The Grand Surrey Canal
Quite a number of buildings from Grand Surrey days remain at most wharves, but those that were actually canal operational structures are few. Here's a look at those
Buildings of the Surrey Canal
The Canal Office, as it was known, was of course used for the administration of the canal and doubled as a lock keeper's house for the operation of the adjacent lock through which boats locked DOWN from Greenland Dock into the Grand Surrey Canal
The Canal Office in 1984 just after the new Plough Way had been constructed. 14 years had passed since the last boat ventured onto the canal
The Canal Office in 1984
The Canal Office in its last years, before being demolished to make way for an extension to the adjacent watersports centre
A short distance away from the Canal Office, stood the The Yard Office. Although not technically a part of the Grand Surrey, it belonged to the same company, the Surrey Commercial Docks Company. It was built in the same style as the Canal Office. I like the way the plaque says that no one is sure what it was used for, since they do call it an office!
Yard Office Plaque
The Yard Office
Yard Office - date of construction
THE ROUTE:
Buildings / Surrey Docks 1 / Surrey Docks 2 / Surrey Docks 3 / To Old Kent Road / Canal Junctions / Canal Names / Bridges / Wharves / Peckham / Camberwell
Around Little Venice & Paddington: History and transport systems / Canute's 'Canal': The mythological waterway that wasnt / Croydon Canal: London's shortest-lived waterway, closing completely by 1837 / Cumberland Arm: A branch off the Regents Canal from Camden to Euston / Grand Surrey: The canal with an ambition to reach Portsmouth! / Grosvenor Canal: The Grosvenor linked Victoria to the Thames / Kensington Canal: The canal that became a railway and an underground route / London's Canal Tunnels: There are three canal tunnels in London / Paddington Arm: The Grand Junction/Grand Union from Bulls Bridge to London / Pudding Mill River: Requiem for London's lost waterway / Regents Canal: This runs between Little Venice, Camden Town & Limehouse / Romford Canal: The penultimate, yet unfinished, canal to be built in London / Ruislip Feeder: The former waterway that fed the canal / Westbourne River: The old waterway from Kilburn to the Thames / Woolwich's secret waterway: The Royal Arsenal Canal
Attractions near the London canals: Abbey Road / Bayswater / Crockers Folly / Derry and Toms / Edgware Road / Marylebone Goods / Nash Villas / Spitfire Works / St Pancras