1825 Josiah Easton proposed a ship canal from Combwich to Bridgwater.
The Canal runs from Bridgwater Docks to the river Tone at Taunton, 13.5 miles and 7 locks.
1822 Construction of the canal began, with James Hollinsworth as the engineer and John Easton as the senior surveyor.
1827 The canal was opened between Taunton and Huntworth.
in 1836 the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company obtained an act of Parliament to construct a railway which would pass through Bridgwater. Subsequently, the canal company, in order to protect their trade, sought their own act of Parliament to construct a floating harbour to the west of Bridgwater, and to extend the canal to join it. The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Navigation Act 1837 was obtained on 21 April 1837, and the works were started. The construction work involved a deep cutting from Albert Street to West Street, a short tunnel at West Street. There it entered Bridgwater Docks.
1839 ' Bridgwater and Taunton Canal — The works at this Canal, in consequence of the fine weather, are proceeding very fast, a tunnel being excavated under West-street, and a bridge is erected in Ropers Lane; this is the route the canal will take.' [1]
1866 The Bristol and Exeter Railway stepped in and bought the canal, the main attraction was the dock, with its large volume of coal traffic, but they purchased both the canal and the dock.
The main source of water was the River Tone, pumped out of the river at Creech by the Charlton Pumping Station, where the river and canal were only 300 yards (270 m) apart. Large volumes of water were discharged from the canal every fortnight, when the Bridgwater Dock was scoured to free it from silt. Also, the Railway Company was extracting water to supply the station and locomotive sheds at Taunton.
Most of the above information is condensed from the excellent Wikipedia entry, accessed 13/09/2025.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Somerset County Gazette - Saturday 31 August 1839
- IWA website