File:Grand Union Canal feeder channel in Wembley - geograph.org.uk - 726249.jpg

English: Grand Union Canal feeder channel in Wembley The Grand Union Canal between Brentford and Uxbridge was completed in 1794, and as traffic grew, there was an increasing demand for water to replenish it as locks were emptied. To solve the problem this feeder channel was built around 1811 from the River Brent, near where the Brent Reservoir is now, to the main canal in Park Royal at Waxlow Road. The feeder was gravity fed and for the most part followed the natural contours. The Brent Reservoir was subsequently built in 1835 and the feeder was then supplied through a tunnel in the dam. So this feature predates all the roads, railways and buildings that we are familiar with today, and a look at the Ordnance Survey map of 1873 shows it flowing in open fields with the River Brent to the west and the separate villages of Neasden and Willesden to the east. The Feeder is no longer the major source of water for the canal, that role being fulfilled by the River Colne and Fray's River. This view was taken from a footbridge over the North Circular Road looking along the back of the houses in Woodheyes Road.