Regent's Canal

Regent's Canal
West portal of the Islington tunnel
Specifications
Length	8.6 miles (13.8 km)
Maximum boat length	78 ft 0 in (23.77 m)
Maximum boat beam	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Locks	13
Status	Open
Navigation authority	Canal and River Trust
History
Principal engineer	James Morgan
Date of act	13 July 1812
Construction began	14 October 1812
Date of first use	1816 (1816)
Date completed	1 August 1820
Geography
Start point	Paddington Arm (Grand Union Canal)
End point	River Thames (Limehouse)
Branch(es)	Hertford Union Canal Limehouse Cut
Route map

Regent's Canal
Grand Union Canal Little Venice, Maida Vale  A404  Harrow Road  A40  Westway  A4206  Bishop's Bridge Paddington Basin  A5  Maida Hill Tunnel 272 yards (249 m) Eyre's Tunnel 53 yards (48 m) Chiltern Main Line bridge  A41  Chapel Bridge Macclesfield Bridge Cumberland Basin  A5205  Water Meeting Bridge West Coast Main Line bridge 1 Hampstead Road Locks  A502  Hampstead Road Bridge 2 Hawley Lock 3 Kentish Town Lock  A400  Kentish Town Bridge northbound  A400  Camden Bridge southbound  A503  Camden Road  A5202  College Street Bridge northbound  A5202  Gray's Inn Bridge southbound Midland Main Line bridge St Pancras Basin 4 St Pancras Lock East Coast Main Line tunnel  A5200  Maiden Lane Bridge Battlebridge Basin  A5203  Thornhill Bridge Islington Tunnel 960 yards (880 m) 5 City Road Lock City Road Basin Wenlock Basin 6 Sturt's Lock  A1200  New North Road Bridge Kingsland Basin  A10  Kingsland Bridge East London line bridge Laburnum Basin 7 Acton's Lock West Anglia Main Line bridge  A107  Cambridge Heath Bridge 8 Old Ford Lock Hertford Union Canal Great Eastern Main Line bridge 9 Mile End Lock  A11  Mile End Bridge 10 Johnson's Lock London, Tilbury & Southend line bridge 11 Salmon Lane Lock  A13  Commercial Road Bridge 12 Commercial Road Lock DLR bridge Limehouse Basin Marina Limehouse Cut 13 Limehouse Basin Lock River Thames

Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, 550 yards (500 m) north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London. The canal is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) long.

History

Regent's Canal: Transfer certificate of 10 shares, issued 1 December 1818

Regent's Canal Act 1812
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from the Grand Junction Canal in the Parish of Paddington, to the River Thames in the Parish of Limehouse, with a Collateral Cut in the Parish of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex.
Citation	52 Geo. 3. c. cxcv
Dates
Royal assent	13 July 1812
Text of statute as originally enacted

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, the Regent's Canal was built during the early 19th century after the Regent's Canal Act 1812 (52 Geo. 3. c. cxcv) was passed. Noted architect and town planner John Nash was a director of the company; in 1811 he had produced a masterplan for George IV, then 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.

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

As with many Nash projects, the detailed design was passed to one of his assistants, in this case James Morgan, who was appointed chief engineer of the canal company. Work began on 14 October 1812. The first section from Paddington to Camden Town opened in 1816 and included a 251-metre (274 yd) long tunnel under Maida Hill east of an area now known as 'Little Venice', and a much shorter tunnel, just 48 metres (52 yd) long, under Lisson Grove. The Camden to Limehouse section, including the 886-metre (969 yd) long Islington Tunnel and the Regent's Canal Dock (used to transfer cargo from seafaring vessels to canal barges – today known as Limehouse Basin), opened four years later on 1 August 1820. Various intermediate basins were also constructed (e.g.: Cumberland Basin to the east of Regent's Park, Battlebridge Basin, close to Kings Cross, and City Road Basin). Many other basins such as Wenlock Basin, Kingsland Basin, St. Pancras Stone and Coal Basin, and one in front of the Great Northern Railway's Granary were also built, and some of these survive.

All the locks were built with duplicate chambers to facilitate the heavy barge traffic. With the demise of commercial traffic in the early 1970s, at the end of 1973, the British Waterways Board embarked on a three-year programme to convert one chamber at each lock into an overflow weir to facilitate unmanned use by pleasure craft without the risk of serious flooding due to incorrect use of the paddles.

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. By the early twentieth century, with the Midland trade lost to the railways, and more deliveries made by road, the canal had fallen into a long decline.

Explosion of the barge Tilbury under the Macclesfield Bridge

Macclesfield Bridge before the explosion. After the explosion it was also known as Blow Up Bridge.

Just before 5am on 2 October 1874 the narrowboat barge Tilbury which was loaded with sugar, nuts, three barrels of petroleum and around five tons of gunpowder exploded right under the Macclesfield Bridge, just outside London Zoo. Until the explosion, the Tilbury was part of a convoy consisting of a tugboat and three narrowboats travelling westwards heading for a quarry in the West Midlands.

Damage and aftermath

All the people on board died; captain Charles Baxton, a labourer named William Taylor, a third man and a young boy. The Macclesfield bridge was destroyed and rebuilt in 1876 reusing the cast iron pillars (made in Coalbrookdale according to an inscription at their top), but turning them by 180° (canal side towards tow path side) so tow rope grooves that were created before the incident can be seen on the outer side of the columns.

The explosion was heard 20 miles away. Debris flew in all directions, the roofs of surrounding houses blew off, windows smashed, trees uprooted and dead fish rained down on the West End. The tugboat's keel was found embedded in a house 300 yards away. The bridge was nick-named the 'Blow-Up Bridge'.

The damage would have been far worse had the barge exploded in the highly populated areas of Camden and Islington, which the convoy had passed through earlier that morning.

The canal company that owned Tilbury was condemned for gross negligence in permitting the “highly imprudent and improper” practice of carrying petroleum and gunpowder aboard the same barge.

The incident accelerated the passing of the Explosives Act 1875, which regulates the manufacture and carriage of dangerous substances.

Railway projects

There were a number of abortive projects to convert the route of the canal into a railway. In September 1845 a special general assembly of the proprietors approved the sale of the canal at the price of one million pounds to a group of businessmen who had formed the Regent's Canal Railway Company for the purpose. The advertisement for the company explained:

The vast importance of this undertaking, whereby a junction will be effected between all existing and projected railways north of the Thames, combined with the advantage of a General City Terminus, is too obvious to require comment. By the proposed railway, passengers and goods will be brought into the heart of the City at a great saving of time and expense, and facilities will be afforded for the more expeditious transmission of the mails to most parts of the kingdom.

The railway company subsequently failed, but in 1846 the directors of the canal went about trying to obtain an act of Parliament to allow them to build a railway along its banks. The scheme was abandoned in the face of vigorous opposition, especially from the government who objected to the idea of a railway passing through Regent's Park. In 1859, two further schemes to convert the canal into a railway were proposed. One, from a company called the Central London Railway and Dock Company, was accepted by the directors, but once again the railway company failed. In 1860 the Regent's Canal Company proposed a railway track alongside the canal from Kings Cross to Limehouse, but funds could not be raised. Further schemes over the next twenty years also came to nothing, with the Metropolitan Railway that opened to the south in 1863 serving much the same purpose of linking the lines radiating north of London.

Regent's Canal City and Docks Railway Act 1892
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the abandonment of certain of the authorised Railways of the Regent's Canal City and Docks Railway Company for extending the period for the compulsory purchase of lands for and for the completion of others of such authorised Railways for changing the name of the Company for making other provisions with respect to the Company and their affairs and for other purposes.
Citation	55 & 56 Vict. c. clxxxviii
Dates
Royal assent	27 June 1892

In 1883, after some years of negotiation, the canal was sold to a company called the Regent's Canal and City Docks Railway Company at a cost of £1,170,585. The company altered its name to the North Metropolitan Railway and Canal Company by the Regent's Canal City and Docks Railway Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. clxxxviii), but no railway was ever built; instead it raised money for dock and canal improvement and eventually, in 1904, became the Regent's Canal and Dock Company.

The Regent's Canal and Dock Company became part of the merged Grand Union Canal Company on 1 January 1929.

Wenlock Basin, Islington (2004)

New uses

Modern bridge over the canal into Limehouse Basin next to the DLR

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 and increasing environmental awareness, the canal's towpath has become a busy cycle route for commuters. National Cycle Route 1 includes the stretch along the canal towpath from Limehouse Basin to Mile End. British Waterways carried out several studies into the effects of sharing the towpath between cyclists and pedestrians, all of which have concluded that despite the limited width there were relatively few problems at the time of the audits. More recently, in 2019, The Guardian reported on instances of conflict between pedestrians and cyclists.

Geography

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

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, passing London Zoo and skirting round the base of Primrose Hill. It continues through Camden Town and King's Cross Central. 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. Continuing eastwards beyond the Islington tunnel it forms the southern end of Broadway Market and meets the Hertford Union Canal at Victoria Park, East London. It turns south towards the Limehouse Basin, where it meets the Limehouse Cut, and ends as it joins the River Thames.

Maximum craft dimensions

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

On the Regent's Canal the maximum length is 21.95 metres (72.0 ft), with a beam of 4.27 metres (14.0 ft) and a headroom of 2.79 metres (9 ft 2 in). The navigational depth is, on average 1.15 m (3 ft 6 in).

Culture

In 2012, playwright Rob Inglis was awarded a £16,000 Arts Council grant to write Regent's Canal, a Folk Opera, a musical that celebrates the 200th anniversary of the digging of the canal. It played in a number of locations around London in 2012.

See also

• St Pancras Cruising Club
• Canal & River Trust
• London Canal Museum
• Camden Lock
• City Road Basin
• Battlebridge 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

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

• Media related to Regent's Canal at Wikimedia Commons
• Canalplan AC Gazetteer: Grand Union Canal (Regent's Canal)
• Plan of Grand Union Canal (Regent's Canal) Archived 24 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine with links to places of interest near each lock, basin, and bridge.
• Photographs of Regent's Canal
• Regent's Canal interactive map
• More background information and history of the Regent's Arm Archived 28 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• Regent's Canal, Camden markets, history and pictures Archived 3 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• Regent's Canal Walk: Little Venice to Limehouse Basin (Walking Guide)