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ROOTS
The Exeter Canal story begins earlier than almost any other man
made waterway in Britain. Only the Foss Navigation in Lincolnshire,
which was originally cut by the Romans, is older.
1200's The Countess of Devon, Isabella de Fortibus :-)
, spitefully built a weir across the tidal River Exe, blocking
the navigable route into Exeter which had been used for centuries
by small boats. The weir, known as "Countess Wear",
can still be seen today.
1290 After much pressure - or possibly a whole new generation
of Earls and Countesses - navigation was restored on the river.
1317 A new spate of greed over took the Devon family and
the river was blocked again with more weirs being installed. The
Earls also built a quay at Topsham where boats were forced to
unload because of the blockages caused by the weirs. The Earls
then charged heavy tolls for transhipment into Exeter which forced
local traders to bring lawsuits against them. The court cases
were won by the traders but the Earls refused to unblock the navigation
and the weirs were left in place despite it being "King's
Law" that every man should be granted free passage on any
English river.
1563 After 300 years of tolerating the Earls of Devon,
the businessmen of Exeter decided enough was enough. They employed
John Trew of Glamorgan to engineer an artificial cut which would
bypass the weirs and rejoin the River Exe in the centre of the
city. A quay would be built with a crane to load and unload cargoes.
The cut was (and still is) paid for and maintained by Exeter City
Corporation - and therefore it has always (in theory) belonged
to the people of Exeter rather than any one company.
Unfortunately the finished cut was not quite what the people
had hoped for. It was built very small, just 3 feet deep and 16
feet wide. It was just 1¾ miles in length, running from
just below Countess Wear to the city centre. It had 3 locks with
vertical gates - the first ever pound locks to be built in Britain.
As well as being very small, the cut was also not accessible in
low tides despite Trew having promised to make it navigable at
all times. All the same, it was still far better than having to
pay the hefty tolls to the greedy Earls.
1677 For just over a century the Exeter traders put up
with the uncertain tidal conditions of the entrance into the cut.
During this time the waterway was not very well maintained and
during the Civil War it was completely neglected. Finally the
Corporation decided to improve the short waterway, they also extended
it to a point farther down the Exe estuary to help alleviate the
tricky navigational problems. The new entrance would now be opposite
the town of Topsham.
1701 Major enhancements were made to the cut once again.
These made the channel 10 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Large ocean-going
sailing ships could now use the waterway and reach the centre
of Exeter. The 3 original locks were removed during these improvements
and a new single lock, confusingly called "Double Locks",
was installed. At the entrance to the canal, from the River Exe
at the northern end, the Corporation built a flood gate which
they called King's Arms Sluice. Following these improvements the
canal became very successful with hundreds of ships regularly
docking in Exeter, having come from many places, especially southern
Europe. Coal, slate, timber, groceries and the area's two great
exports, woollens and cider, were among many other goods carried
on the canal.
During the 1700's many other "artificial cuts" were
planned in the Exeter area with Exeter being proposed as the focal
point where most of these routes would meet. In the end - like
many other plans in many other parts of the country at this time
- no routes ever got further than the initial ideas.
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1796 In the latter part of the century the biggest scheme
of them all in the West Country, The Grand Western Canal, gained
its Act from Parliament. The Grand Western Canal was to be just
one part of a route which would connect Exeter to Bristol by crossing
Devon to Taunton in Somerset where another canal would then carry
the route on to Bridgwater with a third canal taking it to the
Bristol Channel. Such a route would bring cargo and passengers
to Exeter from as far away as south Wales, the Midlands and London.
However, work was very slow in starting and it was over 15 years
before the first stretch was opened - and this was a mighty long
way from Exeter.
1820's The Grand Western Canal had sadly fallen well short
of Exeter - in fact, it had fallen well short of everywhere! Exeter
Corporation decided they needed to improve their own waterway
in order to attract other waterway routes so a local man named
James Green was called in to improve the navigation. He was well
known in the West Country as he had already built a number of
barge and tub-boat canals.
Green completely reconstructed the whole of the Exeter Ship Canal,
making a cut which was 15 feet deep. He extended the entrance
by a further 2 miles to Turf and he made it navigable to a depth
of no less than 12 feet no matter what state the tide was at.
All this was a great success but a very familiar story now befell
Exeter's trade. Its main business had been the export of woollen
goods but by the time the canal was open to business, the wool
trade had completely ceased! However, there were still some other
goods being carried on the new canal, the main cargo being coal
from London which could travel round the coast in 7 days - in
good weather.
1832 Exeter Corporation supported a Bill in Parliament
to allow a local company to build a railway (or tramway) from
Crediton to their canal basin in the city. However, the Bill was
turned down by the government. A few years later the Corporation
encouraged the Bristol & Exeter Railway Company to connect
its lines to the basin and this time the Act was granted. However,
the railway took a long time to arrive and before the line was
finished, for some unknown reason, the Corporation backed off
and decided that the railway could not connect with their basin
after all.
1844 The Bristol & Exeter Railway opened their line
into Exeter but continuous refusal by the Corporation to allow
trains near the basin caused major (self inflicted) competition
for themselves. The railway built its own dock and the canal could
not compete. Eventually the canal profits fell so low that they
were not able even to pay off the interest on the loan which had
been taken out to build James Green's improvements.
1867 By the time Exeter Corporation finally allowed trains
into their canal basin (35 years after the first railway attempted
to make a link) it was too late. The South Devon Railway was connected
to the basin but by this time the canal was no where near big
enough to accommodate the massive new steam ships which were now
crossing the oceans. The canal was making a massive loss, creditors
were called in and they took over the canal for the next 16 years.
The canal continued to enjoy a steady income for the next 100
years but by the 1960's trade had begun to dwindle. During the
1960's fewer companies used the canal every year until, by the
end of the decade, only a handful of boats were to be seen.
1969 While commercial trade was almost dead on the Exeter
Canal, tourism and pleasure craft were becoming more popular.
This was greatly helped by the opening of a maritime museum in
Exeter Basin. It contained a 23 boat collection belonging to Major
David Goddard. The museum was popular from day one and became
a great success over the years. As well as new additions to the
collection the museum also included canal artefacts and exhibitions.
1972 The last commercial vessel to leave Exeter Basin
was the Esso Jersey carrying oil to its terminal. This left very
little trade though the local water board still ran a sludge tanker
which dumped sewage into the English Channel.
1991 The maritime museum was forced to close due to lack
of money though within a few months it was rescued and reopened
by the International Sailing Craft Association which the museum's
owner, Major Goddard, was heavily involved in. Sadly, within 5
years the museum was in trouble again, closing its doors in September
1996. At the close of the year it was announced that the collection
was to be saved from being split up though it was feared that
it may be "shipped" abroad.
1996 Exeter council (who still looked after the canal)
were reported to be becoming increasingly uncooperative towards
boats. According to canal magazines at the time, the Council refused
to allow the use of the canal's structures during a rally and
refused to create slipways to let portable boats into the canal.
It was reported that the council banned all boats from the city
basin early in 1997 though this situation, if it ever really existed,
was obviously soon overturned as the basin is now a popular mooring
place.
1997 There was good news for Major Goddard's collection
of historic ships. It was announced that the International Sailing
Craft Association were not going to have to sell them off after
all. However, the collection was to be moved and split into two.
Half of the boats were to go to Bristol Docks while the other
half was to go to Oulton Broad in Suffolk.
In April it was announced that South West Water company were
to end operation of their sludge tanker. The tanker was the very
last commercial vessel on the Exeter Canal. It had been in service
for over 30 years but new EU directives forbid dumping of sewage
at sea. I don't know if it is fitting or not that the sludge tanker
is named Countess Wear.
2000 & Beyond. Despite the loss of the Maritime Museum,
Exeter's quayside and canal basin are still an excellent place
to visit, either on foot or by boat. It should be noted however
that boats need to be booked into the canal. The bridges and locks
are staff operated but staff are not on site at all times. It
is also necessary to book a mooring in advance as the basin is
well used and often quite full.
2006 A new issue of "Nicholson's Guide to the Waterways
No.7" was released. For the first time this included the
Exeter Canal (and other waterways in the South West which had
previously been omitted). It gives a good description and (shall
I say) a "brief" account of the canal's history. It
also gives details of canalside pubs and villages as well as information
about boat trips.
The City Council has done much to attract visitors to a canal
which no longer has a commercial purpose in its original sense.
Like many other places around the UK, redevelopment of Exeter's
waterfront is very much on the current agenda.
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THE ROUTE
The 6 mile long Exeter Canal is a very simple one to follow. It
starts on the west bank of the Exe estuary around 2 miles south
of Exminster. There is a sea lock, Turf Lock, at the entrance
to the canal and the Turf Hotel is close by despite my road atlas
showing no access to the lock whatsoever. Just above the lock
is a basin where large vessels once moored to tranship goods to
and from Lighters. The basin was also used as a holding place
where ships would wait in bad weather until conditions out at
sea became safe.
The canal has good towpaths on each side and both can be walked
all the way to the terminus in Exeter. On the way there, about
1½ miles north of the entrance, the canal curves from its
northerly direction to a more north westerly one. Here there is
another entrance lock near the point which was once the start
of the canal. The current lock, Topsham Side Lock, was built to
give boats access to Topsham across the River Exe on the opposite
bank. However, the lock has been closed and derelict since 1976.
Just above the lock (somewhere) is the point where the canal started
prior to 1820 when James Green extended it to Turf Lock. The exact
site is not possible to determine because the later improvements
and extensions completely wiped out all traces.
The M5 now crosses the route just north west of Topsham and then
Lower Wear weir is rounded with Exeter Sewage Works Wharf near
by. The sludge boat Countess Wear could still be seen here in
1997 carrying treated sewage from the wharf out to sea, thus keeping
the canal (technically at least) a "commercial waterway".
Next on the route is the very busy A379. This bridge was once
even busier before the M5 was built. It was the A38 trunk road
and traffic was held up numerous times a day waiting for boats
to pass through the opened bridge. The road is now a dual carriageway
and it is boat crews who are now inconvenienced through having
to lower their sailing masts.
Near this point is the original entrance to John Trew's cut.
Over to the east, on the river, is Countess Wear weir. Within
½ a mile the canal passes the Double Locks Inn to arrive
at Double Locks, which is actually just one single lock. However,
at over 312 feet in length and 27 feet wide it is the largest
manually operated lock in Britain.
Past the lock the route continues on for about ¾ of a
mile and then passes through a swing bridge. Then, after about
another mile, it passes the Welcome Inn and arrives at a fork.
Straight on is the canal basin built by James Green in the 1820's.
The basin is parallel to the river and was home to Exeter Maritime
Museum before its closure. It is 900 feet long, 17 feet deep and
between 90 to 120 feet wide. To the right of James Green's newer
stretch is the original course of the canal which once took vessels
back into the River Exe and into the original quay. King's Arms
Sluice (which survives today) was installed at the river entrance
in 1701.
Trew's Weir, built in 1563 by John Trew as a feeder to his cut,
is immediately downstream (south) of the canal entrance while
Exeter Quay is immediately upstream (north). The linear quayside,
which was used by river traffic for many centuries before the
canal basin was built, is well worth investigating. After passing
Trew's Weir and King's Arms Sluice it runs north, parallel to
the canal basin. Nowadays it is home to numerous boats and the
Port Royal pub. On the west side (between the river quay and the
canal basin) is the former Maritime Museum building which was
formerly a warehouse. In summer a small passenger ferry operates
between the museum building and a car park on the east side. Just
past the car park the river and quay bend left to head west around
the top of the canal basin.
Cricklepot Suspension Bridge carries pedestrians across the river
from the basin to the north east side of the quay. Small shops
and cafes can be found here and the wooden Mallison Bridge crosses
an inlet beside the old wharfinger's cottage which is now the
HQ for the Exeter Canal and Quay Trust.
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More than 700 beautiful photographs of Exeter and nearby Topsham
in Devon (including images of the Exeter Canal) are available
at the SOUVENIR
from EXETER web site.
Many thanks to Sean Creech for permission to use his Exeter Canal
photographs.
Canals & Waterways: Roots
& Routes © Peter Hardcastle 1994-2006
Website Design © Shaun Smith 2003
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