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The Basin was formerly known as Regent's Canal Dock and was used by seafaring vessels to offload cargos to canal barges.
Following its opening in 1820, the dock was an enormous commercial success and was much used for transporting coal. At one point it was the principal entrance from the Thames to the entire national canal network. Its use declined with the growth of the railways, although the revival of canal traffic gave it a brief swansong.
In 1968, a short stretch of new canal was constructed to connect the Limehouse Cut to the Basin, replacing the Cut's old direct link with the Thames. It was closed to commercial traffic in 1969, with one quay at the Basin retained for the use of pleasure craft.
The redevelopment of the Basin started in 1983 as part of the London Docklands Development Corporation's overall masterplan for the Docklands area. However, it took many years for the scheme to come to fruitition. The property boom and bust of the 1980s set back progress considerably, as did the construction of the Limehouse Link tunnel which was built under the basin in the early 1990s. By early 2004 the majority of the once derelict land surrounding the basin had been developed into luxury flats.
History
Redevelopment