Standing on Willowbrook Road and wondering about the story behind the stone inscription on the Taylor Bridge

That stone, 1870

Now I just wonder what Edward Dresser Rogers would have made of the state of his foundation stone on Willowbrook Road.

It was laid in 1870 to mark the building of the replacement bridge over the Grand Surrey Canal.

The canal connected Camberwell to the Surrey Commercial docks and it opened in stages with the first stretch reaching the Old Kent Road in 1807, Camberwell three years later and finally arriving in Peckham in 1826.

Now according to my copy of Priestly* “the intended canal and cuts [were] supplied with water from the Thames, and all other rivers, streams, or brooks found in digging the said canal, except the River Wandle.”

But according to Mr Priestly “the work has not yet remunerated the proprietors for their outlay” and he was quite pessimistic it ever would.

That said the canal would still be doing the business until the end of the Second World War, when like so many canals it went into steep decline and was drained and filled in 1960.

So back in 1870 it was everything you would want of a working canal but needed a new bridge.  The old one known as Taylor’s was no longer fit for purpose and was replaced.

Which brings us to that stone foundation much weather worn and vandalised.

The canal making its way through Camberwell, 1830

With the help of that excellent site, Burgess Park and the story that featured the Bridge to Nowhere reflecting back in time** I know that “in 1870 bridge replaced an earlier one, possibly wooden and opening to allow barges through, which had probably begun to cause traffic congestion. 

The local vestry, St Giles Camberwell, provided the funds, and the foundation stone, which may be seen underneath on the old towpath, was laid by Edward Dresser Rogers, Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of the Vestry, in 1869. 

The designer of the new bridge is named in the records as Mr. Dredge, Junior, a civil engineer.”

But if you want more you will have to follow the link and read the full story along with some excellent pictures.

That said I think I want to know more about Edward Dresser Rogers who lived at Hanover-park Rye Lane and left his name on that stone..

So as they say in those old films. and with an apology to Fu Manchu, .......the world has not heard the last of Mr Edward Dresser Rogers.

Pictures; that foundation stone kindly supplied by Constance Marie Gurney, and detail of the Grand Surrey Canal, going through Camberwell, from 1830, The Inland Navigation of England and Wales 
1830, George Bradshaw, courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways Throughout The United Kingdom, John Priestly, 1830

** The Bridge to Nowhere reflecting back in time, Burgess Park, http://www.bridgetonowhere.friendsofburgesspark.org.uk/the-story-of-burgess-park-heritage-trail/heritage-trail-m-w/willowbrook-bridge/