New Charlton is the area along the south bank of the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 at Charlton, London

Charlton, London

Charlton is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Greenwich. It is located east-southeast of Charing Cross. Charlton next Woolwich was an ancient parish in the county of Kent, which became part of the metropolitan area of London in 1855. It is home to Charlton...

, and forms part of the London Borough of Greenwich

London Borough of Greenwich

The London Borough of Greenwich is an Inner London borough in south-east London, England. Taking its name from the historic town of Greenwich, the present borough was formed in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich with part of the Metropolitan...

. It was historically primarily an industrial zone.

History

Industrial development began there in the middle of the 19th century, especially after the opening of a private railway branch line to Angerstein Wharf

Angerstein Wharf

Angerstein Wharf is the location of a marine construction aggregate and an associated cement facility, operated by the Cemex company, located on the south bank of the Bugsby's Reach of the River Thames in the New Charlton area of London in the London Borough of Greenwich...

 in 1852. The flat land adjoining the Thames at New Charlton has been a significant industrial area since Victorian times. A notable establishment was the Siemens Brothers Telegraph Works opened in 1863, which manufactured two new transatlantic cable

Transatlantic telegraph cable

The transatlantic telegraph cable was the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed from , Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The transatlantic cable connected North America...

s in the 1880s, and contributed to the PLUTO

Pluto

Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...

 project in World War 2. By the 1930s the area was thriving, but since the 1960s the area had sunk into industrial decline, with most of the original factories closing.

New Charlton today

There have been regeneration projects recently, starting in the late 1990s. These are mostly retail warehouses, supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s, and retail shopping centres. The sole remaining major industrial facility is the Cemex

Cemex

CEMEX is the world's largest building materials supplier and third largest cement producer. Founded in Mexico in 1906, the company is based in Monterrey, Mexico...

 construction aggregate

Construction Aggregate

Construction aggregate, or simply "aggregate", is a broad category of coarse particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geosynthetic aggregates. Aggregates are the most mined material in the world...

 and ready mix cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

 works at Angerstein Wharf

Angerstein Wharf

Angerstein Wharf is the location of a marine construction aggregate and an associated cement facility, operated by the Cemex company, located on the south bank of the Bugsby's Reach of the River Thames in the New Charlton area of London in the London Borough of Greenwich...

 on the River Thames at the border of the Greenwich Peninsula

Greenwich Peninsula

Greenwich Peninsula is an area of South London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.The peninsula is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs and Silvertown. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the south-east is Charlton.The peninsula lies...

 and Charlton. The southern end of the Thames Flood Barrier is on the river bank at New Charlton.