[Soho]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.127/chapterId/2614/Chinese-in-the-Port-of-London.html |title=Chinese in the Port of London – Port communities |publisher=Port Cities |date=14 November 2012 |access-date=14 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.96/chapterId/2682/The-port-in-literature.html |title=The port in literature – Thames art, literature and architecture |publisher=Port Cities |date=14 November 2012 |access-date=14 December 2016}}</ref>

On 12 February 1832, the first case of [[cholera]] was reported in London at Limehouse. First described in [[India]] in 1817, it had spread here via [[Hamburg]]. Although 800 people died during this epidemic, it was fewer than had died of [[tuberculosis]] in the same year.  Unfortunately, cholera visited again in 1848 and 1858.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mernick.co.uk/thhol/1832chol.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041127203900/http://www.mernick.co.uk/thhol/1832chol.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 November 2004|title=The 1832 cholera epidemic in East London (1979)|date=27 November 2004}}</ref>

The use of Limehouse Basin as a major distribution hub declined with the growth of the railways, although the revival of canal traffic during World War I and World War II gave it a brief swansong. Today, [[Stepney Historical Trust]] works to advance the public's education in the history of the area.