Draft proposal for history information panels

This is the first of five panels.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE REGENT'S CANAL...
A BRIEF HISTORY


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 parliamentary 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, the Regent's Canal 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 total cost of building the canal was £772,000, twice the original estimate, but it was completed nevertheless and no individual 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 Docks, 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





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 Paddington 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 Camden 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.

Ed's Note - describe some the objections and obstacles, e.g. fears of tunnels collapsing, and describe the reasons for enthusiasm

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. John Nash

James Morgan
Earl of Macclesfield Prince Regent

Colonel John Drinkwater

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

THE NAVVIES




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