Chard Canal

[magpie patrick]

I never have got the hang of posting pics off my own Flickr account, so please bear with me.

 

A couple of weeks ago I spent a day or two in Chard, and walked down the old Bristol and Exeter Railway line northwards towards Ilminster. This passes Chard Reservoir and has intepretation boards that help understand the history of the railway, the WW2 stop line, and the old Chard Canal. Chard Reservoir was once the water supply for the canal.

 

Before going on, a very brief history for those not in the know: The Chard Canal was never succesful. It joined the town of Chard with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, not the brightest of ideas because 1) chard is on a ridge* and 2) the route is across three valleys thus necessitating tunnels etc. It would have been easier to build a canal from Yeovil by dropping into the valley of the Isle and staying there.

 

*Chard High Street has two rills, one flowing down either side, the northen one flows to the Bristol Channel, the southern one to the south coast, the middle of the street is a watershed.

 

The Chard canal opened in 1842 and closed in 1868. The Reservoir was then sold off. Anyway, the notable point is that, once you know the lie of the land it is apparent the reservoir is below the summit level

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43536184@N06/13199497575/

 

To some extent this doesn't matter, the descent towards Ilminster started with an inclined plane, which whilst it was water powered, the source of water was the feeder for the reservoir not the summit level! In fact, I do wonder what the reservoir was for, as the inclined plane was (1) not counterbalanced and (2) turbine operated, the turbine being fed from the feeder TO the reservoir, upstream of the reservoir and so couldn't be fed from it.This must have been fairly thirsty, which would have given a reasonable supply downstream where there was one lock of seven foot drop and other inclined planes that were counterbalanced and operated by gravity.

 

If there are questions I suppose they must be

 

Where did the summit level get it's water supply from? It wouldn't need much but it would need something

 

Would the flow through the turbine have been enough for the canal downstream? It's a huge reservoir for a small canal with one short narrow and shallow lock.

 

Pic here of the feeder for the reservoir BTW

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43536184@N06/13200137055/

 

Can anyone tell me how to get these as images, simply posting the URL into the image facility doesn't seem to work

 

Finally, is anyone interested if I keep posting Chard Canal Stuff here?

 

 

[weeble]

MP,

When I did my family tree research I discovered that my GGGrandfather, Thomas Laver, was lock keeper at Thornfalcon on the Chard canal (circa 1855-7) and I've always intended to do some research on that canal when I had some free time. So I'm definitely interested in hearing more.

I recall from a brief look at the time that they used very short tug boats to make it easier to negotiate the inclined planes but I didn't investigate much beyond that.

[Mendip-Locks]

Finally, is anyone interested if I keep posting Chard Canal Stuff here? Yep enjoy anything Somerset and local to me.

This link could be useful for posting up pic's http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=55758&hl=%2Bposting+%2Bpictures

[magpie patrick]

Finally, is anyone interested if I keep posting Chard Canal Stuff here? Yep enjoy anything Somerset and local to me.

This link could be useful for posting up pic's http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=55758&hl=%2Bposting+%2Bpictures

 

Okay, you seem to be the other end of the 161 bus route from me!

 

Knowing there is a local audience I'll cover some local canals

MP,

When I did my family tree research I discovered that my GGGrandfather, Thomas Laver, was lock keeper at Thornfalcon on the Chard canal (circa 1855-7) and I've always intended to do some research on that canal when I had some free time. So I'm definitely interested in hearing more.

I recall from a brief look at the time that they used very short tug boats to make it easier to negotiate the inclined planes but I didn't investigate much beyond that.

 

The canal was 13 miles long I think, it took boats 26 feet by 6 feet, four of which would fit in a Bridgwater and Taunton canal lock (52 feet by 13 feet). There were four inclined planes (Wrantage, Thornfalcon, Ilminster and Chard Common) and one lock (Beer Mills) the lock could take two boats at once, presumably lengthways rather than side by side. There were also three tunnels, Lillesdon, Crimson Hill, and Ilminster.

 

I'll post more in the next day or so. Watch this space!

[Laurence Hogg]

The "Chard history group" published a small booklet in 1967 about the canal. They revised it and did a second edition (which I have a copy) in 1972. It states on water supply that the canal was fed by the reservoir, river Eley and "floodwater" rising in and around Chard. Its a very comprehensive booklet and inspires you to go and look.

[IanM]

 

Can anyone tell me how to get these as images, simply posting the URL into the image facility doesn't seem to work

 

It's quite east, take a look at my post in another thread which tells you how http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=22785&p=1262307

[BEngo]

Keep posting on the Chard canal please. It's not that far from us here in South Somerset, but what's this bus route thing? We have to ring up Yeovil and ask, if we want a bus!

 

N

[Pluto]

It could be worth looking at the Act for the canal, as water supplies usually feature quite extensively. There should also be a deposited plan, probably in the local county archive, which may show details of the supply. By the 1840s, water usage was fairly well regulated, unlike for early canals. Deposited plans come in around 1793 as a result of the number of canal schemes being presented to Parliament.

[magpie patrick]

Worked it out, this is the leat that fed the reservoir and the turbine for Chard Common Incline

 

 

 

And this is the diagram on the interpretation board

 

More will follow

[Tom and Bex]

Please keep posting about the Chard canal and any other Somerset waterways, it reminds me of home! I remember looking round the buildings surrounding Chard canal basin just prior/during demolition.

 

Have also visited several other structures along the canal and always intended to explore crimson Hill tunnel but never got round to it. Have been under the aqueduct over the river tone many times by boat and find the history of the canal fascinating.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Tom

Edited March 18, 2014 by Tom and Bex

[Mick and Maggie]

Patrick, I am doing some research of Australian newspapers. I remembered something about Chard and a canal coming up. A quick look back has thrown up these two items with Chard mentioned. They may be of some interest. The scan to text conversion may not be 100% but I am sure you will get the gist.

 

Mick

 

Illawarra Mercury (Australia)

Thursday 4 April 1889

NEW CANAL SCHEME.

According to a leading English journal, a scheme has been proposed for connecting the English and Bristol channels by means of a canal. The route fixed upon by the engineers is from Stolford, in Bridgewater Bay, passing through the towns of Bridgewater, Langport, Ilminster, and Chard, to Seaton, on the English Channel. The total length of the canal will be about 45 miles. The canal it- intended fo ho of admitting the largest mercantile steamers afloat, as well as ships of-war. Commenting on the above, our contemporary remarks : — ' From a national point of view this new canal will be of immense importance, as our ironclads would be able to steam across from channel to channel in a couple of hours, j instead of having, as at present, to go round | the Land's End. The greatest benefit would i also accrue to the trade of South Wales.'

Tuesday 31 January 1871

The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (Australia)

A SHIP CANAL ACROSS ENGLAND.

A scheme for shortening the sea passage between the Bristol and English Channels by the construction of a great western maritime ship canal across the counties of Somerset and Devon, has, it appears, been so far approved by practical men that it is expected to be almost immediately brought before the public in a matured state. Mr. Owen, the projector, proposes to commence at Combivitoh, near the mouth of the river Parrot, on the Bristol Channel, and proceed past Bridgewater, Taunton, and Exeter to Langstono Point At Exmouth Bight a capacious harbour is to be formed, which would be available as a harbour of refuge. The length of this canal is to be 50 miles, its width at surface 124ft. and at bottom 31ft., and the depth 21ft. This would enable all vessels of moderate draught to pass through from sea to sea. The canal, it is considered, would be of immense advantage for coal traffic from Wales ; and, basing his figures on the present consumption, the projector estimates that 4,261,334 tons per annum would pass through the canal, which at 1d per ton per mile would yield £261,894 ; and allowing 35 per cent, for working expenses, the net profit would amount to £170,236, or very nearly five per cent, per annum on the proposed capital of £3,500,000. A question has been raised as to whether coals will bear the charge of 1d. per ton per mile, but it is answered that whereas the distance from Cardiff to Exmouth is 370 miles round the Land's End, by the canal it would be only eighty miles. The saving would therefore be in the carriage 290 miles, or in transit forty-eight hours, the laden screw colliers not averaging more than six knots per hour. The shipowner, it is contended, would consequently, owing to the saving in wear, tear, and fuel, be well able to pay this charge, which on a cargo of 600 tons would only amount to £36 17s. 6d. Once clear of the port at the mouth of the English Channel, a vessel would have a free course for France and all the continental ports, to the eastward, as also to the North Sea and Baltic; whilst it is believed that by shortening the voyage from the Welsh coal ports to the Thames, the anthracite coal of Glamorgan would come in demand in the metropolis for mixture with the bituminous coal of the northern and midland counties. At the same time it is believed that coal from Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport would be brought to the London market as quickly and cheaper than by the present route by railway. Mr. Owen appears to base his calculation for a return on the capital to be expended solely on the coal traffic, but the Shipping Gazette, is discussing the subject, So short a cut into the Bristol Channel would secure a goodly revenue from Baltic timber and grain-laden ships for the Welsh ports, and likewise on those bound to Bristol and Gloucester. "Vessels in

ballast from ports to the eastward of Plymouth, chartered to convey steam coal, would also pass through the canal if the tonnage and towage rates were reasonable. Once make a canal of proper construction, opening up a shorter cut to the coal and iron districts of South Wales, and for shipping trading to and from the Avjn and Severn, and the uses to which it may be applied' are almost incalculable." Farther, it states that two bulky productions, coal and iron, would be sufficient to support a channel leading direct to France and Northern Europe from the mining localities bordering, the Welsh coast. As regards engineering difficulties they would appear to be comparatively slight the country through which the canal is to be excavated offering no obstacle for a water level. In providing for railway trains and public roads at points of intersection, drawbridges would have to span the water-way, but such contrivances are easy of accomplishment, as every practical engineer can testify. Of course, before the work can be entered upon, Parliamentary powers must be secured, and these cannot be obtained unless Mr. Owen and his friends are in a position to show that the construction is not only feasible, but that there is a fair prospect of its being financially successful, of which the projectors have no doubt. It is but fair to state that this is not the first time that such a project has been broached; the late Mr. Telford, CE., having proposed to make a water communication from Bridgewater Bay, on the north, to Seaton Bay, via Bridgewater, Chard, and Colyton. Indeed, an Act of Parliament for carrying out the scheme was obtained in 1825, but it fell through for want of capital. In these days of engineering skill and enterprise, however, there would appear to be little fear upon that head should Mr. Owen, as we have stated, succeed in proving to the Legislature the practicability of bia scheme. Of the advantages to the district it is meant to serve, there can be no question.

[luctor et emergo]

Wow, Devon and Cornwall's own Panama Canal. That would have been something.

[magpie patrick]

Patrick, I am doing some research of Australian newspapers. I remembered something about Chard and a canal coming up. A quick look back has thrown up these two items with Chard mentioned. They may be of some interest. The scan to text conversion may not be 100% but I am sure you will get the gist.

 

Mick

 

 

Very interesting, in large part for what was said but in no small measure for where it was published!

 

More detail once I've had a closer look, but the date on those articles is interesting, because the canal had already closed. Before the Chard Canal was built there was a proposal for canal across the south west pensinsular that would have gone through Chard, but it was shelved in the early 19th century. This would appear to have been a revival of that scheme, one I hadn't previously heard of. Thanks for gflagging it up.

 

a few more photos

 

 

The line of the hedge/trees across the photo is the line of Chard Common Inclined Plane, it was the only single track inclined plane in Britain.

 

 

Chard Reservoir, now a nature reserve

 

 

Pub sign at the Furnham Inn (which appears to have ceased trading). The canal terminus was by the pub.

 

More photos to follow:m it takes time and I also don't want to overload people or anyone on a mobile browser!

Edited March 18, 2014 by magpie patrick

[magpie patrick]

Keep posting on the Chard canal please. It's not that far from us here in South Somerset, but what's this bus route thing? We have to ring up Yeovil and ask, if we want a bus!

 

N

BTW, I know South Somerset Quite well, as I've several times worked in Chard, Crewkerne and Yeovil. Where are you? I managed to get to Chard by bus, but you can't leave it on a Sunday...

[Mick and Maggie]

 

Very interesting, in large part for what was said but in no small measure for where it was published!

 

The Australians in the 1800's were mad keen on making some of their rivers navigable. The problem was the weather because many rivers actually dry up in the summer months. Most plans consisted of using weirs and dams to back up water. With locks constructed to bypass the weirs and dams. There were very few actual canals constructed. There are quite a few small scale canals between lakes and cutting through coastal spits of land to reduce voyage times.

Berry’s Canal - Australia’s first transport canal

In June 1822, Alexander Berry sailed his 15 ton cutter Blanche from Sydney down the south coast loaded with tools and provisions. On board was Hamilton Hume, a well known explorer. In late June, they arrived at the entrance to Shoalhaven Heads which appeared dangerous and four men volunteered to test it in the cutter’s boat. The boat capsized drowning two of the men.

 

Berry then sailed up the Crookhaven River but was stopped by a sand spit. Undaunted, the crew hauled the Blanche across the spit. Four days later Hamilton Hume was left with three men at the isthmus to cut a passage using only hand tools. The canal, which was 191 m long, was completed in 12 days. This was the first transport canal to be cut in Australia. The river has since cut the passage wider and deeper, making it now the real entrance to the Shoalhaven River.

Australia’s longest transport canal

The longest true canal in Australia is the Sale Canal in Victoria which is about 5 km long. It was dug in the period 1886-1890 to connect the town of Sale with Gippsland Lakes and thence to Bass Strait. Sale is a couple of hundred miles east of Melbourne.

[BEngo]

BTW, I know South Somerset Quite well, as I've several times worked in Chard, Crewkerne and Yeovil. Where are you? I managed to get to Chard by bus, but you can't leave it on a Sunday...

 

 

We live in the Charltons, about 10 miles North of Yeovil and 5 miles from Street, the only shoe-shop I know with a town council and, in Heck's, an exceptional cider makers. I worked at Yeovilton for a while, years ago, and we seem to have stuck here.

 

N

[Pluto]

If you go to my downloads page http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Downloads.html there is a brief prospectus for the 1820 canal proposal.

[magpie patrick]

Thanks all for the continued interest. Another couple here, sone on the adjacent railway line which is of interest in at least as much as that walking it is the best way to see the canal.

 

 

The old Bristol and Exeter Railway line next to Chard reservoir and close to Chard Common Incline Plane on the canal. The line was built broad gauge, as although the B&E were notionally independent they were effectively GWR. The line became part of one of the WW2 stop lines. The posts on the right are not a sagging fence but tank traps to stop any tracked vehicle that had managed to climb the embankment. If a tank had got that far, it would already have crossed the canal.

 

 

In fact, it would have crossed the canal here. That muddy pool is the canal near the foot of Chard Common Incline, taken March 2nd this year, some 145 years after the canal closed. As I've mentioned the stop line...

 

 

A gun emplacement by a railway bridge about two miles north of Chard on the way to Donyatt, the course of the canal is about 300 yards east of here, and the road over the bridge crosses it. I couldn't see anything that I could definitely say was canal at that point though.

 

More to come yet, I'm also going to start a Dorset and Somerset thread (that's a canal, not a railway) possibly tonight, more Chard Canal (and a bit of railway) in the next day or so.

 

If anyone else has any pictures or thoughts feel free to add them!

[Joseph]

Hi Patrick

 

Yes, please keep posting on Somerset and please keep all this coming.

 

I think that someone has got into Crimson Hill tunnel - interior photos which are alarming, given the distortion to the bore. On 28dayslater, perhaps?

 

Mick, I never knew that there were any canals in Australia - just the canalised Murray River, I thought. Does the Australian Canals Society know?

 

Keep it coming!

 

Joseph

[Tom and Bex]

I think that someone has got into Crimson Hill tunnel - interior photos which are alarming, given the distortion to the bore. On 28dayslater, perhaps?

 

I have definitely seen photos of inside Crimson Hill tunnel but couldn't remember where. 28dayslater could well be right. (Off to waste several more hours browsing that site!)

 

Tom

[Mendip-Locks]

I've seen it on derelict places see here

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=21370&highlight=Crimson+hill+tunnel#.UytsNJIgGSN

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=20427&highlight=Crimson+hill+tunnel#.Uytsv5IgGSM

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=19916&highlight=Crimson+hill+tunnel#.UyttIpIgGSM

 

Some nice shots of what remains in places in those threads above.

[Laurence Hogg]

28dayslater exploration http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/underground-sites/50486-more-underground-boating-crimson-hill-tunnel-somerset-05-2010-updated-oct-10-a.html

[Graham Davis]

Patrick,

Please keep up the good work.

 

Aside.

Was in Frome on Sunday as my son and family have moved there.

[magpie patrick]

Okay, away from Chard, these are of the canal in Ilminster, taken last September

 

 

The canal is now a feature in public open space near the town football and cricket ground.

 

 

Ilminster Incline, with Magpie the elder demonstrating that, with determination, the site is disabled accessible

 

and

 

Looking down Ilminster inclined plane to the canal at the bottom

 

Ilminster was double track with the boats carried in caissons, one caisson counterbalancing the other. By contrast, Chard Common was single track with no counterbalance and the boats were carried dry. Bear in mind this was 1840's, Anderton lift was another 30 or more years off and Foxton another 60 years ahead.

Patrick,

Please keep up the good work.

 

Aside.

Was in Frome on Sunday as my son and family have moved there.

 

I hope you enjoyed your visit, I find Frome a lovely place to live and work. Had the Dorset and Somerset been finsihed we'd have had a canal as well!

 

If you look up the town centre regeneration manager that's me

Edited March 21, 2014 by magpie patrick

[Mendip-Locks]

28dayslater exploration http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/underground-sites/50486-more-underground-boating-crimson-hill-tunnel-somerset-05-2010-updated-oct-10-a.html

Some amazing tunnel pictures there worth a look.

 

 

Enjoying these updates with the accompanying pictures giving a nice flavour of what is left keep it coming Patrick.