Croydon Canal

The Croydon Canal ran 9+1⁄4 miles (15 km) from Croydon, via Forest Hill, to the Grand Surrey Canal at New Cross in south London, England. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1836, the first canal to be abandoned by an act of Parliament.

Authorised in 1801, the canal was originally intended to extend northwards to Rotherhithe, but the simultaneous construction of the Grand Surrey Canal provided a convenient access route. It was 9+1⁄4 miles (15 km) long, and opened on 22 October 1809.

The Croydon Canal linked to the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway (itself connected to the Surrey Iron Railway), enabling the canal to be used to transport stone and lime from workings at Merstham. The canal was never extended further south-west, as was initially intended, to reach Epsom.

The canal was originally planned with two inclined planes but 28 locks, arranged in two flights, were used instead. To keep the canal supplied with water, reservoirs were constructed at Sydenham and South Norwood; the latter still exists as South Norwood Lake in a public park.

A canal from Croydon to Rotherhithe was the idea of Ralph Dodd, who had been commissioned in 1799 to ascertain “… the most eligible part of the River Thames” for a canal from Croydon. Dodd’s canal was to be on a small scale, only 3+1⁄2 ft (1.1 m) deep and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide at the top for boats up to 20 tons (20.3 tonnes). It would start in today’s Tamworth Road, Croydon and head north to the west of London Road (A23) until Broad Green where it would swing northeast towards Selhurst, Woodside and the west of Beckenham. It would broadly follow the Ravensbourne valley to Lewisham and Deptford, finally turning west of north to join the Thames at Rotherhithe, a distance of about 12 miles. Instead of locks there would be horse-powered inclined planes where the boat would be lowered down the hillside in a tank of water or caisson, counterbalanced by another caisson being raised. Bridges would be minimised where possible by using paved fords, the whole costing no more than £25,000. After finishing his report in November 1799, Dodd had no further involvement with the Croydon and Rotherhithe Canal, but went on to promote a scheme for a Grand Surrey Canal from Rotherhithe.

Following Dodd’s report, a meeting of prospective investors was held at the Croydon Greyhound where it was agreed that a canal from Croydon to Rotherhithe would be of great utility to Croydon, towns close to the canal and considerable parts of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

A detailed survey was made by Mr Warner, and John Rennie was hired as the consulting engineer. This canal took a more direct line to Rotherhithe along a ridge of higher ground, which could loosely be described as the west side of the Ravensbourne valley. It headed northeast from West Croydon to Selhurst, turned north to South Norwood, Sydenham, Forest Hill and New Cross to join the Thames at Rotherhithe. The canal would remain on the same level from Croydon to Brockley at 149.6 ft (45.6 m) and drop down the hillside by 17 locks or 2 inclined planes by slightly different paths to New Cross, where it would remain on the same level to a tidal lock at the Thames. Rennie agreed that a canal of small dimensions would be sufficient, but recommended a larger canal to act in part as a reservoir. It was to be 6 ft (1.8 m) deep, 34 ft (10 m) wide along the summit level from Croydon and 44 ft (13 m) wide on the lower Rotherhithe level. Rennie also favoured a canal with steam powered inclined planes over locks on cost grounds. A disadvantage of inclined planes was they could only lift smaller, lighter boats that limited the bulky goods that could be carried on the canal. Several 5-7 ton (5.1 - 7.1 tonnes) boats or barges could be pulled in gangs by a single horse, but there would be delays at the inclined planes where the boats were individually raised or lowered. At over £46,000 Rennie’s canal was nearly twice the cost of Dodd’s; a large proportion of this was for the cost of 47 bridges (£6,460) and steam engines to power the inclined planes (£6,000). The large number of bridges were necessary to allow land owners to access land bisected by the canal.

Rennie completed his report on the 8 October 1800, which was presented to the investors on 10 October 1800. They adopted Rennie’s recommendation for a canal with inclined planes and submitted a petition to parliament on 18 February 1801. A petition for Dodd’s Grand Surrey Canal had already been submitted, and its proprietors petitioned against the Croydon canal bill in the House of Lords. As a result, the Croydon canal was changed to join the Grand Surrey Canal rather than the Thames. There were other petitions for and against the canal but the biggest effect was the petition from the Wandle mill owners. They were concerned that a deep cut across Croydon Common, between West Croydon and Selhurst would drain water into the canal instead of Norbury Brook and the River Wandle to the detriment of their mills. As a result the canal had raised banks across Croydon Common so it only cut 3 ft (0.91 m) into the soil and reduced its depth to 5 ft (1.5 m). The summit level between Selhurst and Honor Oak Park was also raised further up the hillside. Despite these delays the canal received royal assent on 27 June 1801 via the Croydon Canal and Croydon, Streatham, Dulwich and Sydenham Water Supply Act 1801 (41 Geo. 3. (U.K.) c. cxxvii).