Chard Canal
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The Chard Canal was a 13½ mile (22km) 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.
The initial intention was to build a ship canal, passable by vessels of up to 200 tons, between Stolford on the Bristol Channel and Beer on the English Channel, to bypass the difficult passage around Lands End.[1] A survey was commissioned from James Brindley in 1768 and, inspired by the war with France, John Rennie made another in 1811.[2] Investors were not forthcoming and it was not until 1835 that work was started, on a much reduced tub boat canal, initially to Chard only. Work started in 1835 and the canal was completed in 1842 at a cost of about £140,000. It was thus the last major canal (other than the Manchester Ship Canal) to be constructed in England.
The smaller, new line was originally surveyed by James Green and included boat lifts. He was later replaced as engineer by Sydney Hall who decided to use inclined planes instead.[3][4] The canal was heavily over budget and as income was only a third of what had been expected the canal company was never able to meet even the interest payments on its debts: there was certainly no prospect of carrying the project forward to the south coast. The main cargoes were coal and stone. The canal went into receivership in 1853 and closed in 1866.
During World War II part of the Taunton Stop Line invasion defence project ran along the canal.
[edit] Co-ordinates
| Point | Coordinates (Links to map resources) |
OS Grid Ref | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taunton Junction | ST269256 | Junction with Bridgwater and Taunton Canal | |
| Ruishton Aqueduct | ST271250 | ||
| Thornfalcon Plane | ST280241 | 28 ft (8.5m), counterbalanced caissons | |
| Lillesdon Tunnel | ST296234 | ||
| Wrantage Aqueduct | ST308225 | ||
| Wrantage Plane | ST310220 | 27.5 ft (8.4m), counterbalanced caissons | |
| Crimson Hill Tunnel N | ST316221 | 1800 yd (1647m) | |
| Crimson Hill Tunnel S | ST324207 | 1800 yd (1647m) | |
| Ilminster Plane | ST356142 | 82.5 ft (25.2m), counterbalanced caissons | |
| Ilminster Tunnel | ST358138 | 300 yd (275m) | |
| Bere Mills Lock | ST351122 | ||
| Chard Common Plane | ST340100 | 86 ft (26.2m), single track carriage | |
| Chard Basin | ST329092 |
[edit] References
- ^ Somerset County Council archives: Canals and Canal Projects accessed 2007-06-20
- ^ Shead, Jim. English and Bristol Channels Ship Canal. History by Waterway. Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
- ^ Lost canals of England and Wales Ronald Russell page 68 ISBN 0-7153-5417-5
- ^ Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0-85033-461-6.
[edit] External links
- The Chard Canal Ruishton Parish Council local history page—a comprehensive account
