Waterways History

On these pages you will find brief histories of London's key man-made waterways, and a short overview of the history of UK canals. There is a page about James Morgan, the Engineer of the Regent's Canal. London Canal Museum is a regional museum specialising in the waterways of the London area, but not including the River Thames.

This website also features a collection of our oral history recordings that may be listened to online or downloaded for listening on a portable player. The oral history recordings are in the collection section of the website.

If you are looking for archive images, we have an archive image Picture Shop where you will find a selection of images from our collection.

You will also find a major reference work depicting the history of the waterways of England and Wales, in maps, over two centuries to 1950, using 231 pages of maps, with some historical notes. This is the work of the late Dr. Mike Stevens, and originally published on his personal website but the material has been re-used with the permission of his widow. Unlike the rest of this site and the museum itself, the map resource extends well beyond London to the whole of England and Wales.