Mudchute

Mudchute Park and Farm is a large urban park and farm just south of Canary Wharf in Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. The name of the site is a testament to the engineering overspill when Millwall Dock was being constructed in the 1860s. Spoil from the excavation of the Dock, and silt from its channels and waterways were dumped on nearby land, using a conveyor system.

The Mudchute Association, is a registered charity whose primary objective is "Management of the park and farm with special consideration for animals, wildlife, visitors, trainees & staff. To maintain the financial sustainability of the project and to respond to local needs and initiatives."

The park now covers 13 hectares (32 acres), and the local authority describes the farm as the largest urban farm in Europe.

Mudchute DLR station, named after the park, opened in 1987. However, the nearest train station for the park is Crossharbour.

The Millwall Dock Company owned a huge swathe of land across the Isle of Dogs as it intended to extend the docks to meet the Thames in the east one day, when there was enough business to justify it. Until then, the company kept the land undeveloped, mostly leasing it out for pasture. This was also the case of the later Mudchute (or 'Mud Shoot' as it was originally spelled in official documents).

The name "Mudchute" derives from it being the former dumping ground for mud dredged from the Millwall Docks,which had to be regularly dredged to prevent silting up. A novel, pneumatic device was employed which pumped the liquefied mud through a pipe over East Ferry Rd (close to the George pub), dumping it on the other side. This system was designed by dock engineer Frederic Eliot Duckham (father of Alexander Duckham who later founded his eponymous lubricating oil company in Millwall).

...
Wikipedia