Dorset and Somerset Canal

[magpie patrick]

In view of the interest in the Chard canal I thought I'd add something on my most local canal, the Dorset and Somerset. This was another trans-southwest idea that initially might have seen a canal from Bradford-on-Avon to Poole. As authorised it would have gone from Bradford to Blandford Forum via Frome and Wincanton, with a branch from Frome to Nettlebridge.

 

More bits of history to follow but to start with, the Act, passed in 1796, required that the branch was built first, and work started on that. At the time Frome, with a population of 8,100, was 50% bigger than Taunton, and a ready market for coal. The works were started but never completed.

 

 

Dry canal bed between Edford and Coleford, about 5 miles from Radstock by car and a similar distance from Frome. This length was put in water and gets wet after heavy rain. The canal never carried a barge that paid a toll though.

 

Small culvert under the canal near Coleford - still carrying the tiny stream it was built for

 

 

And I Couldn't really start this without the Huckyduck - Coleford Aqueduct

 

Word of waring, where I'm standing to take this photo is on private land in someone's garden, please don't take liberties. However there is a public footpath under this (off shot to the left) and I think one OVER it, although check your maps first.

 

More to follow, and more on the Chard canal as well

 

 

[Capt Ahab]

Fascinating post Patrick

[luctor et emergo]

A fascinating canal branch, with a number of, now, isolated canal structures in the middle of nowhere left over to this day. I understood that the branch was completed, apart from the tunnel, and watered, but never saw a boat.

[Pluto]

If you go to http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Downloads.html you can find an article by Derrick Hunt and Adrian Tuddenham about Fussell's balance lock of 1796 which was tried on the canal.

[magpie patrick]

If you go to http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Downloads.html you can find an article by Derrick Hunt and Adrian Tuddenham about Fussell's balance lock of 1796 which was tried on the canal.

 

Derrick Hunt was leading the walk I went on, and is my deputy at the Coal Canal society, he is very knowledgeable about the D&S.

 

 

Pack horse bridge over the canal near Edford, this bridge was in a bad way several years ago and Derrick wrote on behalf of the "Dorset and Somerset Canal Study Group" to persuade Mendip and Somerset councils to fix it. He never specified who the group's membership was, I think it was just him.

 

I'm probably going to walk to more remains next week, so I'll post more then. I may be able to dig out more pictures in the meantime.

[Athy]

Ghosts! Can't you just hear the spectral hoofsteps?

It reminds me of a railway embankment somewhere near the North Oxford (my memory is vague as to exactly where) which never carried a train. I think the embankment peters out in a field somewhere, indicating the point at which the money ran out.

[luctor et emergo]

When next week?

 

;-)