Old canals, old houses and old soldiers.

Our trip to London started well with a good trip down on Hull Trains (voted best railway company for Customer service) and we were soon at Stamford Bridge. We were checked in at the Copthorne attached to the Shed End of the ground but told we were 'upgraded' to the Millennium Hotel that was just across the way. All was nice and clean etc as would be expected, but as it was away from the road it was still nice and quiet for London. We had been up to take our son to the airport for him to fly to work at 0430 so after a cup of tea we went out to find something to eat. It chucked it down just after we left the hotel so dived into the first place we could find. We were soon back and nodding off in front of the TV.

 The next day we had our first canal hit. Almost next door to the hotel is a railway. Next to that is the Brompton Road cemetery. The rail way was built on the line of the Kensington Canal. After the success of the Regents Canal that opened in 1820 the local land owner William Edwardes or 2nd Lord Kensington thought he would get rich by making the existing Counters Creek or sewer navigable. He had a very cheap estimate of £8000 and got Parliamentary permission in 1824. A re think was done by John Rennie and the cost was now guessed at £34000 with the rebuilding of Stamford Bridge and widening and sloping the sides along with other things. A new act of parliament was needed to raise more money. In the end it was Lord Kensington other land owners in the area and their friends, eighteen in all put the money up. Work started that year but it was not opened until August 1828 as the contractor went bust in the meantime.

West Brompton Station in early 1960's with the old canal and bridge still visible to the left.

The canal was just under 2 miles long and ended in a basin 400' x 200'. The canal was 100 wide. There was one lock just before the basin that was just south of the Hammersmith Road. There was a great party as the worthies boated to the basin from the Thames where a sumptuous feast was put on for 200 with a butt of porter opened for the occasion. As there was no lock at the start the main part of the canal was tidal. This brought in much silt and the freshwater flow was not enough to keep it scoured out. That meant that the passage could not be made at all times and the loads had to be lighter as the depth wasn't maintained, and anyway there wasn't much cargo carried either and the canal never made any money. They were saved by the coming of the railways. Firstly a small spur was added to meet up with the canal basin for a transhipment depot in 1836. The West London Railway bought the canal but this also was an abject failure. However by 1859 railways were really taking off and a link was needed to the railways to the south of the Thames so the company, now part of the London and North Western Railway built over the canal for much of its length and crossed the Thames on a bridge. The bit of canal from around Stamford Bridge to the Chelsea Creek remained in use until the late 1960's serving flour mills and a gas works. It was officially closed in 1970.

Brompton Road Cemetery was a pleasant place and was very busy with dog walkers, cyclists and mums with small children in a quiet spot away from the busy roads. We walked round Chelsea and Kensington and found it very interesting to see all the different houses when it was built as a rich suburb. There are many blue plaques for all the people that had lived in the various houses.

Brompton Road Cemetery.

We were amazed at the number of graves and each had several bodies in them. We also noted that some stone had lasted much better than others. There are several famous people buried here but perhaps is more famous as the names of several of Beatrix Potter's characters were found among the tombstones as she lived nearby.

Perhaps the nicest house of all was the Royal Hospital Chelsea, or better known as the home of the Chelsea Pensioners. It is a lovely place and you can walk round most of it. It was started by Charles II in 1682 and the first veterans probably were installed in 1685. This is another area of peace and quiet in the hubbub of London, and I can recommend the coffee shop as comfortable and with good prices (for London).

The Figure Court with the golden statue of Charles II. The buildings are by Wren and to the left of the archway is the Grand Hall and to the right the chapel. The Grand Hall was been renovated at the time of our visit.

The Chapel was very impressive.

Back to the hotel and another cup of tea before heading out into central London to meet up with a friend at Liverpool Street Station. We had a few drinks and a meal around the Spitalfields area before heading back again to get out feet up!