Bridgwater & Taunton Canal
Total length 14_ miles
Acts of Parliament 1811, 1824, 1837
Completed 1827 to Huntworth
1841 to Bridgwater Dock
Planned as the Bristol to Taunton canal the less ambitious scheme from Bridgwater was approved in 1824 and the canal was completed from the River Parrett at Huntworth to Firepool, Taunton in 1827. After extensive wrangling with the Conservators of the River Tone over water supply and lost revenue, the canal company purchased the rights to navigation on the river connection was made through Firepool lock. Links were made, in 1838 and 1842 to the Grand Western Canal at Firepool and the Chard Canal at Creech St Michael but imminent arrival of the Bristol and Exeter Railway foretold a threat to the important South Wales coal trade on the canal and prompted the canal company to apply to Parliament to extend the canal to the north of Bridgwater and build a floating harbour and dock with connection to the River Parrett. This action secured the supply of South Wales coal avoided the “Sea Carried” tax which required navigating across the Bristol Channel south of Holm Islands and, for a while kept Forest of Dean and South Gloucestershire coal out of the County. Competition from the railway eventually led to the proprietors agreeing to see the canal and docks to the Bristol and Exeter Railway and in 1907 the last recorded cargo passed from Bridgwater dock to a wharf in North Town, Taunton. Continue reading Somerset Waterways Water →