History of the Hertford Union Canal

The Hertford Union Canal runs for a little over one mile and connects the Grand Union Canal with the Lee Navigation, thence the Stort Navigation, avoiding the tidal waters of the Limehouse Cut and the longer haul around the Isle of Dogs on the River Thames. For much of its length it passes alongside Victoria Park. It has three locks.

The canal is also known as Duckett's Canal after Sir George Duckett, its original promoter. His father, also named George, was earlier involved in promoting the Stort Navigation and had changed his name from Jackson after being made a baronet.

The Act authorising the Hertford Union Canal was passed in 1824 and, in a manner that was to prove prophetically indicative of its fate, it opened unceremoniously in the Spring of 1830. It was never a great commercial success and for several years in the mid 19th Century it was unnavigable. In 1851 it was advertised for sale but there were difficulties in finding a buyer willing to invest in it. The line was eventually purchased by proprietors of the Regent's Canal and from 1857 onwards it became a branch of the Regent's Canal until in 1929 it fell under the auspices of the Grand Union Canal Company.