Walk the whole length of the former canal, from the docks to Camberwell and Peckham!

Following this special guide, you can walk along the route of the former canal – 4¾ miles of water slicing through the heart of South London, from the Thames at Rotherhithe to Camberwell and Peckham.

The walk is divided into six sections, each taking less than an hour to complete, depending on how long you like to spend investigating sights on the way, and your choice of refreshment stops. It’s easy enough to complete in one short-ish day, or you can break it up into separate walks, using the public transport options given to access the start and end of each section.

Much of the canal route is still traceable as roadways and parks. This walk follows the route as closely as possible, but there are some inaccessible stretches.

The Grand Surrey Canal (GSC) was constructed over a number of years. It began at the Thames, with the construction of Surrey Commercial Docks, and reached the Old Kent Road in 1807. By 1810 it had got as far as Camberwell, and in 1826 it reached Peckham, where it took its final form. It was planned to reach Mitcham and, eventually, Portsmouth, but costly locks over the North and South Downs weren’t affordable. The canal and docks closed bit by bit from the 1940s, with only Greenland Dock left by the 1970s. Read more on our history page here.

The walk was launched on 20th April 2026 by Cllr Sunny Lambe, Mayor of Southwark Council, and Cllr Jacq Paschoud, Speaker of Lewisham Council – see our blog and pictures here. Printed copies of the walk guide are also available – contact Our Rotherhithe.

Some links (also in the leaflet)

• Our Rotherhithe – ourrotherhithe.co.uk
• Travel guidance – tfl.gov.uk and citymapper.com/london
• Rotherhithe & Bermondsey Local History Society – https://www.rbhistory.org.uk/
• Side-by-side maps – Side-by-side 1888 OS and modern maps can be used (via the National Library of Scotland website) to trace the route of the canal – https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/
• Friends of Burgess Park – friendsofburgesspark.org.uk
• Glengall Wharf Garden – glengallwharfgarden.org.uk
• Green Link Walk – tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/green-link-walk
• Stave Hill Ecology Park – www.tcv.org.uk/london/urbanecology/urban-ecology-sites/stave-hill-ecological-park/
• Friends of Russia Dock Woodland – www.fordw.org.uk.

Acknowledgements

• Amanda Squires for organisation and writing, Geoff Fairbairn, Hilary Bolton and Andrew Pearson for writing sections, Dr Patricia Dark and colleagues at the Southwark Local History Library for the historical introduction
• Brian Wates for undertaking a test run of the whole walk at early editing stage
• Southwark Council for funding the development of the project
• The Landscape Partnership for graphics and cartography