As part of our regular feature on Newham’s monuments, Julia Omari visits a statue that pays permanent tribute to our heroic dockworkers

Since it’s opening in November 2000, Excel London has drawn an ever increasing stream of visitors and workers. Thanks to the impressive regeneration programme which started in the 1980s, it is easy to overlook the historical importance the space once held, not just for the local workers but also to the British economy as the largest enclosed docklands in the world, Britain secured its place as a global trading centre.

Victoria Docks, Albert Docks and King George V Docks known collectively as the Royal Docks operated between 1855 and 1983 and saw the arrival and departure of hundreds of trade and passenger ships. There was a constant need for dock workers, who in turn brought their families to settle in the area, but work was hard, long, poorly paid with dangerous conditions.

Former dock worker Johnny Ringwood felt moved to honour the dock workers past after seeing a statue dedicated to the steelworkers of Sheffield. Alongside Patricia Holland, whose father and husband both worked on the docks, they campaigned to raise the funds needed to create a permanent reminder.

On 24 August 2009, the statue, titled Landed, by Australian sculptor Les Johnson, was unveiled in Royal Victoria Square. It depicts three actual dockworkers; Johnny Ringwood, Mark Tibbs and Patrick Holland at work and is dedicated to all the dock workers and their families.

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