The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

Nearest station: [East India Station]?

Trinity Buoy Wharf is a somewhat experimental cultural village in the East End, on the bank of the Thames.

Geographically, it is located opposite the Millennium Dome, in Leamouth, where the River Lea (here known as [Bow Creek]?) flows into the Thames, between [Blackwall]? and Canning Town. As such, it is on the eastern fringe of the Docklands (it's about a mile from Canary Wharf), and its current state owes much to the flow of regeneration into that area.

The wharf itself was built in the 1800s as a yard for [Trinity House]? to build and maintain their buoys and lightships. Michael Faraday did pioneering work on lighthouses here, having a small test lighthouse - England's only inshore lighthouse! - built in 1863 for this purpose. After Faraday's time, the lighthouse was used to train lighthouse-keepers, when lights were still manned.

The wharf is now a site for artistic and cultural activities. As well as workshops and studios, it has spaces for rehearsals, performances, filming, art installations. It also hosts Container City, a dual-use residential/studio block made from old containers. There currently about a hundred artists and creative businesses at the wharf.

• An aerial photo of the wharf when it was still a working wharf
• The lighthouse is home to a listening post for the Longplayer project
• A BBC article from 1998
• Container City, in fact Container City 1 and Container City 2