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Regent's Canal, West portal of the Islington tunnel

Regent's Canal

legend Grand Union Canal Little Venice A404 A40 Bishops Bridge A4206 Paddington Basin A5 Maida Hill Tunnel (272 yd) Railway bridge Chapel Bridge A41 Cumberland Basin Water Meeting Bridge A5205 Railway bridge 1 Hampstead Road Locks Hampstead Road Bridge A502 2 Hawley Lock 3 Kentish Town Lock Kentish Town Bridge A400 (n) Camden Bridge A400 (s) North Road Bridge A503 College Street Bridge A5202 (n) Grays Inn Bridge A5202 (s) Railway bridge St Pancras Basin 4 St Pancras Lock Railway tunnel Maiden Lane Bridge A5200 Battlebridge Basin Thornhill Bridge A5203 Islington Tunnel (960 yd) 5 City Road Lock City Road Basin Wenlock Basin 6 Sturt's Lock New North Road Bridge A1200 Kingsland Basin Kingsland Bridge A10 Laburnum Basin 7 Acton's Lock Railway bridge Cambridge Heath Bridge A107 8 Old Ford Lock Hertford Union Canal Railway bridge 9 Mile End Lock Mile End Bridge A11 10 Johnson's Lock DLR bridge 11 Salmon's Lane Lock Commercial Road Bridge A13 12 Commercial Road Lock DLR bridge Limehouse Basin Marina Limehouse Cut 13 Limehouse Basin Lock River Thames

Commercial Road Lock on Regent's Canal where it meets the Limehouse Basin

The Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just to the north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin, in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London.

History

First proposed by Thomas Homer in 1802 as a link from the Paddington arm of the then Grand Junction Canal (opened in 1801) with the River Thames at Limehouse, it was built during the early 19th century after an Act of Parliament was passed in 1812. Noted architect and town planner John Nash was a director of the company; in 1811 he had produced a masterplan for the Prince Regent to redevelop a large area of central north London – as a result, the Regent’s Canal was included in the scheme, running for part of its distance along the northern edge of Regent's Park. As with many Nash projects, the detailed design was passed to one of his assistants, in this case James Morgan – appointed chief engineer of the canal company. Work began on 14 October 1812. The first section, Paddington to Camden Town, opened in 1816 and included a 251 metres (274 yd) long tunnel under Maida Hill east of an area now known as 'Little Venice' (a name devised by Robert Browning) and a much shorter tunnel, just 48 metres (52 yd) long, under Lisson Grove. The Camden to Limehouse section, including the 886 metres (969 yd) long Islington tunnel and the Regent's Canal Dock (used to transfer cargo from sea-faring vessels to canal barges – today known as Limehouse Basin), opened four years later on 1 August 1820. Various intermediate basins were also constructed (eg: Cumberland Basin to the east Regent's Park, Battlebridge Basin (close to King's Cross, London) and City Road Basin). Many other basins such as Wenlock Basin, Kingsland Basin, St. Pancras Stone and Coal Basin, and the basin in front of the Great Northern Railway's Granary were also built, and some of these survive.

The entrance to the Regent's Canal at Limehouse, 1823.

The City Road Basin, the nearest to the City of London, soon eclipsed the Paddington Basin in the amount of goods carried, principally coal and building materials. These were goods that were being shipped locally, in contrast to the canal's original purpose of transshipping imports to the Midlands. The opening of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1838 actually increased the tonnage of coal carried by the canal. However, by 1929, with the Midlands trade lost to the railways, and more deliveries made by road, the canal fell into a long decline.^[1]

In 1927, the Regent's Canal Company bought the Grand Junction Canal and the Warwick Canals, the merged entity coming into force on 1 January 1929 as the Grand Union Canal Company. A new carrying subsidiary was formed, the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co, with a fleet of 186 pairs of new narrow boats. A vigorous expansion policy was combined with a successful drive for new traffic much of which traversed the Regents Canal. Iron and steel for Birmingham, imported via Regents Canal Dock, was won from the railways by offering a quicker and cheaper service. Other traffic commodities included grain, raw materials for HP sauce, leather waste, last blocks, cresylic acid, zinc ashes, and even cheese. The decline of the 1920s had been reversed, and tonnage rose from 8999 tons in 1931 to 168,638 tons in 1941. In August 1938 the Cumberland Basin was dammed off and drained and in the next two years it was formally abandoned. The Regent's Canal was nationalised in 1948. By this time, the canal's importance for commercial traffic was dwindling, and by the late 1960s commercial vessels had almost ceased to operate, the lorry taking over the traffic not already lost to the railway in the 19th century, and closure of the Regents Canal Dock to shipping in 1969 was the last nail in the coffin.

New uses

A new purpose was found for the canal route in 1979, when the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) installed underground cables in a trough below the towpath between St John's Wood and City Road. These 400 kV cables now form part of the National Grid, supplying electrical power to London. Pumped canal water is circulated as a coolant for the high-voltage cables.

The canal is frequently used today for pleasure cruising; a regular waterbus service operates between Maida Vale and Camden, running hourly during the summer months.

Due to the increase in cycle commuting since the 2005 London Bombings^[2] and increasing environmental awareness, the canal's towpath has become a busy cycle route for commuters. British Waterways has carried out a number of studies into the effects of sharing the towpath between cyclists and pedestrians, all of which have concluded that despite the limited width there are relatively few problems. See a presentation by British Waterways following a Safety Audit study by Transport Initiatives in 2006.

The Code of Conduct for shared use sets out the behaviour expected of pedestrians and cyclists.

Geography

The Regent's Canal near St Mark's Regents' Park.

The Regent's Canal forms a junction with the old Grand Junction Canal at Little Venice, a short distance north of Paddington Basin. After passing through the Maida Hill and Lisson Grove tunnels, the canal curves round the northern edge of Regent's Park and bisects London Zoo. It continues through Camden Town and King's Cross Central, also known as the Railway Lands. It performs a sharp bend at Camley Street Natural Park, following Goods Way where it flows behind both St Pancras railway station and King's Cross railway station. The canal opens out into Battlebridge Basin, originally known as Horsfall Basin, home of the London Canal Museum, and where on the northwest corner the new Kings Place development is currently taking shape. Continuing eastwards beyond the Islington tunnel and passing many notable landmarks including The Rosemary Branch theatre, it then forms the southern end of Broadway Market and then meets the Hertford Union Canal by Victoria Park, after which it turns south towards the Limehouse Basin, where today it also meets the Limehouse Cut. At this point the canal ends as it joins the River Thames.

Maximum craft dimensions

On the Regent's Canal the maximum length is 72 feet (21.9 m), with a beam of 14 feet (4.3 m) and a headroom of 9 feet 2 inches (2.8 m). The navigational depth is, on average 3 feet 6 inches (1.1 m).^[3]

See also

• St Pancras Cruising Club
• Camden Lock
• Kingsland Basin
• List of canal basins in Great Britain
• List of canal aqueducts in Great Britain
• List of canal locks in Great Britain
• List of canal tunnels in Great Britain

References

Further reading

• Alan Faulkner - The Regent's Canal: London's Hidden Waterway (2005) ISBN 1-870002-59-8
• Alan Faulkner - The George and the Mary: A Brief History of the Grand Union Canal carrying Company Ltd (1973)

External links

• Canalplan AC Gazetteer
• Photographs of the Regents Canal