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28-526: The Chard Canal was a 13.5 miles (21.7 km) tub boat canal in Somerset , England , that ran from the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael , over four aqueducts, through three tunnels and four inclined planes to Chard . It was completed in 1842, was never commercially viable, and closed in 1868. The major engineering features are still clearly visible in the landscape. Prior to

56-651: A barge canal had been estimated at £70,000, but Rennie's estimate for a ship canal was £1.33 million. One further attempt to build a ship canal took place in 1825, when a canal capable of taking vessels of 200 tons, with a draught of 15 feet (4.6 m) was proposed. 30 locks would have been required, on a canal from Stolford on the Bristol Channel to Beer on the English Channel, passing through Creech St Michael, Ilminster and Chard, at an estimated cost of £1.7 million. Thomas Telford produced

84-649: A branch to Chard. A new Chard Railway Company was constituted in 1860, and another company was formed in 1861, to construct a branch from Taunton to Chard. The London and South Western Railway took over the Chard Railway, and the Bristol and Exeter built the branch from Taunton to Chard. In order to prevent competition from the L&;SWR, the Bristol and Exeter Railway bought the Grand Western Canal ,

112-567: A number of the early English and German canals. There was no standardisation of tub boat size between different canals, but a typical English tub boat canal might have used boats around 20 ft (6.1 m) long and 6 ft 6 in (2.0 m) wide and generally carried 3 long tons (3.0  t ; 3.4 short tons ) to 5 long tons (5.1 t; 5.6 short tons) of cargo, though some extra deep ones could carry up to 8 long tons (8.1 t; 9.0 short tons). They are also called compartment boats or container boats . The main virtue of tub boats

140-479: A six-wheeled caisson , in which the boats floated. A chain linked the two caissons together, passing round a horizontal drum situated at the top of the incline. Power for the movement of the boats was provided by over-filling the top caisson, the extra weight causing that caisson to descend and the other to rise. Because the majority of traffic passed up the canal, and a boat displaces its own weight in water ( Archimedes' principle ), considerably more water passed down

168-571: A survey in 1831. The route was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long, but with Chard some 231 feet (70 m) higher than the canal at Creech St Michael, his plan involved two boat lifts, two inclined planes and two tunnels, and was costed at £57,000. An act of Parliament, the Chard Canal Act 1834 ( 4 & 5 Will. 4 . c. liii) was obtained in June 1834, authorising the raising of £57,000, with an additional £20,000 if required, but local enthusiasm for

196-525: A wheeled cradle up a slope of 1:10. The cradle was attached to the turbine by a substantial wire rope , after breakages of the original rope. The Ilminster tunnel was 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, allowing boats travelling in opposite directions to pass, but the tunnels at Lillesdon and Crimson Hill were only wide enough for one boat. However the Crimson Hill Tunnel has a double width "passing area" about halfway through its course to allow passing of

224-467: Is its chapter number. Acts passed before 1963 are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67", meaning the 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that

252-585: The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the Chard Canal, so that the L&SWR could not. They paid £5,945 for the Chard Canal, with the takeover and closing of the canal being authorised by the Bristol and Exeter Railway Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. cxxx). The receivers were discharged in February 1868, and it seems likely that the canal was closed then. The Chard reservoir, which was the main supply for

280-602: The Chard Railway Act 1847 ( 10 & 11 Vict. c. clxxv) obtained in 1847 changed the name of the company to the Chard Railway Company, but successive plans were thwarted by the inability of the company to repay its debts. The canal went into receivership in 1853, after which there were discussions with the Bristol and Exeter Railway and the London and South Western Railway, with a view to building

308-595: The Hargreave barge used on the same waterway. 4 %26 5 Vict. Note that the first parliament of the United Kingdom was held in 1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either parliaments of Great Britain or of Ireland ). For acts passed up until 1707, see the list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . For acts passed from 1707 to 1800, see

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336-790: The Shropshire Union Canal and the Bude Canal . One tub-boat is preserved in the Blists Hill Victorian Town museum. It was rescued from a farm in 1972, where it was in use as a water tank. Before its discovery, it was thought that all tub boats on the Shropshire Canal were made of wood. In later years, larger versions of tub boats included the Tom Pudding on the Aire and Calder Canal and

364-606: The list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in the United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act's title

392-477: The boats from either direction. The main cargoes were coal and stone. Traffic for the first three years rose from 25,835 tons to 33,284 tons, about two thirds of which was coal or culm ( anthracite ). Competition started immediately, with the railway arriving at Taunton in 1842, and the Westport Canal being completed in 1840. Attempts were made to convert the canal to a railway, and an act of Parliament,

420-466: The canal, was sold to Lord Poulett . In 1990, South Somerset District Council bought it, and it is now a designated nature reserve. Surrounded by woodland, it provides habitat for over 150 species of birds. The remains of the inclines have survived over 140 years of neglect, as have the three tunnels. Near Lower Farm, a bridge on the Thornfalcon to Creech road is now a grade II listed structure, and

448-458: The community, as coal prices fell, but the total cost of construction had been about £ 140,000, and as income was only a third of what had been projected, the canal company was never able to meet even the interest payments on its debts. The canal was designed for tub-boats which were 26 by 6.5 feet (7.9 by 2.0 m). The inclines at Thornfalcon, Wrantage and Ilminster were double-acting inclines, consisting of two parallel tracks, each containing

476-669: The construction of the canal, there had been several plans over the previous 50 years to build a ship canal from the Bristol Channel to the English Channel , in order to avoid the route around Cornwall and Devon. The first which would have connected Chard to the canal network was a scheme surveyed in 1769 by Robert Whitworth , to link the River Parrett to Seaton in Devon. Whitworth was asked to reassess this route in

504-477: The early 1790s, and again thought it was feasible. The plan was revived in 1793, while another route was suggested in 1794 by Josiah Easton, again passing through Chard. The 1793 Chard Canal plan was revived in 1809, by now renamed as the English and Bristol Channels Canal, and the engineer John Rennie was asked to survey it in 1810. He advocated a small ship canal, suitable for vessels up to 120 tons. The cost of

532-494: The incline than up it. However, the system was still more economical than using locks, and a large new Chard Reservoir supplied the necessary water. The incline at Chard Common was quite different, consisting of a single track, with the tub-boats being carried on a cradle with four wheels. Power was supplied by a Whitelaw and Stirrat water turbine , with a 25-foot (7.6 m) head, which used 725 cubic feet (20.5 m) of water per minute. Boats were raised 86 feet (26 m) in

560-673: The length of the Chard incline was increased. Construction costs were much higher than anticipated, and another act of Parliament, the Chard Canal Company Act 1840 ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. i) was obtained in March 1840, allowing the company to raise another £80,000 in shares, and to obtain a mortgage for £26,000, while a third act, the Chard Canal Act 1841 ( 4 & 5 Vict. c. x) allowed construction to continue beyond

588-431: The modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Some of these acts have a short title . Some of these acts have never had a short title. Some of these acts have a short title given to them by later acts, such as by

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616-485: The original seven year limit. The canal opened to Ilminster on 15 May 1841, and to Dowlish Ford wharfs on 3 February 1842. There were delays caused by the rope on the Wrantage plane breaking, resulting in damage to the caissons, and further delays caused by the Bristol and Exeter Railway constructing their line under the canal at Creech, but the work was finally completed on 24 May 1842. There were immediate benefits to

644-423: The problems Green was experiencing on the Grand Western Canal with commissioning his boat lifts, Hall decided to replace the lifts with inclined planes instead. Further changes to the original plans were made above Ilminster inclined plane, where another tunnel was constructed, enabling the line of the canal to be built at a lower level. A lock was added at Bere Mills, to raise the line by 7 feet (2.1 m) and

672-492: The scheme was muted and most of the capital was provided by just five men, all of whom were involved in the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. Work began at Wrantage in June 1835, but the act did not allow parts of the canal to be built until tunnelling was well-advanced, and so work on the upper sections did not start until Autumn 1837. Green was replaced as engineer by Sydney Hall from the start of construction, and in view of

700-479: The survey, an act of Parliament , the English and Bristol Channels Ship Canal Act 1825 ( 6 Geo. 4 . c. cxcix) was obtained on 6 July 1825, and although subscriptions of over £1.5 million were promised, no further action occurred, with the company disappearing after 1828. With the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal having opened in 1827, there was further initiative to link Chard to it, and James Green carried out

728-534: The three-arched aqueduct which carried the canal over the River Tone is largely intact, although it no longer has its parapets. During World War II part of the Taunton Stop Line invasion defence project ran along the canal. Download coordinates as: [REDACTED] Media related to Chard Canal at Wikimedia Commons Tub boat A tub boat was a type of unpowered cargo boat used on

756-565: The train could easily be divided, the boats lifted individually, and the train reassembled afterwards. Sometimes the boats used snug-fitting non-waterproof inner containers which could be more easily lifted out. Because of their small size, the canals that were built for tub boats could also be smaller, saving considerable construction cost. The first use of tub boats in England was on the Bridgewater Canal . Other notable uses were on

784-404: Was their flexibility. They could be drawn in trains of 3-10 or more boats using horse power, or later steam tugs , where the number of boats was varied according to the type of cargo. Tubs could be lifted more easily than larger boats and tub boat lifts and inclined planes were developed as an alternative to canal locks , particularly in or near a colliery or similar industrial works. At a lift

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