The Regent’s Canal was opened in 1820 after some years of hard work, interrupted by scandal and by money problems that would be familiar to those managing large-scale construction today. The Islington Tunnel, 960 yards long, was finished in 1818 but difficulties over land on the eastern side held up the completion of the canal. The tunnel was built by the engineer James Morgan, and was inspected on completion by consultant engineer Thomas Telford, who praised it highly, reassuringly for the anxious directors.
From 1826 to 1927 boats were dragged through the tunnel by a steam chain tug, a rare means of propulsion that involved winding an ugly boat that looked like a shed on a raft, along a fixed chain, towing several barges behind at a time. Ugly as the tug may have been, this was far more efficient than manual “legging” whereby men lay on top of barges and propelled them by pushing against the walls.
Not far west of the tunnel lies Battlebridge Basin, also called Horsfall Basin, and occasionally King’s Cross Basin, built by Mr William Horsfall, on sloping land, using the spoil from the tunnel to create an embankment so that the basin could be level. It was never a great money-spinner for him.
Further west still was the gas works of the imperial Gas Light and Code Company, opened in around 1823. It had its own small basin for unloading coal brought by canal from the docks.
Barges were largely horse-drawn through King’s Cross until the 1950s, although narrowboats, used for long-distance carrying to the Midlands, had diesel engines from the 1920s. In 1952 small tractors began pulling barges through the area.
As canal transport declined nationwide, so did the fortunes of the canal in King’s Cross but, with support from conservationists and enthusiasts, the canal never closed, and in 1978 a residential boat community was established in Battlebridge Basin. The fortunes of the canal began to improve to the point where it is now highly valued as a resource for leisure boating and walking.
Story by Martin Sach
Main Image; Entrance to the Regents Canal, Limehouse. Image courtesy of London Canal Museum