At the end of the path that runs through Vincent Gardens are steps that will take you up to the Danbury Street bridge. Before you cross take a look down Graham Street. The prospectus of 1811 asserted that easier transport of building materials would be afforded if the proposed Paddington to Limehouse canal was dug and from 1820 carriers were unloading stone, along with other heavy and bulky commodities, at wharves and basins all along its length. Nearly a century would pass before the factory premises shown in photograph 1 were constructed, but the promise of 1811 proved enduring.
Diespeker, a company involved in creating mosaics and the production of terrazzo, a finely ground composite of marble chippings and cement, found water transport a convenient way to bring various types of stone to their canal-side factory. The company was founded in the early 1880s and was soon taking stands at exhibitions such as one held in Bristol in 1883 where a newspaper report said it was presenting a ‘very choice collection of Mosaic work for flooring’. A good reputation was quickly established and orders came in from all over the country with interest shown by a variety of customers, including church and local government authorities. The old factory is no longer used by Diespeker (it is now the home of a firm of architects) but the company continues to thrive at a base in south London.
After crossing the bridge and turning right down the path you will arrive at City Road Basin. In the 1820s Thomas Shepherd, a well-known topographical artist, published a series of pictures of the Regents Canal, one of which shows the City Road Basin locks in a view which is still recognisable. 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 from artillery pieces, it went on to become the most important basin on the waterway, soon superseding Paddington. The main office of the company eventually moved here and shareholders (or proprietors or subscribers as they were then called) no doubt waited eagerly for the arrival of a copy of the annual Statement of Account to see how their investment was doing. Note the way in which the proprietors, in the covering letter, were urged to support the canal based coal trade (2).
Today, with industry gone, the basin carries a more leisurely air and is the venue for the annual Angel Canal festival (3). The City Road end of the basin is now dominated by two tall apartment blocks which stand by City Road. On the opposite side of the road is a new residential development where many significant points of the Regents Canal (including, prominently, the City Road Basin) are listed (4). Close by is a statue called ‘Opening the Lock Gate’ (5).
Should you wish to have a rest by the basin there is a very popular outdoor coffee shop near the lock and, a little further along, an area to sit and watch the duck and towpath worlds go by. On the adjacent wall you will see plaques erected to the memory of two women whose unstinting voluntary work spanned more than half a century. The decline of the canal system in the immediate post period meant that during the 1960s plans were afoot to fill City Road basin in. However, Crystal Hale, who lived close by, organised a campaign to retain it as a community facility and subsequently established the Islington Boat Club and then the Angel Canal Festival. When Crystal became ill at the turn of the century Beryl Windsor stepped forward to help ensure the festival continued. Her efforts, which included leadership of the festival organising committee, continued for nearly 20 more years and were recognised by the award of the British Empire Medal. Today the Angel Canal festival is run by the Canal and River Trust and the basin remains the base of the Islington Boat Club. I am sure both Crystal and Beryl would have been very pleased with a nearby quartet of mosaics. They were made by local children working with artists and show different aspects of the canal.
Walking along the towpath a few years ago I noticed a group of volunteers from Thames 21 hard at work cleaning graffiti from the adjacent walls as the whole area was pleasantly developed as the Hanover School Towpath Garden. The ‘greening’ of the canal towpath has really come on in the past couple of years and contributions have been made by a number of groups and organisations.
A short distance beyond the City Road Basin is Wharf Road bridge and a pub, the Narrow Boat, that stands almost opposite the entrance to Wenlock basin. Wenlock Basin was opened a few years after the canal but a factory, which had access to Wharf Road on one side and the basin on the other, had an important place in the history of the development of international telecommunications. It was here, in the 1840s, that blocks of gutta percha, which had been imported from south-east Asia, were processed to make all kinds of products. These included improved golf balls, which were subsequently called ‘gutties’ in Scotland. One of the most important uses of gutta percha was as insulation for telegraph wires that would run under water. It was used for the first submarine cable to link England and France and, as the international network of undersea cables expanded, so the products of Wharf Road could be found in many parts of the world. Given its importance the time has come, surely, for a plaque to indicate where the Gutta Percha Company factory once stood. If you have ever had root canal treatment then maybe you should consider supporting this idea for you may well be thankful for the small amount you are carrying yourself! Click here to go to the relevant section in this website to read more about ‘nature’s plastic’ and the early years of gutta percha development.
The motive power in the Gutta Percha Company factory was steam, which was soon adopted in many industrial premises lining the Regents. The nearby City Saw Mills, a single company also known as Esdaile and Margrave, was evidently the biggest unit of its kind in London. Much production was was powered by steam and the firm had both its own wharf on the canal and a wet dock where wood could be seasoned. Esdaile and Margrave was established well before the Gutta Percha Company and was involved in offering services to those who wanted their own timber cut to an exacting specification. All kinds of work was undertaken including, according to one contemporary report, ‘the production of leaves of bird's-eye and Russian maple, for library picture frames’ and ‘wavy strips of oak and sycamore, chestnut and ebony, walnut and cedar, for the various parts of highly finished and high-priced cabinet work’. The slicing of cork, as exhibited at the Great Exhibition, was very impressive too. City Saw Mills could shave this wood with such fineness that 500 wafers together would be less than an inch thick.
Given the danger inherent in the combination of wood and the naked flame it is no surprise that the City Saw Mills were well prepared for emergencies particularly those involving fire. In the disastrous conflagration of 1853, which burnt the gutta percha factory down, the City Saw Mills engine was probably the first on the scene but to no avail. Fortunately, during the time the factory was being rebuilt many of the businesses around City Road and Wenlock basins rallied round to give help and Esdaile and Margrave doubtless extended a helping hand.
It is a long time since Wenlock Basin handled industrial traffic but a few years ago a review of a new, shared ownership housing development overlooking the basin mentioned the fact that one downside was a lack of ‘immediate green space’ and that Victoria Park is the nearest substantial open space, even though it is two and a half miles away. The most direct route is, of course, along the towpath. Other attractions to the east are the Saturday Broadway Market and, on Sunday, both the Columbia Road flower market and the Victoria Park food market. In September 2021, when visiting the Angel Canal festival, I happened to see the Duffy (6), a boat which brought its own green space wherever it moored!
At this point look out for what you might take, at first glance, to be a standard blue plaque above a strip of towpath ‘greening’. The plaque is not standard, but a reminder that individuals, as well as organisations, have had an important role to play in maintaining the fabric of buildings in riparian areas and in keeping the towpath safe.
A short distance beyond Wenlock Basin there is a pedestrian bridge over the canal and it is worth walking up to this to look downstream (7). On the south bank, the older white buildings comprise Holborn Studios, which is evidently Europe’s largest photographic studio complex. A few years ago a campaign mounted to save the buildings from redevelopment had widespread support in which the Friends of the Regents Canal, a voluntary organisation that has supporters in each of the riparian boroughs, played a key role. The Friends of the Regents Canal constantly monitors planning permission applications and drums up support to oppose those it thinks are to the detriment of the immediate environment of the canal.
Although there is often quite a lot to see on the banks of canal and on the water itself, looking below the surface may also be rewarding and not always because of interesting aquatic plants. Returning to the towpath you will soon pass a strangely satisfying configuration of submerged stones (8) and after asking yourself ‘What this world if full of care?’ you may decide to stop and stare. Then, as you eventually walk on, you will see, as the canal curves round towards Rosemary Branch, a building with 'Rosemary Works' on its façade becoming visible over a bridge parapet. This bridge, which is beyond a pipe arching over the canal, carries Bridport Place. I would suggest leaving the towpath at this point by the adjacent steps. At the top of the steps a poster reflecting the temper of the times (9) was on display during the first pandemic lockdown. As predicted those days did pass. We can only hope they will never return.
Kings Cross to Bethnal Green
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When London Became An Island
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