This was a horse-drawn monorail, built by Henry Robinson Palmer, who had previously built one in Deptford Dockyard, the first in the UK. The Cheshunt Railway, his second venture, was opened on 26th June 1825, running from Mr Gibbs’ Brick Pit to the west of Gews Corner, to a wharf on the River Lea. Its original purpose was to haul bricks, but it was also utilised for carrying passengers. This was the first passenger monorail in the world. The design was an overhead track from which carriages were suspended, drawn by a single horse. The line crossed the main road by a section hinged like a gate, enabling it to be moved off the road. No sign of the monorail has survived, but its legacy gives the Lea Valley and Cheshunt another vital, if little-known, position in the history of railways. The railway was constructed three months before the Stockton and Darlington railway opened. Henry Robinson Palmer can also be credited for the invention of Corrugated Iron.
