City Road Lock - History

History

The Grand Junction Canal reached Paddington Basin in 1801, and various suggestions to link it to the River Thames further to the east were made. Plans for the Regents Canal, from Paddington to Limehouse were eventually agreed, and an Act of Parliament to authorise construction was obtained on 13 July 1812. The canal opened as far as Camden Town in 1816, but a ridge of higher ground lay between this point and City Road Lock, through which a 960-yard (880 m) tunnel had to be driven. Work started on the tunnel, but the company had insufficient funds to continue and work stopped. Charles Munro, the chairman of the canal company prior to 1816 succeeded in brokering a deal with the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners, who loaned £200,000 to help completion of the canal. Work resumed in December 1817, and the canal opened on 1 August 1820. One of the main events of the opening ceremony was the arrival of boats from Manchester, which passed through the lock to reach City Road Basin immediately to the east, discharged their cargoes, and set off again to return to the north.

The lock was well-used, since City Road Basin proved to be much more convenient for goods reaching London than Paddington Basin, and made a huge contribution to the prosperity of the company. Firms moved there from Paddington, including the carriers Pickfords, and it became a distribution centre into central London. The area around the lock became congested, because of the time it took for boats to pass through the adjacent tunnel, but this was partially relieved in 1830, when a towing boat was installed, which wound its way along a chain attached to the bottom of the canal. This system remained in use for over 100 years until the 1930s.