Monday 1 May 2017

Walking the waterways (8) : Grosvenor Canal

Walking the entire length of the Grosvenor Canal is pretty easy now, in fact a reasonably fit person could throw a tennis ball from one end to the canal to other nowadays. The canal once stretched from the Thames up to Grosvenor Basin (about 1.2km) which is now where Victoria station is located. It was the expanding station site which saw the Grosvenor Canal begin to shrink.

Over time it has been cut back more and more as first the station and later a housing estate was built on top of it until now it is little more than a basin on the Thames. However despite that it was used up until 1995 by barges carrying rubbish which means it was the last of London's canals to see commercial traffic!

The remains of the canal have become a waterpark for posh flats called Grosvenor Waterside. The main basin has mooring for boats though none seem to be allowed in yet! I visited the canal in early 2017 and you can see my photos here.
Lock onto the Thames

Most of the canal can be seen in this view

The current end of the canal