Shadwell Fire Station

The Shadwell Vestry was compelled by an Act of Parliament of 1707 to keep in the Parish a Fire Pump, to be drawn by hand and manned by local parishioners. When the Shadwell Institute was built, in the early 1800s, on part of St Pauls Churchyard, the opportunity was taken to include room for a Fire Station. This housed the Parish Pump, buckets, hoses and harnesses and its two large doors fronting Shadwell High Street, now The Highway.

In 1835 the London Fire Engine Establishment(LFEE) was formed. The LFEE decided to convert, in 1862, a Beer Retailer s Shop at 118 Cock Hill, Ratcliff, now The Highway, into a Fire Station with room for two fire appliances and horses. When in 1866, a professional fire fighting force, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, was formed from the LFEE, the Parish Pump ceased to exist. 

The Fire Station at Cock Hill, itself closed when the new four storey Fire Station in Glamis Road opened. The Shadwell Fire Station had room for two fire appliances and an observation platform on the roof. In 1902, Motor Cars were introduced into the service and these slowly replaced horses. Then in 1904 the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was renamed the London Fire Brigade.

Changes in technology made the Shadwell Fire Station obsolete. Another new Fire Station was built nearby in Cable Street in 1937 and the Glamis Road one closed. However, it was not to remain closed. The Old Shadwell Fire Station was reopened at the start of Second World War as an Auxiliary Fire Service Station. The fireman at the station played an important part, especially during the Blitz, fighting huge fires in the London Docks and surrounding area. This was the front line and the area was devastated.

The Fire Station closed again after the War and was pulled down in the early 1960s. The site of the Old Shadwell Fire Station is now part of Glamis Estate.