Construction of the Regent's Canal The Regent's Canal was conceived in a coffee house in Percy Street, just off Oxford Street, on 31st May 1811. This was the scene of a meeting to discuss the possibility of a canal linking the Paddington basin of the Grand Junction Canal with the River Thames below London Bridge. John Nash, the famous architect, and Thomas Homer, a businessman who was the inspiration of the project, agreed with other interested parties to proposals for an eight and a half mile long waterway. After publishing a prospectus to generate support a bill was prepared. Although there was opposition and the journey through Parliament was stormy, the Regent's Canal Act was passed on 13th July 1812. Nash planned the canal would enhance another of his projects - the newly completed Regent's Park - and was given permission by the Prince Regent (later King George IV) to name the canal after him. After the Act was passed, a company was formed to build and operate the canal. James Morgan, Nash's business partner, was appointed as the Engineer and Thomas Homer as the Superintendent. Construction started in Regent's Park in October 1812 and was completed on 1st August 1820. It occurred in two phases - October 1812 to September 1815 and August 1817 to August 1820.

- A brief history The first phase concluded with the opening of the stretch from Paddington to Camden Town; the second with the opening of the remaining six miles down to Limehouse. Throughout the construction period the Regents Canal Company suffered from a continual shortage of money and this led to a series of delays and complete stoppages. Moreover, two very serious setbacks threatened the whole project. Firstly, an innovative hydro-pneumatic lock design had to be abandoned at Hampstead Road and secondly, Thomas Homer breached the trust put in him and embezzled substantial funds in 1815. The hydro-pneumatic lock had been invented by William Congreve (later Sir William), who was also famous for the invention of military rockets. However, the locks, designed to save water, proved to be a failure, and were eventually scrapped when it proved impossible to make important parts of them watertight. The locks were then rebuilt to a conventional design. The total cost of building the canal was £772,000, twice the original estimate, but it was completed nevertheless and no-one made more of a contribution than Colonel John Drinkwater, a first class administrator who had the ear of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

A vital link to the London Docks The Regent's Canal provided a missing piece in the jigsaw. It extended the Grand Junction Canal from West London to the London Dock, which formed the world's premier seaport.The Grand Junction had been built to serve the growing industries of the Midlands. Barges brought produce and timber from the countryside into London to feed and house the growing population, and they took back luxury goods and coal that had come into London by the sea, as well as products made in London.It was built between 1793 and 1805 and it formed a link from the Midlands to West London.Fifteen years later, in 1820, the Regent's Canal enabled barges to go straight to the London Docks include here a map of the canal gap circa 1801

Construction Costs The original estimate was £280,000. The extensive cuttings and tunnel cost far more than expected and shortage of money causd suspension of work for a year., aggravated by an embattled dispute with Mr Agar, a landowner at St Pancras. The canal was saved by a Government loan of £200,000 for one of the first job creation schemees set up under the Poor Employment Act of 1817. This innovative legislation was designed to alleviate widespread unemployment which followed the ending of the Napoleonic Wars.In 1818 the Islington tunnel was finished, followed in 1819 by the stretch from Cambridge Heath to Limehouse. In that year (?) a dock for seagoing ships in Limehouse and the large basin at City Road were both authorised. Finally, on 1st August 1820, after eight years' construction and an expenditure of £700,000 the canal was opened for business.

Choice of Route As the crow flies, Limehouse is only 5 miles from Paddington, but the Regent's Canal was planned to be eight and a half miles long. Its line was influenced by the lie of the land and the many landowners along the route. From the Grand Junction Canal at Pddington it was to pass through a tunnel at Maida Hill and then in deep cutting around Regents Park. There, a branch was soon projected to a produce market at Cumberland Basin, serving the West End. Dropping down by four locks through Camdedn Town, it then passed in a second tunnel beneath Islington to City Road, from where goods could be taken to the City. To avoid high land purchase costs it then skirted the built up area, through the fields of Shoreditch, Hackney, Bethnal Green and Mile End, before joining the River Thames at Limehouse.

Journey through Parliament, 1811 to 1812 Despite many objections the whole proposal obtained the Act of Parliament it needed and received Royal Assent in July 1812.Work began on the Regent's Canal in October 1812 with James MOrgan as engineer and Homer as superintendent. As required by the Act, it had passed through Regent's Park within a year and by June 1814 it had progressed as far as the Hampstead Road,but with the Maida Hill tunnel still to be completed. This first stretch of canal opened on the Prionce Regent's birthday, 12th August 1816.

Spare text (?)

Thomas Homer first proposed a canal link from Paddington to the London docks inm 1801 when the Paddington branch of the Grand Junction Canal was opened. But his ideas were not adopted until 1811 when he proposed an improved scheme with the help of John Nash, the architect who at the time was planning what is now the Regent's Park on Crown Lands which lay across the intended route of the canal. Nash adjusted his scheme to accommodate the canal and obtained the permission of the Prince Regent (the future George IV) to name the canal after him. Nash's assistant, James Morgan, became the Engineer.

Construction

The Regent's Canal was conceived in a coffee house in Percy Street, just off Oxford Street, on 31st May 1811. This was the scene of a meeting to discuss the possibility of a canal linking the Paddington basin of the Grand Junction Canal with the River Thames below London Bridge.

John Nash, the famous architect, and Thomas Homer, a businessman who was the inspiration of the project, agreed with other interested parties to proposals for an eight and a half mile long waterway. After publishing a prospectus to generate support a bill was prepared. Although there was opposition and the journey through Parliament was stormy, the Regent's Canal Act was passed on 13th July 1812. Nash planned the canal would enhance another of his projects - the newly completed Regent's Park - and was given permission by the Prince Regent (later King George IV) to name the canal after him.

After the Act was passed, a company was formed to build and operate the canal. James Morgan, Nash's business partner, was appointed as the Engineer and Thomas Homer as the Superintendent.

Construction started in Regent's Park in October 1812 and was completed on 1st August 1820. It occurred in two phases - October 1812 to September 1815 and August 1817 to August 1820. The first phase concluded with the opening of the stretch from Paddington to Camden Town; the second with the opening of the remaining six miles down to Limehouse.

Throughout the construction period the Regents Canal Company suffered from a continual shortage of money and this led to a series of delays and complete stoppages. Moreover, two very serious setbacks threatened the whole project. Firstly, an innovative hydro-pneumatic lock design had to be abandoned at Hampstead Road and secondly, Thomas Homer breached the trust put in him and embezzled substantial funds in 1815.

The hydro-pneumatic lock had been invented by William Congreve (later Sir William), who was also famous for the invention of military rockets. However, the locks, designed to save water, proved to be a failure, and were eventually scrapped when it proved impossible to make important parts of them watertight. The locks were then rebuilt to a conventional design. The total cost of building the canal was £772,000, twice the original estimate, but it was completed nevertheless and no-one made more of a contribution than Colonel John Drinkwater, a first class administrator who had the ear of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

more construction and context

The Grand Junction Canal was built between 1793 and 1805 and it formed a link from the Midlands to London. Fifteen years later, in 1820, the Regent's Canal extended this link to the London docks, which formed the world's premier seaport.

The Grand Junction was built to serve the growing industries of the Midlands. Barges brought produce and timber from the countryside into London to feed and house the growing population, and they took back luxury goods and coal that had come into London by the sea, as well as products made in London.

Thomas Homer first proposed a canal link from Paddington to the London docks inm 1801 when the Paddington branch of the Grand Junction Canal was opened. But his ideas were not adopted until 1811 when he proposed an improved scheme with the help of John Nash, the architect who at the time was planning what is now the Regent's Park on Crown Lands which lay across the intended route of the canal. Nash adjusted his scheme to accommodate the canal and obtained the permission of the Prince Regent (the future George IV) top name the canal after him. Nash's assistant, James Morgan, became the Engineer.

Estimated to cost £280,000, the Regent's canal was planned to be eight and a half miles long (14 km). Its line was influenced by the lie of the land and the many landowners along the route. From the Grand Junction Canal at Pddington it was to pass through a tunnel at Maida Hill and then in deep cutting around Regents Park. There, a branch was soon projected to a produce market at Cumberland Basin, serving the West End. Dropping down by four locks through Camdedn Town, it then passed in a second tunnel beneath Islington to City Road, from where good couldbe taken to the City. To avoid high land purchase costs it then skirted the built up area, through the fierlds pf Shoreditch, Hackney, Bethnal Green and Mile End, before joining the River Thames at Limehouse. Despite many objections the whole proposal obtained the Act of Parliament it needed and received Royal Assent in July 1812.

Work began on the Regent's Canal in October 1812 with James MOrgan as engineer and Homer as superintendent. As required by the Act, it had passed through Regent's Park within a year and by June 1814 it had progressed as far as the Hampstead Road,but with the Maida Hill tunnel still to be completed. This first stretch of canal opened on the Prionce Regent's birthday, 12th August 1816.

The extensive cuttings and tunnel cost far more than expected and shortage of money causd suspension of work for a year., aggravated by an embattled dispute with Mr Agar, a landowner at St Pancras. The canal was saved by a Government loan of £200,000 for one of the first job creation schemees set up under the Poor Employment Act of 1817. This innovative legislation was designed to alleviate widespread unemployment which followed the ending of the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1818 the Islington tunnel was finished, followed in 1819 by the stretch from Cambridge Heath to Limehouse. In that year (?) a dock for seagoing ships in Limehouse and the large basin at City Road were both authorised. Finally, on 1st August 1820, after eight years' construction and an expenditure of £700,000 the canal was opened for business.

The Early Years

From the start, the canal was a great success. After the ceremonial opening on 1st August 1820, companies rushed to occupy the canalside wharves. By 1840 Thomas Pickford Limited of City Road Basin had some 120 craft with as many horses to pull them - the largest boat fleet on the canal.

A number of basins were built such as Battlebridge basin where the London Canal Museum now stands. The main centre of trade was the Regent's Canal Dock (now knonwn as Limehouse Basin), a point for seaborne cargo to be unloaded onto canal boats. Cargo from abroad, including ice destined for what is now the museum, was unloaded there and continued its journey on barges. City Road Basin was the second most important traffic centre, handling incoming inland freight, to a large extent.

The Canal was short of water supplies and it was necessary to dam the river Brent to create a reservoir to provide them, in 1835, extended in 1837 and 1854.



THE EARLY YEARS - HOW THE REGENTS CANAL WORKED.

The canal drops 86 feet (26 metres) in its descent from Little Venice to Limehouse Basin. This is achieved via twelve locks and there is an additional ship lock at Limehouse Basin that gives access to the tidal River Thames. The locks were built in pairs so that one boat could ascend while another descended. This saved time and also water, since as one lock emptied, half its water could be used to fill the other lock. Saving water was important because it took 56,000 gallons (250 cubic metres) to fill a lock. Sluices called paddles controlled the water flow and were operated by hand. The lock gates were swung open with balance beams, which on the Regent's Canal were of heaby cast iron rather than the usual timber.

Water supply was always a great concern to the canal company and it had to rely on several sources. Limited amounts of water were obtained from the Grand Junction Canal and some was pumped back from the River Thames at Limehouse. A reservoir was also built on the River Brent at Hendon in 1835 and enlarged in 1852, with a large earthen dam. In 1815 a patent "hydropneumatic" pair of locks was built at Camden Town, intended to be balanced by compressed air and hence would lose no water, but this was a costly failure and it was abandoned in 1818.

In terms of traffic, the Regent's Canal seemed to be a success, carrying nearly 195,000 tons of goods in its first year and nearly 500,000 tons a year by 1829. But it had been expensive to build and the company experienced problems repaying its Government loan. It acgieved this in 1829 by selling new shares at a 75% discount.



BATTLEBRIDGE Basin

First used in 1822, the basin was originally called Horsfall Basin after William Horsfall who had built it on land that he owned. The basin was an industrial hub withy many surrounding businesses using canal transport. In the 1800s there were mainly open wharves and yards around the basin, but around 1900 factories started to crowd the area.





RAILWAY YEARS

From the 1830s railways were the rage and many canals died as a result of the railways' success. But the Regent's Canal continued to thrive since it served the Port of London, up until the 1960s when the old docks closed.

The outlook became worse with the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837-8 which took much long distance traffic away frommthe canal. canal companies now had to reduce their tolls and profits, but continued to lose trade to the railways. It became clear that railways were more versatile and the Regent's Canal Company considered schemes in 1845 and 1846 and again in later years to convert the entire line into a railway.

However, the main stay of the canals in London proved to be substantial local traffic, based heavily on the River Thames and the Docks, while the Regent's Canal also found a new role in distributing goods to London by rail. Unlike some rural canals, it continued to thrive.

The Railway Years

However, competition from the railways was looming and in 1837 London's first mainland railway station was opened at Euston. For a while the two transport systems worked side by side and many of the building materials for the new north London rail termini were carried by canal. Gradually the faster railways attracted commercial traffic away from the canal, although the canal company cut tolls and strengthened the boat fleets in a valiant attempt to compete.

There were attempts made, without success, to turn the canal into a railway at various times during the 19th Century.

The explosion at Macclesfield Bridge in 1874 was a famous incident in the canal's history, in which a gunpowder barge blew up, destroying the bridge and sending debris in all directions.

In the late 1920's talks took place between the Regent's Canal, the Grand Junction Canal, and the Warwick Canals, resulting, in 1929, in a merger between them. The Regent's Canal Company bought the canal assets of the other two parties and the new enlarged undertaking was renamed as the Grand Union Canal Company.

In the latter part of the second world war (1939-45) traffic increased on the canal system as an alternative to the hard pressed railways. Stop gates were installed near King's Cross to limit flooding of the railway tunnel below, in the event that the canal was breached by German bombs.



MACCLESFIELD BRIDGE EXPLOSION

Railways were reluctant to carry explosives, so gunpowder was carried extensively by water, both for military purposes and for civilian uses, such as quarrying.

One of the most notable incidents in the history of the Regent's Canal occurred in October 1874 when a narrowboat named the Tilbury blew up under Macclesfield Bridge. It was one of five boats being puilled by a tug and it had been carrying gunpowder in loose bags and petroleum in barrels. The force of the explosion destroyed the bridge, killed three men and a horse and caused much damage.

The bridge had been opened in 1816 and was named after the Regent's Canal Company chairman, The Earl of Macclesfield. It was the finest bridge on the canal, standing on fluted iron columns cast by the Coalbrookdale Company in Shropshire. The bridge was rebuilt to the same design and is known to this day as 'Blow up Bridge'.

The explosion accelerated the passing of the Explosives Act in 1875, to regulate the manufacture and carriage of these dangerous substances.



OTHER TOPICS

the boats

coal

muscle power and legging

Post War

Starved of funds, the Regent's Canal finally foundered as a commercial trade route when munitions traffic ceased after World War II. The government nationalised rail, road and canal transport in 1948 and set up the British Transport Commission to administer them all. The canal came under the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive and traded under the name "British Waterways". The British Transport Commission was split up in 1963 and British Waterways took over the running of 2000 miles of canal and river navigation. In July 2012, British Waterways handed over its responsibilities as a navigation authority to a new charity known as the Canal and River Trust.

The last horse drawn commercial traffic was carried in 1956 following the introduction of motor tractors three years previously. By the late 1960's commercial traffic had all but vanished and the canal fell into decline.

The canal is now widely used for a variety of recreational and leisure activities and since the 1970s the towpaths have been opened up to the public. Boat trips are regularly available especially between Camden Town and the picturesque Little Venice in west London where the canal meets the Grand Junction near Paddington. In London the Boroughs work together with the navigation authority to provide a historic and interesting canalside walkway through London for all to enjoy.

However, the canal still has a future for supporting commercial traffic, because it provides a viable, environmentally friendly alternative to the congested roads, and supplies will always be needed to the newly developed and restored waterside premises. The main difference from previous eras is that the canal has become a shared use highway, where commercial and lesure crafts can co-exist.



Key Players:

Thomas Homer - the man who had the original idea for a canal from Paddington to the Thames at Limehouse. He also embezzled Regent's Canal Company funds.

Macclesfield

Prince Regent

John Nash

James Morgan

William Agar - an interesting story of speculative land acquisition and legal battles to move the route of the canal.



Significant Buildings

Gilbeys Gin

Gin was manufactured in huge quantities in Camden. The warehouse is now a residential block. This would make an interesting panel especially in Camden.

Islington Tunnel

The building of is a story in itself. 4 million bricks, 886m long. Originally barges being legged through etc.