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The first docks, the two northern docks, were built 1800 - 02, designed by William Jessop and formally opened on 27 August 1802.

British History Online gives "...  the foundation stone of the first warehouse, at the south-east corner of what became No. 8 Warehouse. The stone carried a commemorative inscription, later replicated at the base of the clock-turret on No. 5 Warehouse, at the centre of the north quay".  We cannot find a photo of the stone at its original location. No 8 Warehouse had been demolished by 1982 when the Billingsgate fish market moved from the City of London to its new building on the north side of the north dock, at the east end. That was probably when the, unusually large, foundation stone was retrieved and reinstalled here, close to the Museum of Docklands. No 5 Warehouse has also been lost.