BRENTFORD's
CANAL & DOCK
The inlets caused by the loops of the meandering River Brent
led to the creation of wharves and docks along the riverside.
These were approached from the south of the High Street by
alleyways crowed with cottages and inns. Wharves are recorded
from the 17th century, and ultimately lined most of the waterfront.
Ham Wharf, Northumberland Wharf, Durham Wharf, Goat Wharf,
Ferry Wharf, Jupps Wharf, Montgomreys Wharf, Town Wharf,
hollows Wharf, Kinghams Wharf, Victoria Wharf, Town Meadow
Dock, Dr Johnson' Dock Workhouse Dock, are some of their names.
There were also Ham Weigh Dock (where craft were loaded with
known weights and their hulls marked for the reckoning of cargo
tonnages and tolls) and the large Brentford Dock. In April 1793
George III gave his assent to an Act of Parliament 'for making
and maintaining a Navigable Canal from Braunston in the County
of Northamptonshire to join the River Thames at or near Brentford
in the County of Middlesex'. The thinking behind this was to
shorten the journey for goods carried between the Midlands and
London. Previously goods were sent to (or from) Oxford (the
Oxford canal had been opened by 17900 and then on to London
by way of the Thames. With William Jessop (1745-1814) as its
chief engineer work started on the Grand Junction Canal in 1793.
The 12-mile section from Brentford to Uxbridge was opened in
November 1794 and celebrated on a fleet of boats with a 'large
party, attended by a band of music with flags streamers and
several pieces of cannon. In 1800 the canal was opened from
Brentford to Braunston (although it wasn't complete until 1805)
The River Brent which was probably previously unnavigable, was
canalised from Brentford to Hanwell, apart from the wide bend
around the island which became the Depot and various small
inlets, which were ideal for boat building and repairing as
well as wharf age.
Two locks were initially constructed on the Brentford section
of the canal: Clitherow's Lock (named after the Cltherow's
owners of Boston Manor House) and Brentford Lock. This single
lock with its hump-backed bridge was washed away by floods in
1898 and replaced by a pair of 'gauging' locks of modern design
and a tollhouse that dates from 1911 and is now a listed building.
Gauging was the process of measuring the weight of a boat's cargo.
Traffic using the canal was required to pay tolls according to the
type and weight of cargo carried. The original Brentford lock was
the lowest lock downstream until complaints from canal users about
the delays and inconvenience of only being able to enter the canal
at high tide led to a single lock (later called Thames Lock) being
constructed sometime before 1818 near the junction of the canal
and the Thames (it can be seen from the end of Dock Rd). This lock
was doubled and mechanised in 1962.
Half a mile from Brentford is Gallows Bridge, an iron structure on
brick piers that takes the towpath across the canal it was made by
Horseley Ironworks in 1820. Local tradition has it that the name
originated in the suicide of some poor unfortunate who fixes a rope
to the railings and jumped over. Alternatively, a gallows might have
stood near this spot. The opening of the canal allowed cheaper coal
to reach the towns and villages along its route and imported goods
such as timber and foodstuffs, to be transhipped at Brentford from
barge to narrow boat for quicker easier transport to the Midlands.
The coming of the railways was the start of a long decline for the
canals and the canal companies. The Grand Junction Canal suffered
particularly when the great Western Railway line and dock were built
in Brentford in 1859 not just because it ran along much of the same
route but also because the GWR brought in even cheaper coal direct
from the mines in South Wales.
In 1929 several connecting but independently run canals, including
the grand Junction were combined under one ownership to become the
Grand Union Canal which established a depot at Brentford for the
transhipment of cargo between narrow boats and river craft (and
later canal and road). This was on the island created by the canal
and the backwater of the River Brent where at the time of writing
a new residential development was being built by Charles Church.
One of what were once many weirs on the Brent (they regulated the
flow of water) can be seen on this backwater. The depot contained
warehouses and lifting gear to shift all types of commodities. In
1948 the Grand Union Canal was nationalised under the British
transport commission and the carrying company split off to become
British Waterways. Commercial canal carrying though had been
declining steadily since the war and had virtually ceased by the
1980s. The depot now the British Waterways Board Depot finally
closed in 1997. In 1963 the canals came under the auspices of
the British Waterways Board but with the fall off in commercial
business the Grand Union Canal was designated a cruise way,
primarily for recreational use.

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Last Updated: 22nd NOVEMBER 2005