Taken from the book 'Hay's Galleria - a history', created with the help of the Guildhall Library in London.
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1600
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1988
In 1651, Mr Alexander Hay became the proprietor of a brewhouse in Tooley Street, on the Southbank of the River Thames. Hay's premises were situated alongside other brewhouses, warehouses and taverns.
In 1666, the Great Fire of London virtually destroyed the City. 10 years on, the Southwark Fire caused almost as much damage. Hay's brewhouse would not have escaped damage.
Riverside fires had become a constant danger and by the time Joseph Hay succeeded his father to the property, it was essential that something was done. In 1696, he and two neighbours formed a mutual insurance scheme and named it 'Ye amicable Contributors'. Clasped hands surmounted by a crown became their emblem and the employment of six watermen to fight any fire heralded the beginning of the first fire brigade.
The 18th Century saw Hay's Wharf as a refuge. A number of German Protestant refugees came to Britain to escape persecution from their Catholic ruler. They were well received by Queen Anne on their arrival, but, what started out as a relatively small party, became hundreds and then thousands. Soon the charity had to stop since there was also a great deal of poverty among the British people at that time.
Sir Charles Cox, MP for Southwark and proprietor of the Wharf, made a benevolent gesture by taking over both payment and housing of the refugees. However, he put them up in the old wooden granaries at Hay's Wharf where there were no sanitary facilities, no medical aid and virtually no food. It wasn't long before fever broke out. Fortunately the situation was alleviated when he successfully arranged for the refugees to be shipped to Carolina where they became part of the New America.
1838 marked the end of the Hay's association with Hay's Wharf, following the death of Francis Theodore Hay, Master of the Waterman's Company and King's Waterman to George III and IV.
A few years later, John Humphrey Jnr, leaseholder of the wharf, called upon Sir William Cubitt to build a new wharf around an enclosed dock. Cubitt was a well known builder and contractor and had built the Bank of England among other great buildings. He was also father-in-law to two of Humphrey's sons.
The vast brick-built, multi-level warehouses "the finest and best edifices of their kind in the kingdom' were finished in 1857.
The most beautiful visitors to the new dock were the tea clippers. Trade was reaching its peak around that time, but the ships themselves were soon out of date, with the coming of the ocean-going steamers.
In June 1861, the Great Fire of Tooley Street broke out. It was without doubt the worst fire since 1666. It started at Cottons Wharf, adjoining Hay's Wharf and contained many inflammable goods. The London Fire Engine Establishment arrived immediately but low tide forced a delay.
The fire was soon ablaze for 300 yards from London Bridge to Hay's Wharf. Thousands of spectators flocked to London Bridge by every means of transport to watch the incredible spectacle. Public Houses, defying the law, stayed open all night, street vendors did a roaring trade, and pick pockets were rife.
As a result of the secondary fire, the last flames were extinguished one month later. Damage was estimated at over £2million and loss of ife exceeded that in the Great Fire of London. Out of all this destruction came the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
Following the Great Fire, the wharf was re-built and soon Hay's was a major dockland serving the whole of the British Empire. It handled thousands of tons of dairy produce from abroad and became known as the 'Larder of London'.
During this period, one quarter of the country's imports came through the Port of London. It's hardly surprising that, on the outbreak of the Second World War, the Germans chose the docks as their main target. They believed that such a loss would be devastating to Britain. The raids reached a peak in September 1940 and Hay's Wharf was bombed repeatedly. However, a reduced number of ships were berthed and unloaded despite the serious damage, and the proprietors of Hay's Wharf succeeded in keeping the lifeline open. Following the war, Hay's Wharf was once again resurrected.
It was then business as usual, a prosperous time which unfortunately couldn't last. The need for deeper docks for container ships grew, and in the 1960's Hay's Wharf fell into disuse and disrepair.
Yesterday Hay's Wharf, today Hay's Galleria, a complete reconstruction behind the existing brick facade. The original dock, where tea clippers once moored, has been sealed and bridged over at ground level. The spectacular glass and steel barrel-vaulted roof that covers the Galleria is a triumph in modern engineering. William Cubitt would surely be proud of this building, carefully constructed to conserve the very essence of the River Thames' best known wharf. And instead of tugs, coasters and lighters' moored in front of Hay's Galleria today is the H.M.S. Belfast, a floating museum - a more recent link with the past.