London's Canals

Publisher: Shire Publications 4 th ed., 2004, (first pub. 1977 as Discovering London's Canals) £ 5.99

Not many of the boats owned by CA members would be able to make use of  London’s canals.  But for those fortunate to live in London and who have the time and inclination for an occasional  leisurely stroll, this book, now fully updated,  would be a first class guide and introduction to parts of the city seldom explored.

This slim volume  recalls scenes which have long since disappeared - a time when blocks of ice were imported from Norway and canal boats carried them from Limehouse to Battlebridge Basin, where the London Canal Museum is now housed in the former ice-cream warehouse.  How many of us knew Lord’s Cricket Ground was built from soil excavated when the Maida Hill Tunnel was constructed or that there was once a plan to link London Docks with Portsmouth?  All that remains of that project is a short stretch of what was then the Croydon Canal in Betts Park. John Betjeman probably never knew that the Slough arm of the Grand Union passes in part through green and wooded country . This  was one of the last English canals to be completed and was intended to link up with the Thames at Maidenhead.

The author is a professional photographer, and virtually every page has a magnificent photograph to accompany the text. – GC

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