KC to BG

When London Became An Island

Part 1 - Section 3

Kings Cross to Bethnal Green

From Maiden Lane bridge walk up to the entrance of Islington tunnel. Just before you pass under the flat concrete bridge that carries Caledonian Road you will see a board giving information about wildlife on the canal. Behind is small garden where ceramic fish swim behind the shrubbery (1). A little beyond the bridge you will come to the entrance to the tunnel (2) and see that the towpath stops there. When the canal was being planned many Islington householders were anxious that robbers might use a tunnel towpath to make good an escape. They would have been relieved when the final towpath-less plan was approved, but the lack of a foot passage then caused difficulties for bargees, who faced the prospect of 'legging' their boats for nearly a thousand yards. The tunnel took a long time to build, but the standard of workmanship was high. When the canal company was moribund and looking for funds the tunnel was subject to inspection by Thomas Telford who found it constructed in a perfect manner.

As canal trade began to develop bottlenecks inevitably occurred and only a few years after the tunnel was opened a small steam tug was employed, which could haul itself and a train of barges along by means of an iron chain. No steam boat travel for us however - we must continue over Islington Hill.

Leave the towpath by the steps or the ramp and turn left and walk along Muriel Street to the junction with Carnegie Street. Turn right. Walk up Carnegie to the junction with Charlotte Street, which leads off to the left. Straight ahead you will see a footpath running between the Vittoria Primary School and a row of houses. Walk along this footpath and turn left onto Maygood Street. Walking up the Maygood Street incline will bring you on to Barnsbury Road. Turn right here and walk along to the next corner. Looking down you will see a plaque on the pavement (3), which indicates that the canal tunnel runs below. Given how far you have climbed from the towpath it might come as something of a surprise to know that the foundations of local houses were affected by the tunnel, but they were and Morgan had to field the complaints of, doubtlessly irate, local residents.

Continue along Barnsbury Road (which now becomes Penton Street) to the next corner and you will find yourself in front of the Church of St Silas, Pentonville, which stands at the junction of Risinghill Street. Looking down you will see another pavement plaque and if you look right down Risinghill Street you will see the buildings of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School. This street was once home to Risinghill School, a cause celebre in the early 1960s because of the radical policies introduced by Michael Duane, the Headteacher. Islington has something of a reputation as a cauldron of radical politics. James Mill wrote his treatise 'Government' here as the tunnel was being completed and one of the streets nearby is named Tolpuddle Street in honour of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six pioneers of trade unionism who were transported to Australia for administering illegal oaths. In April 1834 a huge rally was held in Copenhagen Fields, which was a short distance from the canal, to protest about the transportation. This helped maintain pressure for the release of the men, which was later achieved.

Crossing Penton Street on the the zebra crossing will take you into Chapel Market. This is one of London's better known street markets and if you walk down it on any day except Monday you will find it in operation. At the end of Chapel Market you will come to Liverpool Road and see the N1 shopping centre, N1 referring to the postal district. Cross Liverpool Road and turn left and you will come to a circular building which has a large winged sculpture, made of chrome tube, on the roof. Turn right here, walk through the shopping centre and you will arrive at Upper Street. Looking across Upper Street you will see a road running off by the side of The York pub. This road, Duncan Street, will take you to the east end of the Islington tunnel. To get there you will need to cross Upper Street on the pedestrian crossing, which is to the left.

At the bottom of Duncan Street you will come to Colebrooke Row. In front of Colebrooke Row there are public gardens, which follow the course of the New River, a man-made waterway constructed to bring water to London from Hertfordshire. There is a board giving information about this important conduit, which was already over two hundred years old when the canal was being built, in the garden to the right. When the Islington tunnel was built great care had to be taken by Morgan to ensure the supply of water was not disrupted and that, of course, no water would leak from the New River into the tunnel once the canal was open.

Cross Colebrooke Row by the zebra crossing and you will see the entrance to the path that leads down to the towpath. Descend to the towpath, cast an eye over the east entrance to the tunnel (4) and then walk by the moored narrow boats. After walking under the next bridge you will find yourself at the pool above City Road lock and might catch sight of the Islington Narrowboat Association narrowboat (5). Much of the carrying on the Regents Canal was short distance work for which barges were used but narrowboats designed to negotiate the Midland's network were a common sight right from the opening day.

In the 1820s Thomas Shepherd, a well-known topographical artist, published a series of views of the Regents Canal, one of which shows the City Basin locks. This view is recognisable today. From the lock gates it is possible to see under Danbury Street bridge and through the tunnel back towards Kings Cross. The City Basin itself is much changed though. Two hundred years ago the area was a 'green-field' site that would have probably been developed for housing. However, the Regents Canal changed all that and after the opening, heralded by the firing of blank charges, it went on to become the most important basin on the waterway, soon superseding Paddington. Today, with the canal trade gone, an air of tranquillity has returned (6) and it is possible to enjoy this sitting on one of the shoal of fishy seats on the widened towpath. Passing along the towpath here recently I found a group of volunteers from Thames 21 hard at work cleaning graffiti and planting flowers (7).

A short distance beyond the City Road basin is Wharf Road bridge (8) and a pub, the Narrow Boat, that stands almost opposite the Wenlock basin (9). From here onwards you will notice that there seem to be increasing number of sites on the south bank of the canal that have, or are, being developed as blocks of apartments or modern commercial units. Cranes loom, concrete is poured and week by week longer and longer shadows fall over the water. Because the towpath runs on the north bank almost all the way from Limehouse to Paddington new south bank developments may be built right up to the waters edge in much the same way as the old warehouses and factories were.

Once past Sturts lock we soon approach the London Borough of Hackney. Each riparian borough has impressed itself on the canal in different ways and once over the border you will find immediate changes to canal side furniture. We say goodbye to the litter-bins of Islington with their little cast metal canal barges, but there are imaginative signs by the Hackney bridges. Some (10) indicate the route ahead (I am not sure if the estimated walking times between bridges are realistic) and others draw attention to various aspects of canal history, topography and ecology. The boat seats are interesting too (11).

As the canal curves round towards Rosemary Branch you will see a building with 'Rosemary Works' on the top peeping over the Bridport Street bridge. If you leave the canal at this point you will see the Rosemary Branch (which is a pub, a theatre and has dinning rooms) opposite the entrance to the steps. In keeping with the dynamic, arts orientated and youthful communities that seem to occupy increasing areas along or near the canal as we go further east, this is a thriving place. At the time I took photograph (12) it was presenting plays by graduates of the Bristol Old Vic. On the other side of the bridge you will see that a fading sign indicates the Rosemary Works once supplied all kinds of boxes (13).

At this point it is possible to take a short break from the towpath and walk parallel to the canal down Canal Walk, which runs off by the side of the bridge. You can then walk through an open space before rejoining the towpath by the next bridge. On either path you will pass the point where a notable house, called Balmes, stood at the time the canal was being built. Nothing remains of that now, although Balmes Road runs into the estate of low-rise and tower blocks and ensures it is not completely forgotten. The next bridge, which carries Whitmore Road, has a white strip painted on the brickwork over the towpath. I presume this is a visual warning to tall people (or cyclists) to watch their head as they pass through. The height of bridge arches was one reason why barge horses tended to be powerful, but mid-height animals and that the tractors that sometimes replaced them in the C20th were not full size agricultural models.

Kingsland Road bridge is next along the line (14). Just before the bridge the towpath rises to give boat access to Kingsland basin, now used by CHUG, a local canal users group. Although retaining a C19th profile Kingsland Road bridge is a wide bridge that carries an important road.

If you fancy in interesting diversion at this point why not consider a visit to the Geffrye Museum (15), which is about a third of a mile away. Turn right on the bridge and walk down Kingsland Road. The museum is on the left. A little beyond the entrance is an archipelago of Vietnamese restaurants, where the food is really delicious.

Passing under Kingsland Road bridge a brand new railway bridge comes into sight. In October 2006 I had a surprise. Early in 2006 I took photograph 16. The columns had once supported an old metal bridge that once carried a line into Broad Street, which had been closed in the 1980s. They looked forlorn and the ground on which they stood would, I thought, soon vibrate to the pile drivers of a new housing project. Not so. On my later visit I found that a new bridge was being erected in their place, this time to carry the long promised extension of the East London Line (17). Well 'tout le change, tout le meme' - but no need for new horse ramps I think.

A short distance beyond the new railway bridge Haggerston Road is carried over the canal by a bridge that seems almost rural in its aspect (18). A birch tree stands hard by the arch and other shrubbery is busy expanding its territory. Sadly these cover nearly all of the mosaics that were created over 20 years ago by children from the old Laburnum School that once stood on the south bank. At the time the photograph was taken the school had been knocked down and the new Bridge Academy, which has a very state-of-the-art design, was being built in its place. I wonder if the contract for demolition and re-building includes a clause that will ensure the mosaics will be maintained. They are a significant tribute to the old school and one of its teachers, Miss Heweitt, who worked there from 1958-1982. The mosaics were created by children to celebrate her service and it would be a pity if they were lost.

The next bridge carries Queensland Road and if you are doing the walk on a Sunday morning this might be an ideal place to leave the towpath and have a walk down to Columbia Road flower market. Go on to the bridge, turn right and walk south past the new Adelaide Wharf development. Keep on going across two sets of traffic lights and you will finally come to a T junction. Turn left and then right and you will arrive at the market. Today many of the shops that flank Columbia Road house a variety of enterprises selling, amongst other things, food, furniture and fashionable clothes. Not far away is the Hackney City Farm, which is also worth a visit, especially if you are doing a walk with children. Always a warm welcome here from a variety of birds and animals - and the staff too, of course!

If you want to continue along the canal you should return to the towpath - look out for the unusual marker (19) - walk on to the next bridge, passing Acton's lock as you go. Here you will see a big sign pointing to Broadway Market, which you can reach by walking up the steps. Unlike Chapel Market this is a street market that only opens on Saturdays, but it continues to attract an eclectic mix of shops, cafes and bars that are open throughout the week. There is a little bookshop (The Broadway Bookshop) here too, which is quite close to the canal. As for the Saturday market the thelondonpaper (a free newspaper widely distributed in central London) has noted that it is 'a rare mix; a winning combination of shops - trendy new-starts and old timers - and a thriving street market selling food, clothes, crafts and quirks'.

Whilst on the bridge at Broadway Market in October 2006 I noticed that panels had been turned into a kind of unofficial display board, a snapshot of what was happening at that moment for the passing audience in this little corner of E8. The week after some would be gone, pasted over by adverts for new events and productions. I thought it worthwhile to record what was on offer, so click here to see the posters. Then I went back a year later and did the same again. And the year after that too.

Beyond the bridge you will see evidence of another gas works that was built close to the canal by the Imperial Gas Company. The Bethnal Green Gas Works (20 and 21) is in Tower Hamlets, for at this point the canal is the boundary between the two boroughs and E8 becomes E2. The main gasometer, built in the 1850s, is the biggest in the National Gas grid. From the bridge you can walk along the road that runs by the canal for a couple of hundred yards. You will find an access point to the towpath almost opposite the site of the works. A little beyond the giant gasometer there are a couple of houses (22) which, I would guess, are the oldest on the banks below City Road basin that were not built by the company itself. A few hundred yards from the canal, on Hackney Road, there are several fine residences (23), one of which has a plaque indicating it was constructed in 1820, the year in which the canal was opened. Perhaps they were built with one of the first consignments of bricks delivered along the new transport route. Unlike the houses on Hackney Road the canal-side houses look ripe for renovation. I hope they do not fall to the demolition man. I later saw the boat moored alongside the houses being towed to Limehouse by a British Waterways patrol boat bearing a blue flashing light.

When the canal was originally mooted it was intended that it would swing south through Bethnal Green from here, but changes took it on a more easterly route, which might account for the kink in the line. Once under Mare Street the canal gradually turns towards the Thames and enters the environs of Victoria Park. Once, walking along this stretch on a Sunday, I came a across a paper carrying a desperate little plea. Someone had lost their reading glasses and needed them for work on Monday. The bottom of the paper had been cut into small strips and a telephone number written on each one. Mini-posters with fuzzy photographs of lost cats or dogs are not uncommon, but I had never seen one for reading glasses before - I wonder if they turned up.

At this point, on the far bank, you will see the gardens of riparian owners and that some householders take advantage of their canal frontage to do a little boating. A little further on and you will see the canal is crossed the ornate Bonner Bridge (24) that carries a road and walkway known as the Nightwalk. Walk under Bonner Bridge and past a mooring point for canal boats (25) and you will come to a gate on the left, through which you can enter the park. Victoria Park dates from the 1840s and was established as an open space for the growing population of the East End. It was laid out by James Pennethorne who trained under John Nash. It is pleasant to walk around the lake and you will find a refreshment pavilion and toilets on the far side (26).

If you want to end the walk at this point then the best thing to do is to go back to the Nightwalk, cross over the canal and continue straight ahead. Walking down Approach Road will take you to Old Ford Road where you should turn right. Walk along to the junction with Cambridge Heath Road and turn left. Bethnal Green Tube is a couple of hundred yards ahead. You might like to pop into the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood before you travel on which is right on the corner of Old Ford Road and Cambridge Heath Road.