Chard Canal
Encyclopedia
The Chard Canal was a 13.5 miles (21.7 km) tub boat
canal
in Somerset
, England
, that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
at Creech St. Michael
, over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four inclined planes
to Chard
. It was completed in 1842, was never commercially viable, and closed in 1868. The major engineering features are still clearly visible in the landscape.
to the English Channel
, in order to avoid the route around Cornwall and Devon. The first which would have connected Chard to the canal network was a scheme surveyed in 1769 by Robert Whitworth, to link the River Parrett
to Seaton in Devon. Whitworth was asked to reassess this route in the early 1790s, and again thought it was feasible. The plan was revived in 1793, while another route was suggested in 1794 by Josiah Easton, again passing through Chard.
The 1793 Chard Canal plan was revived in 1809, by now renamed as the English and Bristol Channels Canal, and the engineer John Rennie was asked to survey it in 1810. He advocated a small ship canal, suitable for vessels up to 120 tons. The cost of a barge canal had been estimated at £70,000, but Rennie's estimate for a ship canal was £1.33M. One further attempt to build a ship canal took place in 1825, when a canal capable of taking vessels of 200 tons, with a draught of 15 feet (4.6 m) was proposed. 30 locks would have been required, on a canal from Stolford on the Bristol Channel to Beer
on the English Channel, passing through Creech St Michael, Ilminster and Chard, at an estimated cost of £1.7M. Thomas Telford
produced the survey, an Act of Parliament
was obtained on 6 July 1825, and although subscriptions of over £1.5M were promised, no further action occurred, with the Company disappearing after 1828.
having opened in 1827, there was further initiative to link Chard to it, and James Green
carried out a survey in 1831. The route was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long, but with Chard some 231 feet (70.4 m) higher than the canal at Creech St Michael, his plan involved two boat lifts, two inclined planes and two tunnels, and was costed at £57,000. An Act of Parliament was obtained in June 1834, authorising the raising of £57,000, with an additional £20,000 if required, but local enthusiasm for the scheme was muted, and most of the capital was provided by just five men, all of whom were involved in the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. Work began at Wrantage in June 1835, but the Act did not allow parts of the canal to be built until tunnelling was well-advanced, and so work on the upper sections did not start until Autumn 1837. Green was replaced as engineer by Sydney Hall from the start of construction, and in view of the problems Green was experiencing on the Grand Western Canal
with commissioning his boat lifts, Hall decided to replace the lifts with inclined planes
instead.
Further changes to the original plans were made above Ilminster inclined plane, where another tunnel was constructed, enabling the line of the canal to be built at a lower level. A lock was added at Bere Mills, to raise the line by 7 feet (2.1 m) and the length of the Chard incline was increased. Construction costs were much higher than anticipated, and another Act of Parliament was obtained in March 1840, allowing the Company to raise another £80,000 in shares, and to obtain a mortgage for £26,000, while a third Act in 1841 allowed construction to continue beyond the original seven year limit. The canal opened to Ilminster on 15 May 1841, and to Dowlish Ford wharfs on 3 February 1842. There were delays caused by the rope on the Wrantage plane breaking, resulting in damage to the caissons, and further delays caused by the Bristol and Exeter Railway
constructing their line under the canal at Creech, but the work was finally completed on 24 May 1842. There were immediate benefits to the community, as coal prices fell, but the total cost of construction had been about £
140,000, and as income was only a third of what had been projected, the canal company was never able to meet even the interest payments on its debts.
which were 26 by. The inclines at Thornfalcon, Wrantage and Ilminster were double-acting inclines, consisting of two parallel tracks, each containing a six-wheeled caisson
, in which the boats floated. A chain
linked the two caissons together, passing round a horizontal drum situated at the top of the incline. Power for the movement of the boats was provided by over-filling the top caisson, the extra weight causing that caisson to descend and the other to rise. Because the majority of traffic passed up the canal, and a boat displaces its own weight in water (Archimedes' principle
), considerably more water passed down the incline than up it. However, the system was still more economical than using locks, and a large new Chard Reservoir
supplied the necessary water. The incline at Chard Common was quite different, consisting of a single track, with the tub-boats being carried on a cradle with four wheels. Power was supplied by a Whitelaw and Stirrat water turbine
, with a 25 feet (7.6 m) head, which used 725 ft3 of water per minute. Boats were raised 86 feet (26.2 m) in a wheeled cradle up a slope of 1:10. The cradle was attached to the turbine by a substantial wire rope
, after breakages of the original rope. The Ilminster tunnel was 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, allowing boats travelling in opposite directions to pass, but the tunnels at Lillesdon and Crimson Hill were only wide enough for one boat.
However the Crimson Hill Tunnel has a double width "passing area" about halfway through its course to allow passing of the boats from either direction.
The main cargoes were coal and stone. Traffic for the first three years rose from 25,835 tons to 33,284 tons, about two thirds of which was coal or culm. Competition started immediately, with the railway arriving at Taunton in 1842, and the Westport Canal
being completed in 1840. Attempts were made to convert the canal to a railway, and an Act of Parliament obtained in 1847 changed the name of the Company to the Chard Railway Company, but successive plans were thwarted by the inability of the Company to repay its debts. The canal went into receivership
in 1853, after which there were discussions with the Bristol and Exeter Railway and the London and South Western Railway, with a view to building a branch to Chard. A new Chard Railway Company was constituted in 1860, and another Company was formed in 1861, to construct a branch from Taunton to Chard. The London and South Western Railway took over the Chard Railway, and the Bristol and Exeter built the branch from Taunton to Chard. In order to prevent competition from the L&SWR, the Bristol and Exeter Railway bought the Grand Western Canal
, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
and the Chard Canal, so that the L&SWR could not. They paid £5,945 for the Chard Canal, with the takeover and closing of the canal being authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1867. The receivers were discharged in February 1868, and it seems likely that the canal was closed then.
is largely intact, although it no longer has its parapets.
During World War II
part of the Taunton Stop Line
invasion defence project ran along the canal.
Tub boat
A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. The English boats were typically long and wide and generally carried to of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to . They are also called compartment boats or container boats.The...
canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th...
at Creech St. Michael
Creech St Michael
Creech St. Michael is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated three miles east of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has a population of 2,464...
, over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four inclined planes
Canal inclined plane
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. It can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway....
to Chard
Chard, Somerset
Chard is a town and civil parish in the Somerset county of England. It lies on the A30 road near the Devon border, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 12,000 and, at an elevation of , it is the southernmost and highest town in Somerset...
. It was completed in 1842, was never commercially viable, and closed in 1868. The major engineering features are still clearly visible in the landscape.
Precursors
Prior to the construction of the canal, there had been several plans over the previous 50 years to build a ship canal from the Bristol ChannelBristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
to the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, in order to avoid the route around Cornwall and Devon. The first which would have connected Chard to the canal network was a scheme surveyed in 1769 by Robert Whitworth, to link the River Parrett
River Parrett
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...
to Seaton in Devon. Whitworth was asked to reassess this route in the early 1790s, and again thought it was feasible. The plan was revived in 1793, while another route was suggested in 1794 by Josiah Easton, again passing through Chard.
The 1793 Chard Canal plan was revived in 1809, by now renamed as the English and Bristol Channels Canal, and the engineer John Rennie was asked to survey it in 1810. He advocated a small ship canal, suitable for vessels up to 120 tons. The cost of a barge canal had been estimated at £70,000, but Rennie's estimate for a ship canal was £1.33M. One further attempt to build a ship canal took place in 1825, when a canal capable of taking vessels of 200 tons, with a draught of 15 feet (4.6 m) was proposed. 30 locks would have been required, on a canal from Stolford on the Bristol Channel to Beer
Beer, Devon
The village of Beer is in south-east Devon, England, on Lyme Bay.- Location :The village of Beer is situated on the 95-mile long Jurassic Coast, England's first natural World Heritage Site and its picturesque cliffs, including Beer Head, form part of the South West Coast Path.Beer lies about two...
on the English Channel, passing through Creech St Michael, Ilminster and Chard, at an estimated cost of £1.7M. Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
produced the survey, an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was obtained on 6 July 1825, and although subscriptions of over £1.5M were promised, no further action occurred, with the Company disappearing after 1828.
History
With the Bridgwater and Taunton CanalBridgwater and Taunton Canal
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th...
having opened in 1827, there was further initiative to link Chard to it, and James Green
James Green (engineer)
James Green was a noted civil engineer and canal engineer, who was particularly active in the South West of England, where he pioneered the building of tub boat canals, and inventive solutions for coping with hilly terrain, which included tub boat lifts and inclined planes...
carried out a survey in 1831. The route was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long, but with Chard some 231 feet (70.4 m) higher than the canal at Creech St Michael, his plan involved two boat lifts, two inclined planes and two tunnels, and was costed at £57,000. An Act of Parliament was obtained in June 1834, authorising the raising of £57,000, with an additional £20,000 if required, but local enthusiasm for the scheme was muted, and most of the capital was provided by just five men, all of whom were involved in the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. Work began at Wrantage in June 1835, but the Act did not allow parts of the canal to be built until tunnelling was well-advanced, and so work on the upper sections did not start until Autumn 1837. Green was replaced as engineer by Sydney Hall from the start of construction, and in view of the problems Green was experiencing on the Grand Western Canal
Grand Western Canal
The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End...
with commissioning his boat lifts, Hall decided to replace the lifts with inclined planes
Canal inclined plane
An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. It can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway....
instead.
Further changes to the original plans were made above Ilminster inclined plane, where another tunnel was constructed, enabling the line of the canal to be built at a lower level. A lock was added at Bere Mills, to raise the line by 7 feet (2.1 m) and the length of the Chard incline was increased. Construction costs were much higher than anticipated, and another Act of Parliament was obtained in March 1840, allowing the Company to raise another £80,000 in shares, and to obtain a mortgage for £26,000, while a third Act in 1841 allowed construction to continue beyond the original seven year limit. The canal opened to Ilminster on 15 May 1841, and to Dowlish Ford wharfs on 3 February 1842. There were delays caused by the rope on the Wrantage plane breaking, resulting in damage to the caissons, and further delays caused by the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway was a railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter.The company's head office was situated outside their Bristol station...
constructing their line under the canal at Creech, but the work was finally completed on 24 May 1842. There were immediate benefits to the community, as coal prices fell, but the total cost of construction had been about £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
140,000, and as income was only a third of what had been projected, the canal company was never able to meet even the interest payments on its debts.
Operation
The canal was designed for tub-boatsTub boat
A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on a number of the early English and German canals. The English boats were typically long and wide and generally carried to of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to . They are also called compartment boats or container boats.The...
which were 26 by. The inclines at Thornfalcon, Wrantage and Ilminster were double-acting inclines, consisting of two parallel tracks, each containing a six-wheeled caisson
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
, in which the boats floated. A chain
Chain
A chain is a sequence of connected links.Chain may also refer to:Chain may refer to:* Necklace - a jewelry which is worn around the neck* Mail , a type of armor made of interlocking chain links...
linked the two caissons together, passing round a horizontal drum situated at the top of the incline. Power for the movement of the boats was provided by over-filling the top caisson, the extra weight causing that caisson to descend and the other to rise. Because the majority of traffic passed up the canal, and a boat displaces its own weight in water (Archimedes' principle
Archimedes' principle
Archimedes' principle relates buoyancy to displacement. It is named after its discoverer, Archimedes of Syracuse.-Principle:Archimedes' treatise On floating bodies, proposition 5, states that...
), considerably more water passed down the incline than up it. However, the system was still more economical than using locks, and a large new Chard Reservoir
Chard Reservoir
Chard Reservoir is a reservoir north east of Chard Somerset, England. It is owned and managed by South Somerset District Council and is a recipient of the Green Flag Award.It was built on the river Isle in 1842 to provide water for the Chard Canal....
supplied the necessary water. The incline at Chard Common was quite different, consisting of a single track, with the tub-boats being carried on a cradle with four wheels. Power was supplied by a Whitelaw and Stirrat water turbine
Water turbine
A water turbine is a rotary engine that takes energy from moving water.Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now they are mostly used for electric power generation. They harness a clean and renewable energy...
, with a 25 feet (7.6 m) head, which used 725 ft3 of water per minute. Boats were raised 86 feet (26.2 m) in a wheeled cradle up a slope of 1:10. The cradle was attached to the turbine by a substantial wire rope
Wire rope
thumb|Steel wire rope Wire rope is a type of rope which consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a helix. Initially wrought iron wires were used, but today steel is the main material used for wire ropes....
, after breakages of the original rope. The Ilminster tunnel was 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, allowing boats travelling in opposite directions to pass, but the tunnels at Lillesdon and Crimson Hill were only wide enough for one boat.
However the Crimson Hill Tunnel has a double width "passing area" about halfway through its course to allow passing of the boats from either direction.
The main cargoes were coal and stone. Traffic for the first three years rose from 25,835 tons to 33,284 tons, about two thirds of which was coal or culm. Competition started immediately, with the railway arriving at Taunton in 1842, and the Westport Canal
Westport Canal
The Westport Canal was built in the late 1830s to link Westport and Langport in Somerset, England. It was part of a larger scheme involving improvements to the River Parrett above Burrow Bridge. Langport is the point at which the River Yeo joins the River Parrett and the intention was to enable...
being completed in 1840. Attempts were made to convert the canal to a railway, and an Act of Parliament obtained in 1847 changed the name of the Company to the Chard Railway Company, but successive plans were thwarted by the inability of the Company to repay its debts. The canal went into receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
in 1853, after which there were discussions with the Bristol and Exeter Railway and the London and South Western Railway, with a view to building a branch to Chard. A new Chard Railway Company was constituted in 1860, and another Company was formed in 1861, to construct a branch from Taunton to Chard. The London and South Western Railway took over the Chard Railway, and the Bristol and Exeter built the branch from Taunton to Chard. In order to prevent competition from the L&SWR, the Bristol and Exeter Railway bought the Grand Western Canal
Grand Western Canal
The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End...
, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
Bridgwater and Taunton Canal
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th...
and the Chard Canal, so that the L&SWR could not. They paid £5,945 for the Chard Canal, with the takeover and closing of the canal being authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1867. The receivers were discharged in February 1868, and it seems likely that the canal was closed then.
Remains
The Chard reservoir, which was the main supply for the canal, was sold to Lord Poulett. In 1990, South Somerset District Council bought it, and it is now a designated nature reserve. Surrounded by woodland, it provides habitat for over 150 species of birds. The remains of the inclines have survived over 140 years of neglect, as have the three tunnels. Near Lower Farm, a bridge on the Thornfalcon to Creech road is now a grade II listed structure, and the three-arched aqueduct which carried the canal over the River ToneRiver Tone
The River Tone is a river in Somerset, England, which is about long. It rises at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall continues through Taunton and Curry and Hay Moors, which are designated as a Site of Special...
is largely intact, although it no longer has its parapets.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
part of the Taunton Stop Line
Taunton Stop Line
The Taunton Stop Line was a World War II defensive line in south west England. It was designed "to stop an enemy's advance from the west and in particular a rapid advance supported by armoured fighting vehicles which may have broken through the forward defences."The Taunton Stop Line was one of...
invasion defence project ran along the canal.
Co-ordinates
See also
- Canals of the United KingdomCanals of the United KingdomThe canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a colourful history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's role for recreational boating...
- History of the British canal systemHistory of the British canal systemThe British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...
External links
- Index to photographs Somerset County Council's Historic Environment Record
- Photos of the remains of the inclines