Islington Tunnel, East End

One of the best ways to see London is to walk the canal paths. I found this out as a teenager and a sunny day is bliss.
The Grade II listed Islington Tunnel on the Regent’s Canal in London is the longest. Constructed in 1820, the tunnel is bricklined throughout, measuring 875m in length and 5m in width. When the canal was opened that year a procession of boats passed through with a band playing, to be met by a salute of cannon fire as they emerged at the eastern end.
The western portal is by the famous Regency architect, John Nash and is constructed of red stock bricks set in English bond with gold stock brick and stone dressings.
The tunnel was at first operated by legging, whereby men lying on their backs on planks aboard the boat walked the vessel through against the side walls. This was slow, hard, and caused a great deal of delay. In 1826 a steam chain tug was introduced, one of the earliest uses of steam power on
the canals. On one occasion in 1880 it caught fire and sank.
The Company initially launched a competition for the design of the tunnel. The advertisement was placed in August, 1812, but elucidated little response. A committee of three eminent engineers, Nicholson, Walker, and Jessop, were to be judges. They received only wild ideas and the prize of
100 guineas was awarded to a copy of a Jessop design, which was evidently not considered suitable. The competition having been something of a fiasco, James Morgan was ordered to get on with it and so he did.
Islington Tunnel is the major engineering work of the Regent’s Canal. The engineer who built it was, as said, the Regent’s Canal’s engineer, James Morgan.
In recent years, however, the inner skin of brickwork had broken away in certain parts of the tunnel. The tunnel was restored in 2000. There is no way to walk through it no towpath inside the tunnel so if you’re attempting to follow the canal today you’ll have to do what the horses once did and walk up the ramp and through the streets of Islington to the other side. Apparently there are pavement markings in the street for you to follow.

For a pedestrian there’s not much to see. In fact to look through the tunnel you’ll have to go back to the last bridge at Danbury Street, where you can just see the dark tunnel with a dot of light in the middle!
The towpath does not continue on Access to the street is via a ramp. But doesn’t qualify as accessible It’s very steep. At street level you can cross to the other side of the canal and go along another canal-​side path, though that one is fenced off from the water.