The Kensington Canal

The canal that served West London

The opening of the Regents Canal in 1820 and its success led the way for a canal to be built in Kensington. Lord Kensington desired that Counter's Creek (mainly a backwater for carrying sewerage into the Thames) was made navigable it would bring new trade to Kensington as well as new sources of income for Lord Kensington. Contracts for the building of the canal were made in 1824, at a cost of £7969. It was evident that this was too little and the company called in John Rennie to give an assessment on the canal works. Rennie decreed that £34,000 would be neccessary to complete the canal. It finally opened in August 1828. Plans to extend it to the Grand Junction at Westbourne via eleven locks never came to frutition and the Kensington Canal fortunes didn't bid well for this was also the coming of the railway age

The canal as built, was partially an utitlisation of Counter's Creek and partially on new alignment. The Kensington canal was essentially a river navigation so the use of 'canal' is something of a misnomer. The Olympia end of the canal had one lock and this led into a substantial basin, which was served by a lane off Warwick Road and a branch from the first Kensington railway station. There was a substantial lock-keepers house that also served as the headquarters for the yet to come West London railway company

The Kensington Canal was bought up by the railway in 1839. The West London railway (now often referred to as the West London line) made a terminus where Olympia station now stands. There was a branch from the station to the canal basin on the south side of the Hammersmith Road (now Kensington High Street) and trade was conducted between canal and railway for a short while. However reciepts were low and the railway closed just six months after opening

A grouping of railway companies (the LNWR, GWR, LBSCR and LSWR) decided to incoporate the ill fated Kensington railway route into the grand plans for a West London extension railway which would form a link between the four major railway companies of the time. An act of 1859 authorised the filling in of the canal and building of the railway southwards to Clapham Junction. The line opened in 1863, utilising the filled in canal route between Kensington Olympia and the Kings Road. The year is somewhat interesting as that is when the first underground railway in the world opened between Paddington and High Holborn (now Farringdon) station

The Kensington canal continued in shortened form until at least the 1970's, although last commercial workings had been in 1967. In its final years the British Waterways Board had the dubious pleasure of being the owners of waterway! The lock cottage survived until 1998, when it was demolished despite protests from both railway and canal historians. As the only lock had been about a mile up the canal it meant of course that the Kensington Canal was a tidal waterway for most of its length and so technically was a river navigation. Its lower reaches served industries around Lots Road as well as the Lots Road power station that powered the London Underground railway network. After being filled in the site became a highways depot for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Kensington canal is the only waterway in the entire London region that was built upon by a tube railway. Its route was utitlised by the Metropolitan and District railways, with lines radiating in several directions - Wimbledon, Hounslow/Ealing/Uxbridge, and Paddington (via the Hammersmith and City route.) Its land became the focus for the Great Exhibition fair that was held at Earls Court between 1887 and 1915. The location is now that of the world renowed Earl's Court Exhibtion Centre, and so a substantial part of the former canal route lies under either railways or exhibition centres!

The southern end of the canal where it began at Lots Road has undergone major changes in the last few years. The Chelsea Harbour etstate has cropped up providing a focus for this previoulsy industrial corner of London, and the closure of Lots Road power station has provided further opportunites that have yet to be seen. The power station used to have its coal delivered by barges and this was the last commercial operation on the Chelsea Creek


View from Battersea bridge looking towards the Chelsea Harbour development. The entrance to the Chelsea Creek is in the middle of the picture, just right of the cruiser. Notice the large industrial building which can be seen in the next two pictures as well

A view of the entrance to Chelsea (or Counters) Creek from the opposite side of the Thames. The creek afforded access to the Kensington Canal whose entrance was sited just behind the gasometers (Many thanks to Ian Bull for the use of this picture)

  
Left: View looking onto Chelsea Creek on the south side of Lots Road power station. The entrance from the Thames can just be seen in the distance. Right: Chelsea Creek at it approaches Lots Road bridge (Chelsea Harbour drive) That large industrial building helps to place the location in relation to the Thames

  
The entrance to Chelsea Harbour marks almost the start of the former Kensington Canal route. Lots Road bridge (pic right) crosses Chelsea Creek and immediately beyond was the junction with the Kensington canal


On the west side of Lots Road bridge is a bit more of Chelsea Creek to the point where it is truncated by the railway. The Kensington Canal entrance began here and it led northwards


Looking form a different viewpoint, much obscured by foilage however, but with the swans still in view, the canal entrance was in the middle of the picture. The buildings mark the canal's alignment as it made its way towards the Kings Road, and on the next page these buildings will be seen in closer perspective

Kensington Canal Part Two

Around Little Venice & Paddington: History and transport systems / Canute's 'Canal': The mythological waterway that wasnt / Congreve's Hydro-pneumatic lock: A water-saving device that didnt work! / Croydon Canal: London's shortest-lived waterway, closing completely by 1837 / Cumberland Arm: A branch off the Regents Canal to Euston / Fleet River & Canal: The former Thames - Kings Cross waterway / 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 / Limehouse Cut & the Lee Navigation: The 28 mile route from London to Hertford / London's Canal Tunnels: There are three canal tunnels in London / McMurray's Canal: Wandsworths long forgotten waterway / 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 / Surrey Iron Railway: The route of the world's first public railway / Woolwich's secret waterway: The Royal Arsenal Canal

London Canals Outside: 1) Wendover Arm 2) Slough Arm 3) River Chess/Salter's Cut

Attractions near the London canals: Abbey Road / Bayswater / Crockers Folly / Derry and Toms / Edgware Road / Marylebone Goods / Metesco / Nash Villas / Spitfire Works / St Pancras

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