VICTORIA DOCK, a chapelry in West Ham, East Ham, and Woolwich parishes, Essex and Kent; on the river Thames, and on the North Woolwich branch of the Great Eastern railway, nearly opposite Woolwich, and 2½ miles SSE of Stratford. It has two post-offices under London E, and r. stations with telegraph. Pop. in 1868, nearly 10,000. Docks here, on what was previonsly a desolate tract of marsh, were formed in 1855; comprise a water-area of 90 acres, upwards of a mile of quayage, and a total area of 200 acres; and have three pairs of lock-gates, the largest of which is 80 feet in span and entirely of iron. There are also ship-building yards, iron-works, phosphate works, telegraph and india-rubber works, and a sugar refinery. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £300.* Patron, the Bishop of Rochester.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))