Site

We are grateful to Andy Bye for bringing this difficult-to-see plaque to our attention.

Transcribing the text was not too hard but understanding why the plaque looks the way it does took some deduction. There seems to be a stone inserted into the lower right corner of the plaque, this stone being a continuation of the front canal edge of a short standing area, to the right of the plaque. Also, the last part of the inscription is on what appears to be a different, black, stone. All very puzzling. But then we realised that the black stone is actually a bevelled stone skirting that runs the full length of the wall on that side of the canal.

We believe that what happened was this: the foundation stone was installed - a normal rectangular stone with the text distributed across it as normal; it became necessary to extend the front canal edge stone (reason unknown) across the lower right front of the plaque; this obliterated the text in the lower right corner; so the lost text was inscribed onto the bevelled section of the stone skirting immediately below the plaque.

We are pleased with that explanation - let us know if you agree, or not.

Andy told us that 1897 is when "the original King's Road bridge (dating from when the canal was built?) was replaced by the St Pancras Vestry." Goad's 1891 Insurance Plan of London Vol. xi: sheet 402-1, has the road crossing the bridge from the south labelled 'King's Road', but the bridge itself is labelled 'Grey's Inn Bridge'.