London’s Alleys: Albion Channel, SE16
This is an unusual one for the London Alleys series, as it’s a modern walk with a new canal created in the 1980s and a very pleasant walk to enjoy.
To understand why it’s here, we need to go back to the 19th century, when surging imports from overseas saw the marshy Rotherhithe peninsula dug out to create a number of docks for the ships delivering cargo.
At its peak, the peninsula was more water than land, with an estimated 85% of the space given over to docks, timber ponds and the Grand Surrey Canal. However, the development of container shipping killed off the largely manual labour of the docks, and the Rotherhithe docks closed in 1969, and most of them were eventually filled in and the land left empty.
Although at one point in consideration as the terminus railway station for the Channel Tunnel railway, nothing much happened until the early 1980s, when the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was created to regenerate the former docklands from Tower Bridge to the Isle of Dogs.
At Rotherhithe, they promoted the development of the Surrey Quays shopping centre and a lot of housing built on the filled-in docks.
Part of the remit of the LDDC was to preserve the remaining docks rather than fill them in, and in part to improve water flow and also to create a pleasant walk, they created the Albion Channel linking the Surrey Basin next to the Thames to the remains of Canada Dock next to the shopping centre.
Plans for the channel and the wider Surrey Docks area were announced in April 1983, after a planned development of the area by Southwark Council and the GLC who jointly owned the land had failed to get started. Construction started 40 years ago, in November 1984, after Taylor Woodrow was awarded a £9 million contract for a wide range of infrastructure works across the wider Surrey Docks estate.
Digging the new channel was, in a small way, recalling the past, as the land it passes through was the large Albion Dock that had been filled in during the 1970s. The Albion Dock was one of four large timber ponds built in the 1860s to store imported timber from Canada which floated in the ponds waiting to be moved elsewhere.
So in a way, it could be said that the canal is an echo of the huge dock that used to be here. The spoil from creating the canal helped create Stave Hill, a nearby artificial hill with some good views of the surrounding area.
What was created is a pleasent canal with two wide pavements on either side, and at regular intervals are small pedestrian bridges to cross over.
The passage is lined with trees and seating, and in recent years some of the planting in the canal seems to have surged, and it’s almost like walking alongside a planted garden in places rather than a canal.
There are some places where new roads cross the new canal in new bridges, and they superficially look just like any of the canals that dot parts of north London—and yet, it can be hard to imagine that none of this existed 40 years ago.
A little-noticed feature is that as they laid the new channel along the edge of the old dock, during excavation works, the granite coping stones from the old dock were discovered and reused here to line the canal. You can see them as the edging along the raised pavement on the eastern side of the channel.
One of the advantages of the piecemeal development of the area, with the 1980s housing arriving in several separate phases and then the more recent surge in towers next to Surrey Quays, is the wide range of architecture that you can see.
Had the whole area been developed as a grand master plan, it would be a uniform appearance and terribly dull, but here there’s everything from tall towers to modest blocks and even some slightly peculiar looking octagonal blocks. It also seems that mock-Tudor deocrative flourishes and large arches were all the rage for a few years in the early days of the development projects before being replaced with more conventional housing.
Some of the small bridges look as if they could open to allow boats to use the canal, but that’s just a decorative feature, partly because some of the other bridges are solid, but also because the canal is blocked to river traffic at either end anyway. It’s a nice conceit though.
Considering that the canal wasn’t really needed and that they could just as easily have built a road here when redeveloping the area, the Albion Channel is a delight to walk along. The southern end of the passage is a few minutes walk from Canada Water station, and a walk along it will take you up to the Thames.
Thanks for the wonderful write up. Lived in the area and walked this daily for 6 months, never clocked how relatively young the canal is.
Russia Dock park has lots of lovely original features though, and there’s a really lovely gathering of everyone from the area on stave hill for Bonfire night and new year’s.
There’s a similar “Ornamental Canal” in Wapping near tobacco docks which is always a nice walk
Remember fishing there many years ago, in Russia dock too. Would spend time exploring the timber sheds, finding all sorts.
Good memories.
One addition to your excellent research; we decided to create Stave Hill as a viewing point but also because it would have cost a fortune to remove the material from site. A circular 3D plan of the docks on the top of the hill gives visitors an idea of how they looked in their heyday, providing a sense of place and history.
Good to know the design work we did at Surrey Quays 40 years ago has stood the test of time.
Great article which goes to show it doesnt have to be old to be interesting. The rise of containerisation was largely due to the restrictive practices of the Dockers, their frequent stikes and their all to habit of being unable to differentiate between what was their property and what belonged to the shippers. Very sad end to what used to be a major source of well paid employment.
Looks lovely other than the effects of eutrophication that have taken hold by the looks of the pics – the water is polluted and everything in it essentially dead – shame it hasn’t been restored.