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The Grand Surrey Canal

The route to Peckham was added as an afterthought, and was the last bit of the Surrey Canal to be built

The Peckham Branch

This is probably the most delightful part of the Grand Surrey's remnants. the branch is virtually complete and has bridges and retaining walls. The only things amiss are the towpath (which ran on the west side) and the actual terminus of the canal. The walk from Peckham connects to the walk through Burgess Park

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Hill Street Bridge is the first of the two bridges on the Peckham branch. One wonders why it is called Hill St Bridge since the road is actually known as Willowbrook Road. It was at one time known as Hill St but that has been relegated to just the end of that road in Peckham itself

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Foundation stone for Hill St Bridge, quite vandalised obviously

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A rarity - the only GSC milestone can be found by Hill St bridge. Its 3 and half miles to the Thames from here

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Another Hill St bridge plaque - the date of build

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Both Peckham branch bridges were of an elaborately ornament style. This is the second bridge up the branch known as Commercial Way bridge

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A view southwards to the site of the canal terminus at Canal Head in Peckham

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Canal Head. Its now the location of the new library. There used to be a bit of a road called Canal Head but it no longer exists. The Nat West tower (or Tower 42) can be seen. The only building left that is linked with the canal is the one on the right. This used to be a timber warehouse

Waterways World published an article a few years ago showing a couple of pictures of a pleasure cruise along the Grand Surrey in the 1960's. The article claimed the Peckham branch was the remaining bit left of the old route to Croydon. It was a great shock to see such an error written into the magazine on page 99. This erroneous information is quite appalling, having come from such a prestigious magazine whose claim to accuracy has often been unrivalled

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