The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek beside its confluence with the River Thames.
The main activity of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company was shipbuilding, but it also diversified into civil engineering, marine engines, cranes, electrical engineering and motor cars.
The company notably produced ironwork for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar in the 1850s, and the world’s first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, launched in 1860.
The company originated in 1837 as the Ditchburn and Mare Shipbuilding Company, founded by shipwright Thomas J. Ditchburn and the engineer and naval architect Charles John Mare. The premises closed in 1912.
Employees at the Ironworks formed a works football team, called the Thames Ironworks Football Club. This club was later renamed West Ham United, whose emblem of the crossed hammers represents the large riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade. West Ham are also known as "The Hammers" for this reason.
