London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • River Peck
    • River Effra
    • River Moselle
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • Falcon Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • River Fleet
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • Hackney Brook
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • River Tyburn Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • River Moselle (aka Moselle Brook) walk
    • Battersea's Lost Rivers
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Bridges of London
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • River Peck
    • River Effra
    • River Moselle
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • Falcon Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • River Fleet
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • Hackney Brook
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • River Tyburn Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • River Moselle (aka Moselle Brook) walk
    • Battersea's Lost Rivers
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Bridges of London
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling

London's Lost Canals - Royal Arsenal Canal (aka Ordnance Canal aka Pilkington Canal)

Entrance to Royal Arsenal Canal (aka Ordnance Canal) near Woolwich entrance lock from River Thames
View of the entrance to the canal from the Thames. The lock gates are concreted in place and just beyond the fence this is the Thames Path
Derelict abandoned Royal Arsenal narrow gauge railway swingbridge beside the canal now known as Broadwater, West Thamesmead
Derelict Swing Bridge near to the canal entrance
From the Thames at Thamesmead West to splitting into two short arms near Broadwater Estate a distance of approximately three quarters of a mile

The Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, originally known as the Woolwich Warren, was established as an Ordnance Storage Depot in 1671 on a 31 acre. The site later carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research for the British Armed Forces. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich. In 1805, during the reign of King George III, at the King's suggestion, the Warren became known as the Royal Arsenal.

Convict labour formed part of the Royal Arsenal’s labour force to construct a 2.5 mile boundary wall around the site. These convicts were housed on three redundant ships known as prison hulks moored on the Thames near Woolwich. In 1812-1816 these convicts were used to dig a canal designed by Lieutenant Colonel Pilkington. The canal was built for a dual purpose - one was to deliver materials into the Royal Arsenal complex and the other was to create a defence boundary to the east. The history of the canal has been difficult to research as the layout of the complex was not shown on maps and photographs rarely taken due to the secretive nature of its work.

The main traffic on the canal was from the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey on the River Lea supplying the Arsenal with most of its gunpowder requirements. Military vessels came to the Arsenal to collect firepower & sundries, and transport these down the Thames to the Chatham naval shipyards where the equipment was fitted onto naval ships. Other military vessels on the visited the canal to have experimental or test-bed weaponry fitted. 

In 1931, the canal was cut back to the junction of the two arms and the whole canal closed in the early 1960s.

The canal is today known as Broadwater and is purely a shallow ornamental feature. There is rarely even as much water in there as in these photographs. Some may argue that it’s not very ornamental… The sides have been widened, concreted and walkways provided. There are no boats and no wildlife in evidence. Two large mooring bollards that were used on the canal can be seen at the end of Broadwater. The canal's entrance lock remains, but the actual former entrance to the canal is concreted off from the Thames a swing bridge also survives. The swing bridge was to carry the Royal Arsenal narrow gauge railway system across the canal entrance. The Arsenal had two substantial railway systems (both standard and narrow gauge) with nearly 150 miles of track and 50 locomotives.

This canal is visited on the author's all-day guided walking tour which covers dereliction & lost docks both sides of Woolwich across the River Thames and includes the Royal Docks and the Woolwich Dockyard (link here)
Broadwater in West Thamesmead used to be known as Royal Arsenal Canal or Pilkington Canal or Ordnance Canal as carried munitions from Waltham Abbey to the adjacent Royal Arsenal
The canal remains are now called Broadwater – view from Canal entrance towards West Thamesmead
London's Lost Rivers by Paul Talling. All images are copyright.