Totally Thames 2022: Building Victorian London

Did you ever wonder where Canada Water got its name? Part of the 2022 Totally Thames Festival, this event, using immersive technology, will allow you to step back in time with us and explore the area’s role in the construction of 19th century London.

In the 1800’s London’s population grew by five million people. The British Museum, the Parliament Buildings, the Embankment, warehouses, factories, docks, the railways and thousands of new homes all needed timber. Without the forests to meet the growing demand for building materials, London’s timber merchants turned to forests of the British North American colonies and northern Europe.

The transatlantic timber trade created a circular dynamic, where the demand for timber created by railway booms, industrial development and growth of cities in the UK stimulated the Canadian economy and population.

This immersive lab focuses on the workers who did the often arduous and dangerous work to fell the trees, move them down rivers, break up log jams, navigate the rafts, work in the sawmills, sail the timber ships and unload the hewn logs and deals in London’s docks.

Closest Station: Farringdon (Multiple Underground Lines)