The Chard Canal
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The Chard Canal Canal at Wrantage Leading to incline and tunnel. Crimson Hill in the background Chard History Group Publication No. 1 1967 Contents Page The reason why 1 The canal is built 4 The canal at work 8 The canal fails 12 The canal today 13 Sources and acknowledgements 19 Plates: The canal at Wrantage Front Cover Ilminster incline 7 Ilminster Tunnel 7 Crimson Hill Tunnel 14 Chard Basin 14 Maps: Route of canal;its back- ) ground (inset) ) ) 10 and Diagrams: 1. Section of canal; ) 11 2. Working of incline; ) 3. The Basin. 1 The Chard Canal opened in 1842. It was the last of the main English canals and technically one of the most advanced. Yet it never paid its way and was closed within 25 years of its opening. Today it lies forgotten and abandoned, but its remains are still an impressive monument to the past, and its story still has lessons for the present. THE REASONS WHY The memory of earlier schemes There had been dreams of a canal passing through Chard long before 1842. Soon after the canal era began in 1760, the idea of a ship canal joining the English and Bristol Channels had been put forward. It was certainly an attractive idea. It would cut out the long sea passage around Lands End, always arduous and dangerous in the days of sail. Various schemes were promoted, in 1769, 1794, 1809, 1824. They varied in their details, but all chose the obvious route across the waist of the S.W. peninsula, beginning at Beer or Seaton, and making use of the river valleys of the Axe the Ile or the Tone, and the Parrott; all crossed the Blackdowns where they were narrowest and lowest, at Chard (see inset map, centre page) It is strange, today, to think of how ships might have been seen passing along the Furnham Road. However, any such canal, even for small sea vessels, with its 30-odd miles of works, and the surmounting of the 250 foot high watershed, was bound to be expensive - indeed the most ambitious project, 3 of 1824, was expected to cost £1 /4 million. In their day, these schemes aroused considerable interest. Surveys were carried out by leading engineers, like John Rennie and Thomas Telford, and subscription lists were opened. However, at the first hint of a recession the ambitious schemes faded, and in fact they were not seriously revived after 1830. But the memory and the hopes endured, to feed the more modest project of the Chard Canal. The need for cheap transport in Chard. By the early 19th century, Chard, like many other places had a growing need for cheap transport, particularly of bulky and heavy goods. There was a good network of turnpike roads radiating from the town, but their charge, for wagons were high. Moreover the quantity of heavy goods needing haulage was growing rapidly. Coal, mainly from South Wales was 2 replacing wood as the common fuel. The Industrial Revolution was having its effect in Chard with the growth of large water driven woollen mills and the new lace mills - and all of them took in and gave out large quantities of goods. And the population of Chard Borough and Parish had increased by one third between the censuses of 1811 and 1831, causing an increasing flow of food and other products, and of building materials for the flood of new houses which can still be clearly seen in the town and the surrounding villages. Moreover, wherever canals had been opened elsewhere there had been a dramatic drop in transport costs. So most educated people in Chard fully appreciated the advantages a canal would bring. James Green and the West Country Canal. Canals in the West Country, however, presented a. special problem, quite different from those in the industrial areas where they were first developed. The sparser population strictly limited their revenue, and the hilly character of the country created engineering difficulties. However, an able engineer, James Green, Surveyor of Bridges to the County of Devon, had by the 1830’s developed a type of canal which was specially suited to the West Country needs. Taking up ideas first developed in Shropshire, he made use of short tub-boats instead of the traditional narrow-boats of the normal canal. Because of their size these tub-boat could negotiate a change in level of the canal with either a lift or an inclined plane, fitted with rails, and a suitable wheeled vehicle. This completely cut out the need for locks, with great saving in construction running cost. It also saved water, and operating time. Green first successfully used the system on the Bude Canal, 1817, including one incline rising 225 feet. Then in 1824 came the Torrington Canal, and in 1829 the Grand Western, running from Tiverton to Taunton. This latter canal relied mainly on lifts rather than inclines, although as it turned out they were much less reliable. Thus Green had developed a formula for a successful canal to suit West Country conditions, and had a good reputation in the region as a canal engineer. As far as Chard was concerned, he find already been involved in two schemes for a canal passing through the town, the second being the last and greatest of the ship- canal schemes of 1824, for which he had carried out surveys. 3 The final moves. So far we have seen that the need for a canal to serve Chard was felt; that the grander ship-canal schemes had aroused interest, and that James Green had shown that a canal in this area was practicable. But there was still no drive towards building one. The townspeople themselves lacked the capital, and the local wealthy landowners were either apathetic or hostile. The final impetus, in 1833-34, came from right outside Chard, and for reasons which had nothing to do with Chard itself. As it turned out, this was unfortunate. In 1827 the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal had opened. Naturally enough Chard people hoped to be linked with it by a feeder canal. In 1830, a group of them approached James Green, and he got in touch with the Bridgwater and Taunton Committee. They showed little interest. Then in 1833 came a new development. A proposal was afoot to improve the navigation of the river Parrett up to and beyond Langport, with a canal leading off to Ilminster and Chard. A glance at the map (inset, centre pages) will show that this immediately threatened the toll revenue of the Bridgwater and Taunton on goods from this area - the loss was in fact estimated at £1, 200 per annum. Immediate action was taken. James Green was commissioned to make a survey for a canal from Chard, via Ilminster, to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael. His survey was complete by the end of 1833, with the cost of the canal estimated at £57,000. Green's proposals were accepted with minor modification, and in 1834 the Chard Canal Company was launched and the necessary Act of Parliament promoted (received royal assent June 1834). It is important to note that the main figures behind this sudden development were not Chardians, but five wealthy Bristolians (Isaac Cooke, John and William Cave, Joseph Cookson, Joseph Reynolds). In fact only £3,250 of the first subscription of £46,850 came from Chard people. We can now see why the Chard Canal came to be built. But one obstinate question remains: Why a canal and not a railway? Certainly in 1834 railways were very much in people’s minds. The Liverpool and Manchester 4 railway, the first to carry passengers, was already an outstanding success. By 1833 the movement to found the Great Western Railway was already well under way, beginning in Bristol in January with an inaugural meeting under John Cave, one of the Chard Canal promoters, as chairman. And within two years of the Chard Canal receiving its Act of Parliament, the Bristol and Exeter railway, passing through Creech and Taunton, had received its Act too. Once again the answer lies with the ‘big-five" Bristolian investors. A feeder railway to the Bristol and Exeter would do nothing to cover their investment in the Bridgwater and Taunton canal, and so it was not considered. Perhaps one can say the Chard Canal was the victim of decisions taken under pressure; five years later it would probably have not been built at all, as the case for a railway would have been immeasurably stronger. THE CANAL IS BUILT The Canal Acts, 1834, 1840, 1841. From the three Canal Acts we are given interesting and often amusing insight into the minds and characters of the people, and the conditions of the times. The Acts went into great detail. The company was empowered ‘to bore, dig, cut, trench, drain, sough (trench), get, raise, remove, take, carry away, lay, use and manufacture any earth, soil, clay, stone, rubbish, trees, roots etc. - owners to be compensated’. ‘Every steam engine used by the company must consume its own smoke’. Even rules of conduct were laid down by the acts. ‘Penalty for throwing rubbish into the canal - £5.’ ‘Anyone travelling on barges found guilty of poaching fish or game shall be fined £5.’ Even gentle relaxation was restricted. ‘No bathing without permission. Penalty 40/-.’ Half the fines collected were to be paid to the informers and half to the poor of the parish in which the offences were committed. Faint echoes of feudalism are heard in the statement - ‘Earl Poulett, as Lord of the Manor, shall be given the sole rights to shoot wild fowl or game on or near the reservoir made by the canal company.