INDUSTRIES 





century Paddington was a rural hamlet, 

 thinly populated, one of those almost un- 

 noticed places that lie apart from the highways. 

 A spirited life was put into the place when 

 the new canal was opened in 1801 ; ware- 

 houses were built, dwelling-houses sprang up 

 around, and by the day of opening Paddington 

 had become a suburb. Great expectations 

 were formed of its future ; the first day was 

 kept with festivity, and inaugurated by an 

 aquatic procession. 



The Paddington Canal begins with a 

 junction at Bull's Bridge, on the River Cran, 

 north of Cranford, pursuing thence a winding 

 course, without locks, by Northolt, Greenford, 

 Alperton, and Kensal Green ; an ideal coun- 

 try for canal-constructors. The success of the 

 enterprise was immediate. Traders had found 

 a new and excellent route to and from the 

 Midlands. Passage-boats with merchandise 

 went daily to Uxbridge. Twice a week 

 during the summer months other boats with 

 passenger accommodation went backwards and 

 forwards, and as late as the year 1853 a 

 Sunday traffic of pleasure trips to Greenford 

 Green was largely patronized. 4 



In 1812 a further extension was proposed 

 and soon carried into effect. Under the name 

 of the Regent's Canal, a cut was made round 

 the entire metropolis to the River Thames, 

 near Limehouse. There are many locks and 

 bridges, and two tunnels, one under Maida 

 Hill, and another of considerable length at 

 Islington. There is a dock with large depots 

 and warehouses in the City Road, besides a 

 substantial dock at Limehouse. 5 The canal 

 has been of immense benefit to the eastern 

 and north-eastern districts of London. Miles 

 of warehouses and yards occupy now the 

 space of the green fields that existed at the 

 period of its construction. Few undertakings 

 of the kind have been justified so signally in 

 their results. 



In olden times there was one harbour in 

 the very heart of the City of London, at the 

 mouth of the Fleet River, which was navi- 

 gable at least as far as Holborn. A mention 

 of Fleet Hithe, in an old record,* is enough 



4 Personal recollections kindly supplied by Mr. 

 E. Smith. 



* Brayley, op. cit. x (4), 163. 



' In the third folio (recto) of the ancient book 

 known as Liber A. live Pilosus, containing the 

 ancient evidences of the Dean and Chapter of 

 St. Paul's, is a Process of Recognition of the reign 

 of Henry I which states that stone ships or barges 

 belonging to the dean and chapter unshipped their 

 lading at Fleet Hithe, and that the owners com- 

 plained of a toll levied upon them. W. J. Pinks, 

 Clerkenwell, 377. 



to establish the former existence of a tiny 

 port near Blackfriars. Besides this, on the 

 extreme eastern boundary of the county there 

 was some sort of harbour at the mouth of the 

 River Lea. 



The extension of the canal system naturally 

 incited the commercial and engineering classes 

 to fresh efforts for the convenience of navi- 

 gation. Docks were now wanted, and not 

 many years elapsed before several spacious 

 docks were given to the metropolis. Dock 

 extension has never since these times ceased 

 to be demanded. Indeed the need for 

 remedial measures has long become urgent, 

 and it is to be hoped that the Act of 1908 

 establishing the new ' Port of London Autho- 

 rity ' 7 will afford a much-needed relief, and 

 stop the serious decline in the trade of the port. 



The West India Docks were the earliest 

 of such enterprises, at least in the county of 

 Middlesex. They were begun in July 1800 

 and took something over two years in con- 

 struction. A good feature of the undertaking 

 was the making a water-way across the Isle 

 of Dogs, thus avoiding a long bend of the 

 river. The West Indian trade at this time had 

 grown enormously. Shippers were rather tired 

 of waterside wharves, with their lack of ware- 

 house room, and lighterage was increasingly 

 troublesome and expensive. The first stone of 

 the docks was laid in the presence of a great 

 assemblage of merchants and shipowners, 

 headed by William Pitt and Lord Chancellor 

 Lough borough. The enthusiasm of that day 

 was well justified when the work was done. 

 The docks were occupied, and the new ware- 

 houses speedily filled with sugar, rare woods, 

 and other staple products of the West. The 

 saving to the mercantile community was 

 immediate and permanent, and the revenue is 

 understood to have benefited no less. Confi- 

 dence in the docking system was established. 

 A few years saw the completion of the 

 London Docks (1805), the East India Docks 

 (1806), St. Katharine's Dock (1828). Since 

 those days dock extension has proceeded with 

 intermittent but steady steps outside the 

 boundary of our county. 



The River Thames, after all, has a practical 

 utility to which no combination of artificial 

 water-courses can aspire. It is a perfect high- 

 way ; and in its course of about 43 miles as 

 the southern boundary of the county from 

 Staines Bridge to the mouth of the River Lea, 

 affords a prodigious water-supply, beside all the 

 possible conveniences offered by water-side 

 premises. As to actual traffic upon its sur- 

 face, the Thames was, until the middle of the 



' Stat. 8 Edw. VII, cap. 68. 



I2 3 



