London Canal Museum: “Today if you take the stopping train from London Bridge to West Croydon you will follow the route, for much of the way, of the Croydon Canal. There is little trace of it left – only a few remnants remain.”
From Wikipedia:
“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 by an Act of Parliament 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.
After the canal closed, sections were retained for leisure use, and some remained in water for a considerable time…
[“Anerley station opened in 1839 with the coming of the railway that replaced the canal – the name being taken from Anerly Lodge, the home of Scottish silk manufacturer William Sanderson (“anerly” meaning solitary or lonely).
The Anerley Arms, originally opened in 1841 as the Anerley Hotel, served as tea rooms for the adjacent Anerley Gardens, once a popular attraction until it closed in 1868 and which contained a section of the redundant Croydon Canal.
The hotel was originally built as a Swiss-style chalet and rebuilt sometime in the 1870s as a large imposing winged structure with its current name. The course of the old canal would have run at the front of the premises on the level course of Ridsdale Road, all traces now gone following the housing development of the area in the 1860s.” (WhatPub.com)
…The canal in Betts Park was turned into a concrete trough in 1934, approximately 170m can still be seen at the northern corner of Betts Park (main image). Another section exists as a long curved pond in the Dacres Wood Nature Reserve in Dacres Road, Forest Hill. This was considered for redevelopment in 1989, but research by Lewisham Council resulted in its identity being confirmed and it now forms an attractive wetland, having been returned to its former width. There is a high pavement in David’s Road, Forest Hill, which is thought to be part of the towpath. Part of the wall below the path has been rebuilt with murals depicting transport in Forest Hill. The Norwood reservoir is now preserved as South Norwood Lake.”
Julia Upton 