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When London Became An Island

Part 1 - Section 2

Camden Lock to Kings Cross

Right from the 1820s there must have been refreshment establishments at Hampstead Road lock, places where men and horses could rest and recuperate after their long working day. Many industrial and commercial units, which included warehouses, coal depots, food manufacturing plants, furniture factories and gas works, were built on or near the canal, but it should be remembered that the waterway itself also generated a substantial demand for goods and services. Stabling, for example, was most important. At dusk a horse would be tired and sweating and, with an early start the following morning, it was important to rest the animal properly overnight. Stables needed straw and oats and they needed to be 'mucked out' too. Given the rhythm of traffic and the care needed in ensuring canal horses were well shod, many stables had a blacksmith's forge within easy reach.

To canal boats going from the Midlands to the Thames docks the locks at Camden Town were at the end of what was essentially a single long pound because, between Hampstead Road (now Chalk Farm Road) and Uxbridge on the Grand Junction, there were no locks except the regulating stop lock at Paddington. Between Hampstead Road and Limehouse basin there were 12, with a total descent of a little over 80 feet. We will now see the first.

Returning to the towpath through the doorway in the brick wall we will turn left and walk over the canal on the elegant curved oblique bridge (1). You will see there are a pair of ordinary canal locks close by, which were built after the failure of the Congreve experiment. The oblique bridge was designed to allow boats to be pulled from the south pound to the north bank towpath and was constructed in 1845. Pulling the boats across was a hard job and special horses were employed, which became so used to the routine that, once they had completed their task, would make their own way back to the starting point via the road bridge. Today the Hampstead Road locks are the only working double locks that remain on the canal, all the rest have been converted to single locks with a weir installed in the second chamber. When the area is busy there is always a large crowd of onlookers to watch the operation of the gates (2).

Once on the south bank you will see the old lock keepers' cottage straight ahead (3). Although extended in the 1970s the original cottage was built in 1815 and, before the project was abandoned, housed the pump for Congreve's lock. Walking past the cottage, now a Starbucks, will take you to Chalk Farm Road, where you might stop for a while and get a tattoo or have your body pierced. Not quite ready for that (or have too many of those kinds of things already)? Well, just buy one of the enormous assortment of accessories on sale at local shops; a belt masquerading as a bandolier of bullets for instance, or what about or a pair of boots with huge soles or a T-shirt with head-turning slogan. No? OK then, just lounge by the bridge and watch the world go by. And a lot of it does seem to go by; Camden Town tube station must be one of the busiest on the network. Many people are drawn to Camden Lock by the outrageous and the bizarre (4), but traditional enterprises continue alongside the less exotic. If you now fancy a boat journey this is a point to buy a ticket for a ride on the Jenny Wren.

To continue the walk cross over Chalk Farm Road bridge, then turn left and walk down to join the towpath again. In the wall you will see the keystone of the original bridge, also built in 1815 (5). Now walk under the bridge. If you get the feeling you are being watched, you may be, because a row of half-scooters (6) faces the canal and their 'riders' could be looking down on you.

In quick succession you will come to two more locks. It was in order to buy land for the first of these that Morgan made his fateful journey to see Sir Henry Hawley in 1818. Coming back his coach overturned and he broke his arm.

Note the weirs. Single locks help save water, which is becoming a matter of increasing concern and notices put up by British Waterways in 2006 encouraged boaters to share a lock of water where possible and ensure other methods of water conservation were also practiced.

One thing I hadn't realised before doing the 2011 walk was that the canal and environs seem to have become a popular venue for photographic 'shoots'. I had never come across this before, but saw 3 in two days. The first was after passing under Kentish Town Road bridge where I was able to photograph a photographer photographing a photographic model (7). One frustrating element of researching the history of building the Regents Canal was the absence of photographic images. It was not until the late 1830s that the first photographs were published, although experiments were being conducted before work on the canal began. Still, I had hoped to be able to find portraits of one or two of those involved in construction and who were still alive in the 1840s, such as Hugh McIntosh, the major contractor, or James Morgan. But no luck, although I am convinced there must be at least one portrait somewhere.

After a couple of turns and another fine brick bridge we will come to the point where William Agar lived. If you want to see the approximate spot leave the towpath at St Pancras Way, cross the road towards the Constitution pub and turn left. After a few yards you will come to Barker Drive. Turn right here and walk up a little bit and you will arrive at a little open space on the right hand side. No-one will bar us from the land today as McIntosh’s men were barred in 1815 because nothing remains of the old Elm Lodge. It is not, however, too difficult to imagine what the view would have been like from the house. The whole of London would have been visible, as it will still be from the most of the floors in the tower block (8). It is, perhaps, understandable that Agar was an early ‘Nimby’, but he subsequently turned the canal to financial advantage. Then, after his death, the area he had leased in 1811 was developed by his son and became known as 'Agar Town'. Short leases were granted on small plots which were developed by speculative builders, who had no interest in investing in the infrastructure. The undrained, unmade roads became channels of mud after rain and sanitary provision was lamentable. Conditions in 'Agar Town' were eventually brought to wider public attention through 'Household Words', a periodical reflecting the social preoccupations of Charles Dickens. Curiously Dickens had lived within a few hundred yards of Elm Lodge when he was a boy, having arrived in London two years after the canal was opened. Perhaps he saw Counsellor Agar once or twice.

Returning to the towpath we can continue our walk along a quiet stretch down to Kings Cross (9), which was known as Battle Bridge in the early C19th. At that time legend had it that, almost 1800 years before, Queen Boudicca had made her last stand against the Roman conquerors at this point, but this now seems doubtful. As we walk along we will pass new a large new building, property of the Post Office. The old warehouses that backed on to the canal usually had some points of interest, this seems to have very few and no-one could say the colour scheme does much to lift the spirits (10). WE will then arrive at St Pancras basin, home to the St Pancras Cruising Club, and St Pancras lock (11), which, had circumstances been different, may well have been named Agar’s lock. Much of the Kings Cross area is currently subject to considerable redevelopment. A new terminal was opened for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link at St Pancras station in 2007 and, although this caused some disruption when being constructed, it was nothing like that which occurred when the initial railway development took place. The line into St Pancras led to the clearance of some 4000 houses in Somers Town, St Pancras and Camden Town and it is estimated that 32,000 people were displaced. Compare that to the construction of the Regents Canal half a century earlier. Even a critic conceded that the line was certainly chosen, in some respects, very judiciously, as comparatively few houses are required to be taken down.

In 2006 a locally circulated magazine called 'Cross Section' posed the question 'Will The Dust Ever Settle?' on its cover, indicating that development in the Kings Cross area was a long way from completion. You can check out the Kings Cross debate by clicking the buttons on the left. And picture 12. At first glance you might think you were peeping over the ivy and looking down on part of the area that had, in fact, been de-developed. Not so. Along the old brick walls at this point are a number of 'impressions' of the future. Real climbing ivy had partly covered this one, making an unusual border.

Close by Kings Cross and St Pancras stations is a nature reserve maintained by the London Wildlife Trust. The area behind the stations was once home to the Imperial Gas Works. This was the largest gas works in London, and from 1822 until the early years of last century, gas was actually produced there. In the pre-natural gas era gas production demanded enormous amounts of coal, which, at first, came via the canal. However, after the establishment of the railway link between London and south Yorkshire, coal could be brought right to Kings Cross and the area north of the station was soon developed with this trade in view. Rather than destroying canal trade the new freight yards provided fresh opportunities for canal carriers, leading to the development of a substantial interchange between the Regents Canal and the railway. The coal mines of south Yorkshire have, for the most part, gone but memories of the old coal and gas links will be remembered in names in the new developments. Coal Drops Yard will be one, Gasholder Triplet another.

After the St Pancras lock the canal curves towards Maiden Lane bridge. On the left are boarded up offices that were built in line with the canal (13) and the words Coal Office is still visible on one of the gables. Disused now, like most of the old industrial and commercial buildings on the line, they were the victim of the decline and fall of canal traffic. Jack Whitehead, a local historian, takes the view that the great freeze of 1962 -1963 was the point the when canal trade ceased to be a viable entity. With the canals frozen over many companies used road haulers to move their goods and did not return their custom to canal carriers afterwards. Even if there is a revival of the coal industry I doubt if we will ever see coal dust drifting over this part of the canal again.

A little beyond the building and after passing beneath another concrete bridge we will come to Maiden Lane, which is known as York Way today. The bridge, however, is still called Maiden Lane bridge. I took photograph 14 close to the bridge in order to show that Kings Cross railway terminal was built at a lower level than the canal. Rather than build a bridge in the manner of Robert Stevenson's line to Euston, the Great Northern Railway (GNR) decided to carry the canal over the permanent way by means of an aqueduct, which would certainly have meant GNR rail traffic would have been less frightening to passing barge horses. A large new office block now stands by the side of the bridge, partly built with steel girders transported along the canal, which helped reduce road congestion. When the Regents Canal project was being considered by a House of Lords committee in 1811 the reduction of road congestion in London was one reason put forward by its sponsors, so, two centuries years on, their arguments are still being proved correct.

Battlebridge Basin (15) lies close to Maiden Lane bridge. This was originally known as Horsfall’s Basin and was partially constructed with earth excavated from Islington tunnel. It was from this point, in 1820, that the convoy of boats which celebrated the opening of the canal embarked. As such it is a fitting place for a museum and the London Canal Museum, which constantly celebrates the canal, has adjacent premises. If you want to end your walk here, but would like to visit the museum before you go home, walk up onto Maiden Lane bridge and then start to walk down to Kings Cross railway station, where you will also find the Tube. After a couple of hundred yards you will see Wharfdale Road leading off to the left. Walk down here and look out for New Wharf Road on the left. The canal museum (16) is on the left a short way along. Those who want to continue with the walk should click on the button below.