The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal is a canal in the south-west of England between Bridgwater and Taunton, opened in 1827 and linking the River Tone to the River Parrett. There were a number of abortive schemes to link the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by waterway in the 18th and early 19th centuries. These schemes followed the approximate route eventually taken by the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, but the canal was instead built as part of a plan to link Bristol to Taunton by waterway.
The early years of operation were marred by a series of legal disputes, which were resolved when the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Company and the Conservators, who managed the River Tone Navigation, agreed that the Canal Company should take over the Tone Navigation. The canal originally terminated at a basin at Huntworth, to the east of Bridgwater, but was later extended to a floating harbour at Bridgwater Docks on its western edge. Financially this was a disaster, as the extension was funded by a mortgage, and the arrival of the railways soon afterwards started the demise of the canal. The canal was rescued from bankruptcy by the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1866.
Despite commercial traffic ceasing in 1907, the infrastructure was maintained in good order, and the canal was used for the transport of potable water from 1962. The Countryside Act 1968 provided a framework for Somerset County Council to start the restoration of the canal as a leisure facility, which was completed in 1994, when the canal was reopened throughout. Bridgwater Docks have been restored as a marina, but there is no navigable connection to the River Parrett, as the canal still transports drinking water for the people of Bridgwater.
History
Prior to the building of the canal, navigation between the towns of Bridgwater and Taunton was possible by using the River Parrett and the River Tone. The Tone had been improved by its Conservators, who had obtained Acts of Parliament in 1699 and 1707, which had allowed them to straighten and dredge the river and parts of the Parrett, and to build locks and half-locks to manage the water levels. The initial work was completed by 1717, although further improvements including more locks continued to be made until the early 19th century.
Precursors
From 1768 there were a number of grand schemes proposed, all with the aim of linking the Bristol Channel to the English Channel by a waterway, thereby avoiding the need to navigate by sea around Cornwall and Devon. James Brindley was the first to survey a route, which would have run from the Bristol Channel to Exeter, following the course of the River Tone for part of its route. In 1769, Robert Whitworth looked at a shorter route from Bridgwater Bay to Seaton, following the River Parrett and the River Axe. He was asked to reassess the route in the 1790s. William Jessop surveyed a route between Taunton and Exeter in 1794, while another group proposed a canal linking Bristol, Nailsea, Bridgwater and Taunton, which was surveyed by William White. Jessop's assistant, Josiah Easton, suggested a route from Uphill (on the Bristol Channel) to Seaton, again in 1794, and the previous two schemes sought parliamentary approval as the Grand Western Canal and the Bristol and Western Canal, respectively. Only the first was authorised, but the economic downturn caused by the Napoleonic Wars meant that construction did not begin immediately.
John Rennie surveyed the line for a ship canal from the mouth of the River Parrett to Seaton in 1810, which was designed for ships of , but it was felt that the economic situation would not support the projected expenditure of over £1 million. He then considered a more modest proposal, based on the original Bristol and Western plans, and the scheme, now renamed the Bristol and Taunton Canal, was authorised by an Act of Parliament dated 14 May 1811. The company had powers to raise £420,000 in shares and an additional £150,000 if required, but economic concerns meant that the project did not start immediately. Powers for the Bristol to Bridgwater section lapsed in 1815, but work finally commenced in 1822, to be halted by an injunction because the authorised route was not being followed. A further Act, of 17 June 1824, authorised the revised route, and changed the name of the project to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Company. The predicted costs for the construction of the shorter canal were £34,145, as opposed to £429,990 for the longer scheme.