St Pancras Cruising Club (SPCC) is a members' association of boat owners located between Camden Town and Islington on the Regent's Canal in central London. Most boats in the basin are narrowboats, the most common form of craft on the British canals. As the club is near to King's Cross station, it is affected by the ongoing developments at King's Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands.
St Pancras Cruising Club is based at the basin of the same name, next to Camley Street Natural Park, between St Pancras Station and St Pancras Old Church, one of the oldest church buildings in London, [1] hence the name of the district. The club, which was founded in 1958, [2] is situated in a canal basin that was used to handle building stone.
SPCC has a clubhouse with a bar. It constructed the first new dry dock in London for many decades, now the only one in the capital. In 2001 the club became the guardian of a listed water tower, originally used to refill the steam locomotives. The Victorian Gothic brick structure, designed by the office of Sir George Gilbert Scott around 1870, was moved a few hundred metres to save it from the path of the Eurostar high-speed rail link from the Channel Tunnel. [3]
SPCC has gained a reputation as one of the country's foremost cruising clubs, based not least on the year-round safe navigations that it conducts and marshals on the Tideway, the tidal Thames. Notable cruises include the 2007 one to the Houses of Parliament protesting DEFRA cuts to the inland waterways budget [4] It was also a pivotal organiser in the narrowboat contribution to the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012. [5]
SPCC has always played an active part in waterways events. It is a founder member of the Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs, [6] of which the current chairman, David Pearce, served for seven years as the commodore of SPCC. The club helps organise events such as the Angel Canal Festival [7] and the Canalway Cavalcade, in which the boat handling competition novice winner's trophy is named after a former commodore of SPCC, Dr Roger Squires. [8]
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter stretching for 137 miles (220 km) with 166 locks from London. The Birmingham line has a number of short branches to places including Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover, and Northampton. The Leicester line has two short arms of its own, to Market Harborough and Welford.
Islington is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy High Street, Upper Street, Essex Road, and Southgate Road to the east.
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers, all of which today contain foul water for treatment. It has been used as a sewer since the development of Joseph Bazalgette's London sewer system in the mid 19th century with the water being treated at Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. Its headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath, each of which was dammed into a series of ponds—the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds—in the 18th century. At the southern edge of Hampstead Heath these descend underground as sewers and join in Camden Town. The waters flow 4 miles (6 km) from the ponds.
The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile (126 km) narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for 5 miles (8 km) between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill.
The canal network of the United Kingdom played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution. The UK was the first country to develop a nationwide canal network which, at its peak, expanded to nearly 4,000 miles in length. The canals allowed raw materials to be transported to a place of manufacture, and finished goods to be transported to consumers, more quickly and cheaply than by a land based route. The canal network was extensive and included feats of civil engineering such as the Anderton Boat Lift, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Worsley Navigable Levels and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, 550 yards (500 m) north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London. The canal is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) long.
The Ashton Canal is a canal in Greater Manchester, England, linking Manchester with Ashton-under-Lyne.
London Canal Museum in the King's Cross area of London, England, is a regional museum devoted to the history of London's canals.
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role of recreational boating. Despite a period of abandonment, today the canal system in the United Kingdom is again increasing in use, with abandoned and derelict canals being reopened, and the construction of some new routes. Canals in England and Wales are maintained by navigation authorities. The biggest navigation authorities are the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, but other canals are managed by companies, local authorities or charitable trusts.
SPCC might refer to:
The City Road Basin is an English canal basin and part of the Regent's Canal in Central London, owned by the Canal & River Trust. It opened in 1820, and made a large contribution to the prosperity of the Regent's Canal. By the 1950s, its surroundings were largely derelict, but a programme of regeneration began in 2004, involving several large-scale residential developments, and public access to the basin was provided for the first time in 2009. The basin is used for canoeing by the Islington Boat Club.
St Pancras Lock is a lock on the Regent's Canal, in the London Borough of Camden, England. The St Pancras Basin is nearby.
City Road Lock is a lock on the Regent's Canal, in the London Borough of Islington, England. It is located a short distance to the east of Islington Tunnel, and immediately to the west of City Road Basin.
The St Pancras Basin, also known as St Pancras Yacht Basin, is part of the Regent's Canal in the London Borough of Camden, England, slightly to the west of St Pancras Lock. Formerly known as the Midland Railway Basin, the canal basin is owned by Canal & River Trust, and since 1958 has been home to the St Pancras Cruising Club. The basin is affected by the large-scale developments in progress, related to King's Cross Central.
The National Community Boats Association (NCBA) is a waterway society, registered charity No. 1108993 and limited company No. 5331820, in the United Kingdom.
Angel is an area on the northern fringes of Central London within the London Borough of Islington. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) north-northeast of Charing Cross on the Inner Ring Road at a busy transport intersection. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in London. It is a significant commercial and retail centre, and a business improvement district. Angel straddles the ancient boundary of the parishes of Clerkenwell and Islington that later became the metropolitan boroughs of Finsbury and Islington. It is named from the former Angel Inn which stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road. Since 1965 the whole area has formed part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London.
President is a historic, steam-powered narrowboat, built in 1909 by Fellows Morton & Clayton (FMC) at their dock at Saltley, Birmingham, England. It is now owned by the Black Country Living Museum, where it is based. President is registered by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet.
Little Venice is an affluent residential district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the buildings in the vicinity are Regency white painted stucco terraced town houses and taller blocks (mansions) in the same style. The area is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west-north-west of Charing Cross and immediately north-west of Paddington.
A widebeam is a canal boat built in the style of a British narrowboat but with a beam of 2.16 metres or greater.
