Regent's Canal (Camden section)

The Regent's Canal runs from Little Venice to Limehouse Basin, and is 13.5 km long. It was part of the Grand Union Canal system, and was built to link the Grand Junction Canal's Paddington Arm, which opened in 1801, with the River Thames. The Canal was first proposed in 1802 by Thomas Homer, who owned a fleet of boats operating on the Grand Junction Canal that carried coal and building materials to Paddington and took horse manure to the country. The Regent's Canal was designed to connect the newly opened Paddington Branch of the Grand Junction Canal to the Thames at Limehouse, so that cargo arriving by sea could be distributed throughout central and southern England by barge. In 1811, Homer's proposal found approval with John Nash, at the time designing Regent's Park (q.v.). Nash's associate James Morgan drew up plans for the new canal in 1811, which were passed in Parliament under the Regent's Canal Act in 1812, the Prince Regent having given his consent to the name. Nash was a major shareholder and appointed Director of the new canal company, set up to build and manage it, and Morgan was appointed the company's Engineer, a post he held until 1835. He died in 1856 and is buried in the Brompton Cemetery (q.v.).

The stretch of the canal from Paddington to Regent's Park was completed by 1816, but completion of the full canal was delayed until 1820. The project had financial and other difficulties. Homer, who had been appointed Superintendant of the Regent's Canal Company in 1812, was later caught embezzling canal funds, and there were disputes with William Agar, landowner of part of the Manor of St Pancras through which the canal was to be routed. The canal's importance for trade was later superseded by the coming of the railways. The Camden section is c.2.75 km long and begins at Regent's Park running through Camden Town, and leaving the borough at York Way. It passes alongside the Camden Lock market area. Among the buildings along its route is a former pumping house of 1898, designed by Sir John Wolfe Barrey, which was converted to a Lock Keeper's Cottage in 1926. At the western end the Cumberland Basin was infilled post WWII and is now covered by the car park for London Zoo. The Canal forms an important wildlife corridor with plants rare for London, fish and waterfowl with coot, moorhen, mallard and tufted ducks breeding here.

On 2 July 2012, British Waterways ceased to exist in England and Wales and in its place the Canal & River Trust was set up to care for 2,000 miles of historic waterways.