This canal tunnel has been on my sights for years, but has always been locked. In 2017 I did the Lillesdon Canal Tunnel, on the same unused canal and just a couple of miles away (report somewhere in here). In March I got a message that the gate was no longer locked - but then we all know what happened next. For me that meant working every day for weeks and weeks. Well lockdown has eased and I am now starting to get days off from work. Although worringly my place of work (a government department) has contingency plans to restart the hard-lockdown regime again from August, Do they know something we don't? Anyways with a rare day off here we go...
HISTORY
The 1800 yard Crimson Hill Canal Tunnel lies on the Chard canal which was one of last main line canals to be constructed. A 13.5-mile tub-boat (rectangular craft designed to carry cargo as part of a train of similar vessels) canal with inclined planes and 3 tunnels.
Authorised by an Act of 1834, open to Ilminster in 1841 and to Chard in 1842. It carried traffic until 1867 when it was bought by the Bristol and Exeter Railway and closed.
The Chard Canal 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. There were tunnels at Ilminster, at Curry Mallet through Crimson Hill and at Lillesdon and the four inclines were at Ilminster, Wrantage, Thornfalcon and Chard. The incline at Chard was a single track incline, the only one in Britain. A tub-boat was fastened onto a strong carriage mounted on two pairs of wheels, one pair smaller than the other, to keep it level. This was pulled up the incline, on rails, by a rope, which broke so frequently it was soon replaced by a wire cable, powered by a water turbine. At the apex of the incline the carriage ran down a short reverse slope, using a different pair of wheels, on the same axle as the smaller pair, on a special set of rails, to keep the boat reasonably level. The only lock was near to Bere Mills Covert and there were aqueducts at Wrantage, Ruishton and Creech St Michael. There were also two wharfs serving Ilminster.
The estimated cost in 1834 was £57,000 . The terminus of the canal at Chard was on the site of the present flour mill occupied by B.G Wyatt Ltd.
During the Second World War, the line of the Chard Canal, together with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the River Axe, became a major defence line in the South West of the county to restrict Hitler’s movement should he invade. All the iron bridges, which were melted down for the war effort, were removed and replaced with wooden structures that could be destroyed quickly. Pill boxes and tank traps, which can still be seen in places on the canal, were built along the whole length of the defence line.
REPORT
1. Crimson Hill itself can be seen from the road through the village of Wrantage
2. There is little evidence of the existance of the canal in the area, it being drained. However in the village can be seen the remains of the aquaduct that carried the canal over the road. The village pub is still called The Canal Inn.
3. This gate is no longer locked, for many months now. The water is just a few inches deep but the mud is a couple of feet deep, making wading tricky. For this I used an inflatable canoe.
4. First view in
5. From previous reports, from about 10 years ago, I knew that there is a rock fall about half through the tunnel
6. About 800m in and just before the rock fall. The water had as good as disppeared here, and wading through the knee-deep mud was the only way. The tunnel widens here as a boat passing place.
7. I was accompanied by my son, who still hasn't mastered the art of standing still for a photograph
8. And the roof-fall. It is possible to climb over that fall, and progress is possible in deeper water on the other side. But not done on this occassion as the roof is very dodgy on that side. See Styru's 2010 report for what is on the other side.
9. A few pics of the return journey
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. All that remained now was for the wife to drag all the gear back to the car - cheers huns!
Thanks for reading
HISTORY
The 1800 yard Crimson Hill Canal Tunnel lies on the Chard canal which was one of last main line canals to be constructed. A 13.5-mile tub-boat (rectangular craft designed to carry cargo as part of a train of similar vessels) canal with inclined planes and 3 tunnels.
Authorised by an Act of 1834, open to Ilminster in 1841 and to Chard in 1842. It carried traffic until 1867 when it was bought by the Bristol and Exeter Railway and closed.
The Chard Canal 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. There were tunnels at Ilminster, at Curry Mallet through Crimson Hill and at Lillesdon and the four inclines were at Ilminster, Wrantage, Thornfalcon and Chard. The incline at Chard was a single track incline, the only one in Britain. A tub-boat was fastened onto a strong carriage mounted on two pairs of wheels, one pair smaller than the other, to keep it level. This was pulled up the incline, on rails, by a rope, which broke so frequently it was soon replaced by a wire cable, powered by a water turbine. At the apex of the incline the carriage ran down a short reverse slope, using a different pair of wheels, on the same axle as the smaller pair, on a special set of rails, to keep the boat reasonably level. The only lock was near to Bere Mills Covert and there were aqueducts at Wrantage, Ruishton and Creech St Michael. There were also two wharfs serving Ilminster.
The estimated cost in 1834 was £57,000 . The terminus of the canal at Chard was on the site of the present flour mill occupied by B.G Wyatt Ltd.
During the Second World War, the line of the Chard Canal, together with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the River Axe, became a major defence line in the South West of the county to restrict Hitler’s movement should he invade. All the iron bridges, which were melted down for the war effort, were removed and replaced with wooden structures that could be destroyed quickly. Pill boxes and tank traps, which can still be seen in places on the canal, were built along the whole length of the defence line.
REPORT
1. Crimson Hill itself can be seen from the road through the village of Wrantage
2. There is little evidence of the existance of the canal in the area, it being drained. However in the village can be seen the remains of the aquaduct that carried the canal over the road. The village pub is still called The Canal Inn.
3. This gate is no longer locked, for many months now. The water is just a few inches deep but the mud is a couple of feet deep, making wading tricky. For this I used an inflatable canoe.
4. First view in
5. From previous reports, from about 10 years ago, I knew that there is a rock fall about half through the tunnel
6. About 800m in and just before the rock fall. The water had as good as disppeared here, and wading through the knee-deep mud was the only way. The tunnel widens here as a boat passing place.
7. I was accompanied by my son, who still hasn't mastered the art of standing still for a photograph
8. And the roof-fall. It is possible to climb over that fall, and progress is possible in deeper water on the other side. But not done on this occassion as the roof is very dodgy on that side. See Styru's 2010 report for what is on the other side.
9. A few pics of the return journey
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. All that remained now was for the wife to drag all the gear back to the car - cheers huns!
Thanks for reading
