The Croydon Canal
Background
The Croydon Canal Act of 1801 (Public Local Act 41 Geo III c.127) had the full title of “An Act for making and maintaining a Navigable Canal from or from near the Town of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, into the Grand Surrey Canal, in the Parish of Saint Paul, Deptford, in the County of Surrey; and for supplying the Towns of Croydon, Streatham, and Dulwich, and the District called Norwood, in the Parish of Croydon, in the said County of Surrey, and the Town of Sydenham, in the County of Kent, with Water from the said Canal”. This act both created a company known as the Company of Proprietors of the Croydon Canal, and authorised this company to carry out the works required “for the making, completing, and maintaining the said Navigable Canal”.
The canal was opened to the public on Monday 23 October 1809. As described in an article on the front page of the 31 October Kentish Chronicle, the proprietors celebrated this grand opening by travelling from Sydenham to Croydon on “one of the Company’s barges, which was handsomely decorated with flags, &c”. At Croydon, they were met by “many thousands of people, assembled to greet, with thanks and applause, those by whose patriotic perseverance so important a work had been accomplished.” The day ended with “a very splendid dinner” at the Greyhound Inn at which one of the proprietors “most zealously and ably” sang a song composed “by a gentleman while sailing to Croydon” that day:
[...] Long down its fair stream may the rich vessel glide,
And the Croydon Canal be of England the pride.And may it long flourish while commerce caressing,
Adorns its gay banks with her wealth bringing stores,
To Croydon, and all round the country, a blessing;
May industry’s sons ever thrive on the shores. [...]
The canal in fact did not “long flourish”, operating for less than three decades, but its influence on the landscape of South London was much more long-lasting. Its land was bought by the London and Croydon Railway Company, and the railway line between London Bridge and West Croydon now runs along the old canal route.
Another remnant of the canal’s operations, more local to Croydon, is Tamworth Road. This was constructed by the canal company in the early 1810s to provide a link between the canal basin at West Croydon and the Surrey Iron Railway where it passed through the western end of Church Street, in the area now known as Reeves Corner. (Further information about the Surrey Iron Railway and its relevance to the Croydon Canal can be found in Peter McGow’s Notes On The Surrey Iron Railway, particularly chapters 1 and 8.)
Both of the documents below relate to Tamworth Road, and to the short railway line that the company laid out along it. The 1811 document records a decision over how much money should be paid to buy an acre of land needed to make the road, and the 1814 document records a similar decision over how much money should be paid for another 30 perches (3/16 of an acre) of land to extend the Tamworth Road railway across London Road to the canal basin.
