189-716: The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End . An additional purpose of the canal was the supply of limestone and coal to lime kilns along with the removal of the resulting quicklime , which
378-556: A Ministry of Defence body responsible for providing navigational and other hydrographic information for national, civil and defence requirements. The UKHO is located on Admiralty Way and has a workforce of about 1100. At the start of the Second World War, chart printing moved to Taunton, but the main office did not follow until 1968. Taunton holds the head offices of Western Provident Association, Viridor and CANDAC. Other professional services are based at Blackbrook near
567-437: A burh with a mint . King Ine of Wessex threw up an earthen castle about 700, but it was levelled in 722 by his queen, Æthelburg of Wessex , to prevent seizure by rebels. A monastery was founded before 904. The bishops of Winchester owned the manor, and obtained the first charter for their "men of Taunton" from King Edward in 904, freeing them from all royal and county tribute. Some time before Domesday, Taunton became
756-402: A butyl liner to prevent leakage. The canal was reopened in 1971. Navigation was restricted to unpowered boats, with the exception of a maintenance boat that was used for cutting weed, while the final section from Fossend to Lowdwells, which would have been part of the original main line to Exeter , is designated as a nature reserve , and so all navigation and angling is discouraged. The canal
945-569: A lock built in the late 1830s) at the deserted medieval village of Oath marks the river's tidal limit . The river then crosses Southlake Moor . The next major landmark along the river's course is Burrow Mump , an ancient earthwork owned by the National Trust . The river then arrives in Burrowbridge , where the old pumping station building was once a museum. Flowing north, it passes Langmead and Weston Level SSSI, and on past
1134-639: A better option, had succeeded in purchasing the land required by agreement with landowners. Meanwhile, as a result of the litigation, an act of Parliament, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal Navigation Act 1832 ( 2 & 3 Will. 4 . c. xliii) was obtained which required the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal to build a link between the Tone and the Grand Western Canal. This was built in 1834, leaving
1323-544: A borough with privileges and a population of some 1,500, including 64 burgesses governed by a portreeve appointed by the bishops. Somerton took over from Ilchester as county town in the late 13th century, but declined; the county-town status passed to Taunton about 1366. Between 1209 and 1311 the Bishop of Winchester's manor of Taunton expanded two-and-a-half times. The parishes of Staplegrove, Wilton and Taunton were part of Taunton Deane hundred . In 1451, during
1512-535: A channel in the river known as "Combwich Reach"; from here the Parrett flows to the Bristol Channel past the Steart Peninsula . Cartographic evidence indicates that in the early 18th century the peninsula was longer than at present. A "neck" started to form in the peninsula, and by 1802 the tip had broken off to form Stert Island . Fenning Island also broke away but has rejoined the peninsula. Much of
1701-566: A flooded field but many fish including pike, eels, perch, bream, tench and roach were lost. About 25 people from the Environment Agency and Tiverton Angling Club assisted with saving the fish. The Environment Agency restocked the canal with 3,000 fish in January 2013 and by May they reported that the fish were flourishing. Devon County Council agreed to pay for repairs to the canal, in time for its 200th anniversary and on 7 July 2013,
1890-495: A footpath. It maintains a historical interest and has been subject to some archaeological excavations. The Grand Western Canal was conceived as one of several competing schemes to alleviate the hazards and delays of coastal sailing ships making a passage around Land's End to get between the Bristol Channel and the English Channel . A canal from the mouth of the River Exe to Exeter had been opened in 1566; and eight miles of
2079-621: A general scheme of agricultural improvements , including improvements to the Brue Valley and to King's Sedgemoor. The latter involved the connection of various drainage schemes into a new hand-dug channel connected to the clyse at Dunball – the King's Sedgemoor Drain. Further drainage improvements were needed in the 19th century, which involved the use of mechanical pumping engines , originally steam powered but later powered by electricity. In January 1940, further improvements were funded by
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#17327732545092268-483: A half-lock at Thorney. An extra lock was added at Oath , when tests revealed that the depth of water would not meet that specified in the Act without it. Costs were considerably higher than expected, and a second Act of Parliament was obtained in 1839, to allow an extra £20,000 to be raised. The lock at Oath has since been replaced by a sluice gate to control flooding. The section below Langport opened on 28 October 1839;
2457-637: A hall of offices for the Rural Community Council and accommodation for the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen. It later fell into disrepair. The Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust with Falcon Rural Housing purchased and restored it for use as four units of social housing. It is a Grade II* listed building. The grounds of Taunton Castle include the Somerset County Museum and The Castle Hotel , which incorporates
2646-401: A higher level. After 25 years, there were problems pumping the water away as the land surface had dropped as it dried out. A better method was sought, and in 1861 a replacement pump was installed. The engine was built by Easton and Amos of London, to a design patented in 1858 by Charles Amos. It is a twin cylinder, vertical condensing engine, driving a centrifugal pump . A similar engine
2835-611: A highest reading of 3.84 metres (12.6 ft). At West Quay in Bridgwater where the river is tidal the highest astronomical tide level is 8.63 metres (28.3 ft) above ordnance datum (AOD). For the purpose of water quality measurement, the river is divided into five water body areas by the Environment Agency . In 2015, both the area from the source to Broad River around Crewkerne and the area from Broad River to Lopen Brook are rated good for chemical quality and moderate for ecological quality. The area from Lopen Brook to
3024-645: A lock, but the sluice is used to regulate the river levels. Below Langport, the river is crossed by a lattice girder bridge, carrying the Taunton to Westbury railway line , which approaches the crossing on multi-arched viaducts. This is followed by the derelict remains of the Langport lock and sluice. At Langport, the Great Bow Bridge, which now carries the A378 , is a three-arched bridge, constructed under
3213-559: A nature reserve along the River Tone , has alder and willow woodland, bramble, scrub and rough grassland. The wetter, flood-prone areas feature hemlock water-dropwort , and yellow flag . Silk Mills Park and Ride offer landscaping and ponds in three areas by the Tone. The woodland and grassland support aquatic and marginal vegetation, with various birds, bats, reptiles and invertebrates . Frieze Hill Community Orchard has turned from allotments to rough grassland and orchard . Among
3402-531: A new channel at "Vikings Creek" on the Horsey Levels to remove a large meander ; the old river bed soon silted up, providing 120 acres (49 ha) of new land. A further scheme was proposed in 1723 to improve navigation, shorten the journey time for boats, and recover land by obtaining an Act of Parliament to make an artificial cut across the Steart Peninsula. Eventually, after much debate,
3591-414: A painted ceiling. It has been classed by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building . St Margaret's Almshouses was founded as a leper colony in the 12th century. Glastonbury Abbey acquired patronage of it in the late 13th century and rebuilt it as almshouses in the early 16th. From 1612 to 1938 the building continued as such, cared for by a local parish. In the late 1930s it was converted into
3780-574: A peak of 6,100 cubic feet per second (173 m /s) on 30 May 1979 and a minimum of 2.5 cubic feet per second (0.07 m /s) over a seven-day period in August 1976. Tributaries of the Parrett with gauging stations include the Yeo, Isle, Cary, and Tone. The lower Parrett has a fall of only 1 foot per mile (0.2 m/km) between Langport and Bridgwater. To the northeast of the River Parrett's mouth,
3969-620: A population of 300,000. The Parrett's main tributaries include the Rivers Tone , Isle , and Yeo , and the River Cary via the King's Sedgemoor Drain . The 37-mile (60 km) long river is tidal for 19 miles (31 km) up to Oath . Between Langport and Bridgwater , the river falls only 1 foot per mile (0.2 m/km), so it is prone to frequent flooding in winter and during high tides. Many approaches have been tried since at least
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#17327732545094158-531: A single unitary authority called Somerset Council with elections for the new authority's 110 councillors (two per electoral division) having taken place on 5 May 2022. Taunton and Wellington is a county constituency of the House of Commons . It is based on the town, but extends to Wellington . The current MP is Gideon Amos of the Liberal Democrats . Taunton lies on the River Tone between
4347-533: A £3 million project to repair the breach, began with an official turf cutting. The repairs included rebuilding the failed embankment and raising the level to reduce the risk of overtopping in the future, and further improvements to water management. The canal was lined with an impermeable material along the length of the embankment. In addition a water level monitoring and alarm system has been installed. This system has sensors in Tiverton and Burlescombe and alerts
4536-577: Is Priory Fields in Priory Avenue, with eight units and an anchor store, Wickes . It was redeveloped in 2003 to modernise a rather worn-out retail park and increase retail floor space. The Old Market was a farmers' market in the Parade in front of Market House, but then moved to the Firepool area, although cattle trading on the site ceased only in 2008. A large indoor shopping centre to the east of
4725-495: Is a grade II listed building . The newest bridge across the Parrett is Cocklemoor Bridge, a pedestrian footbridge close to the Great Bow Bridge. It was erected in 2006 and forms part of the River Parrett Trail . The next bridge upstream is Bicknell's bridge, which was formerly known as Bickling bridge, which carries the road from Huish Episcopi to Muchelney. It replaced a footbridge in 1829 or 1830. At Muchelney
4914-526: Is about 10 miles (16 km) north of Chiselborough. Below Thorney Bridge the river's banks have been raised to mitigate flooding. The Parrett then flows northwest for approximately another 10 miles (16 km) to Bridgwater through the Somerset Levels past Aller , close to the Aller and Beer Woods and Aller Hill biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The sluice gate (formerly
5103-467: Is also translated as `partition'. Another explanation from Welsh, Peraidd , meaning the sweet or delicious river , has also been suggested. An alternative explanation, based on Celtic, is a derivation from Pedair or Pedride from pedr , meaning four and the Old Cornish Rit meaning `flow', which in this case would relate to the four flows or streams: the Tone, Yeo, Isle and Parrett. This
5292-513: Is based on the explanation given in Ekwall's 1928 book English River-Names . Whichever derivation is correct, the name Parrett and its spelling variations have been in use since the Anglo-Saxon era, as evidenced by the addition of -tun onto river names as seen in the local towns North Petherton and South Petherton. The spelling Pedred and Pedrida are also mentioned in connection with
5481-658: Is in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington , 2.5 miles (4 km) from that of the River Axe , in nearby Beaminster , which runs in the opposite direction to the English Channel at Axmouth in Devon. The two rivers give their names to Parrett and Axe Parish Council. From its source, the Parrett runs north through South Perrott and under the Salisbury to Exeter railway line before passing to
5670-568: Is largely dry and is gradually disappearing into the landscape, as a result of roads improvements and ploughing, but a footpath has been established along much of its route, and archaeological excavations of the lift at Nynehead , the only one where there are still substantial remains, were carried out between 1998 and 2003 by the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society . In Summer 2017, the Friends of
5859-512: Is now a designated country park , and a horse-drawn tourist narrowboat runs from Tiverton. Since 2003 powered boats have been allowed on the Canal, subject to Licence from Devon County Council. The Canal is also a very popular Coarse Fishing spot and angling rights on the Canal are leased to the Tiverton and District Angling Club. In addition to holding a valid Environment Agency Rod Licence, a permit must be purchased in advance. The Somerset section
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6048-538: Is now used for landing stone products, mainly marine sand and gravels dredged in the Bristol Channel. Marine sand and gravel accounted for 55,754 tonnes (61,458 short tons) of the total tonnage of 90,213 tonnes (88,788 long tons) using the Port facilities in 2006, with salt products accounting for 21,170 tonnes (20,840 long tons) in the same year, while the roll-on roll-off berth at Combwich is used occasionally for
6237-546: Is proposed to use the wharf again for the construction of Hinkley Point C . Dunball wharf was built in 1844 by Bridgwater coal merchants, and was linked to the Bristol and Exeter Railway by a rail track which crossed the A38. The link was built in 1876, also by coal merchants, and was originally operated as a horse-drawn tramway . In 1875, the local landowner built The Dunball Steam Pottery & Brick & Tile Works adjacent to
6426-454: Is the retractable or Telescopic Bridge , built in 1871 to the design of Sir Francis Fox , the engineer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway. It carried a broad gauge (later standard gauge ) railway siding over the river to the docks, and was movable, to allow boats to proceed up river. An 80-foot (24 m) section of railway track to the east of the bridge could be moved sideways, so that
6615-493: Is the area along the river between Firepool and Tangier. The plans are to extend riverside retail and attract smaller, boutique businesses such as those found at Riverside. Plans for the town centre include more pedestrianisation and greater sizes and numbers of retail units. Several sites along the River Tone are set for renovation. Firepool Weir lock, long silted up, was to be dredged in 2011 to allow boats to pass from
6804-589: Is thought a ford , usable only at low tide, crossed the river near its mouth, between Combwich and Pawlett (east bank). This crossing, at the western end of the Polden Hills, was known since Roman times and lay on the route of a Saxon herepath . It was here, or in the immediate vicinity, that Hubba, the Danish raider, was defeated and killed by Odda in 878. In the Domesday Book Combwich
6993-740: The Bloody Assizes in the Castle's Great Hall. The Grand Western Canal reached Taunton in 1839 and the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1842. Today it hosts Musgrove Park Hospital , Somerset County Cricket Club , is the base of 40 Commando , Royal Marines , and is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office on Admiralty Way. The popular Taunton flower show has been held in Vivary Park since 1866, and on 13 March 2022, St Mary Magdalene parish church
7182-522: The Brendon Hills and the Tone valley, was mainly agricultural, producing arable crops and vegetables to supply the new industrial towns. Combwich was the traditional River Parrett pilots' harbour from at least the 14th century. It also served as a port for the export of local produce and, from the 15th century, the import of timber. Until the late 1930s, when the creek silted up, coastal shipping served Combwich's local brick and coal yard. In
7371-739: The Brewhouse Theatre . Towards the centre are the Zinc Nightclub, Bridge Street and Goodlands Gardens. A current regeneration programme north of Bridge Street will include redeveloping the County Cricket Ground , which hosted open-air concerts for Elton John in 2006 and 2012 and for Rod Stewart in 2014. Hankridge Farm, a retail park close to the M5 motorway, has stores that include Currys PC World , Oak Furniture Land , Hobbycraft , Halfords , B&Q , The Range and
7560-481: The British Waterways Board in 1964. With various plans for using the route of the canal for landfill and for a bypass, some local interest was aroused regarding its future. The Tiverton Canal Preservation Committee was formed in 1962. This committee was stirred to action by plans in 1966 to infill parts of the canal so that housing could be built over it. Tiverton Borough Council gave the committee
7749-545: The Ellesmere Canal in 1796, but was replaced as it was not robust enough for regular use. James Fussell built one on the abortive Dorset and Somerset Canal , but the works were abandoned before it was ever used regularly. The lift at Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal was replaced by locks in 1815 as it was "too complex and delicate", according to Rennie. Finally, another lift at Camden Town on
Grand Western Canal - Misplaced Pages Continue
7938-472: The Exeter to Uphill Canal , as it involved a route from Topsham or Exeter to Taunton , then the use of the River Tone and a second canal from Burrow Bridge , via Bridgwater , Glastonbury , Wells and Axbridge , to Uphill , near Weston-super-Mare . Nothing further came of the plan until the 1790s, when various canal engineers were consulted, and in 1794 John Rennie was asked by a different committee,
8127-596: The Langport slip , being built in 1488 upstream of the Town Bridge. A custom house was sited at Bridgwater, on West Quay, and a dry dock , launching slips and a boat yard on East Quay. Bridgwater built some 167 ships, the last one being the Irene launched in 1907. The river was navigable, with care, to Bridgwater Town Bridge by 400-to-500-tonne (390-to-490-long-ton) vessels. By trans-shipping goods into barges at
8316-788: The Local Government Act 1972 , by merging the municipal borough of Taunton, Wellington urban district , Taunton Rural District , and Wellington Rural District , was granted borough status in 1975, perpetuating the mayoralty of Taunton. The district was named as an alternate form of the Taunton hundred . Taunton Deane Council, once based at the Municipal Buildings in Corporation Street, moved to modern facilities at Deane House on Belvedere Road in spring 1987. Taunton Deane merged with West Somerset to form Somerset West and Taunton in 2019, and
8505-630: The Ministry of Supply , during the Second World War, as "Priority War Work" during the construction of Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater . This involved doubling the width of the King's Sedgemoor Drain at its western end and the excavation of the River Huntspill . In the longer-term this provided a drain for the Brue valley, but in war-time the scheme provided a guaranteed daily supply of 4,500,000 imperial gallons (20,000 m ) of water for
8694-705: The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 . South Taunton Streams is an urban wetland. The northern suburbs include the Children's Wood riverside reserve, a movement corridor for animals such as otters along the banks of the Tone. Birds include the kingfisher , dipper , grey wagtail , mute swan , grey heron and reed warbler and butterflies the small and large skipper , marbled white , small heath and small copper , along with dragonflies and damselflies . Weirfield Riverside,
8883-792: The Quantock , Blackdown and Brendon hills. The area is known as the Vale of Taunton. It is surrounded by many other large towns and cities seen on this directional compass: Taunton is 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Bristol , 28 miles (45 km) north-east of Exeter , 63 miles (101 km) north-east of Plymouth and 40 miles (64 km) north-west of Weymouth . The Taunton area has Permian red sandstones and breccia outcrop 295–250 million years old. Rocks of Triassic age (248–204 million years ago) underlie much of Somerset's moors and levels. The several local nature reserves in and around Taunton are protected under Section 21 of
9072-468: The Regent's Canal was replaced by locks in 1815 because it could not be made to work. With no working prototypes, Green set about building seven lifts. The principle was simple. Two caissons were suspended from three carrying wheels of 16 feet (5 m) diameter, by wrought iron chains. The caisson at the bottom was jacked against the front wall of the lift to seal it, and a door or gate was opened to allow
9261-413: The River Tone had been made navigable in 1638. Navigation of the River Tone had been extended to Taunton in 1717, by the construction of locks on the upper section. Against this background, in 1768 a committee commissioned James Brindley to survey a route, in the form of a canal, between Taunton and Exeter; and the survey was duly carried out by Robert Whitworth in 1769. This was to have been called
9450-464: The River Tone . These three abbeys together with the Bishop of Bath and Wells were major landowners with fishing and riparian rights, often conflicting, on these rivers. They gained financially from improvements to land and waterways due to the resulting greater fertility of their lands and the increased rents that they were able to charge their tenants. Continuing land reclamation and control of
9639-785: The Wars of the Roses , Taunton saw a skirmish between the Earl of Devon , and Baron Bonville . Queen Margaret and her troops passed through in 1471 to defeat at the Battle of Tewkesbury . In the Second Cornish uprising of 1497 most Cornish gentry supported Perkin Warbeck 's cause and on 17 September a Cornish army some 6,000 strong entered Exeter before advancing on Taunton. Henry VII sent his chief general, Giles, Lord Daubeney , to attack
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#17327732545099828-414: The 12th century. Parts of the inner ward house were turned into the Museum of Somerset and Somerset Military Museum. For the Second Cornish uprising of 1497 , Perkin Warbeck brought an army of 6,000; most surrendered to Henry VII on 4 October 1497. On 20 June 1685 in Taunton the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England in a rebellion, defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor . Judge Jeffreys led
10017-445: The 1930s; in the late 1950s the wharf was taken over and upgraded by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) to bring in heavy materials for the Hinkley Point nuclear power stations. Construction of Hinkley Point A nuclear power station was ordered in 1957, with a scheduled completion date of 1960, but was not completed until 1965. This was followed by Hinkley Point B nuclear power station , which began operation in 1976. It
10206-432: The Bridgwater area adjacent to the Parrett. The brick and tile industry made use of the local alluvial clays and the Parrett's coastal trade, using ketches mostly based at Bridgwater to transport their products, which were heavy and bulky, and to bring in coal to heat the kilns . The 19th century industrial revolution opened up mass markets leading to further expansion of the industry, particularly beginning in 1850 when
10395-456: The Bristol Channel becomes the Severn Estuary , which has a tidal range of 14 metres (46 ft). The rate and direction of flow of the Parrett is therefore dependent on the state of the tide on the River Severn . In common with the lower reaches of the River Severn, the Parrett experiences a tidal bore . Certain combinations of the tides funnel the rising water into a wave that travels upstream at about 6 miles per hour (10 km/h), against
10584-405: The Bristol and Exeter Railway. From 1854, the company started to pay a dividend to its shareholders of 0.2%. Just ten years later, an act of Parliament was obtained to sell the canal to the railway company and to abandon the Somerset section of the canal. The transfer took place on 13 April 1865, and the tub-boat canal was closed in 1867. The lifts were dismantled, and most of the route sold back to
10773-445: The Castle Bow archway. With the municipal buildings they form a three-sided group just beyond the Castle Bow archway from Fore Street. A plain brick Mecca Bingo hall fills the west side of it. The frontage of the Fore Street Tudor Tavern , now a Caffè Nero branch, dates from 1578, but the rest is thought to be from the 14th century. The riverside area north of the centre is edged by Morrisons supermarket, retirement housing and
10962-495: The Competent Harbour Authority for the port, and has provided pilotage services for all boats over 98 feet (30 m) using the river since 1998, when it took over the service from Trinity House . Pilotage is important because of the constant changes in the navigable channel resulting from the large tidal range, which can exceed 39 feet (11.9 m) on spring tides. Most commercial shipping travels upriver as far as Dunball wharf, which handles bulk cargoes. The Parrett Navigation
11151-401: The Conservators of the River Tone and the new Bridgwater and Taunton Canal company, who had constructed a connection into the river at Firepool, so that barges could reach Taunton Bridge. The Conservators had retaliated by reducing the water supply to the canal. Litigation followed, and the Grand Western Canal company, having decided that a direct connection to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was
11340-415: The Cornish. When Warbeck heard that the King's scouts were at Glastonbury he panicked and deserted his army. On 4 October 1497, Henry VII reached Taunton, where he received the surrender of the remaining Cornish army. Ringleaders were executed and others fined a total of £13,000. Taunton Castle changed hands several times in the Civil War of 1642–1645, as did the town. During the Siege of Taunton it
11529-531: The Grand Western Canal Committee, to make another survey, which was adopted, and formed the basis for a planned act of Parliament . Opposition from the City of Exeter, who feared it would compete with the Exeter Canal for transportation of coal , was eventually softened; and the Grand Western Canal Act 1796 ( 36 Geo. 3 . c. 46) was passed on 24 March 1796. The act authorised a canal from Taunton to Topsham with branches to Tiverton and Cullompton . Water supply would be derived from proposed reservoirs, one on
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#173277325450911718-410: The Grand Western Canal announced a scheme to rebuild around 2 miles (3 km) of canal on the western approaches of Taunton. This would see a replica of one of Green's boat lifts constructed near the Silk Mills park and ride car park, and a new canal built across empty public land to join the Tone below French Weir, roughly following the link constructed by the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal in 1834. Above
11907-469: The Parade covers a site that was once a pig market. Although its official name is now Orchard, and before that the Old Market Centre, locals still call it the Pig Market; one existed there from 1614 to 1882. County Walk is a small indoor shopping arcade in the town centre with an anchor supermarket, Sainsbury's , and several other large national retailers such as Subway , Costa Coffee , and Savers . River Parrett The River Parrett flows through
12096-426: The Parrett estuary; a few years later 140 acres (57 ha) near Pawlett were recovered by means of embankments; three further reclamations, totalling 110 acres (45 ha), were undertaken downstream of Bridgwater by 1660. Kings James I , Charles I , and Charles II continued to improve King's Sedgemoor. Attempts were also made to improve navigation on the lower river. Between 1677 and 1678, Sir John Moulton cut
12285-415: The Parrett was a long-running cycle of neglect followed by improvement. Work was carried out on the upper River Parrett basin in the Middle Ages by Glastonbury Abbey. Abbot Michael's survey of 1234 showed 722 acres (292 ha) of meadow recovered around the "island" of Sowy; from the accounts in the Abbey's rent books, this had increased to 972 acres (393 ha) by 1240. Flooding of adjacent moor land
12474-425: The Parrett. The Oxford Dictionary of British Place-Names states only that the name is a 'pre-English river-name of obscure origin'. The River Parrett, the Bristol Channel and the Severn Estuary are believed to have been used for riverine bulk transportation of people and supplies in Somerset under Roman and later Anglo-Saxon and Norman occupation. Roman Somerset, which lasted for over 250 years until around
12663-411: The ROF. The town of Bridgwater , from Brigewaltier (place at) the bridge held by Walter of Douai , or alternatively "Brugie" from Old English brycg meaning gang plank between ships, or from Old Norse brygja meaning quay, was founded as a new borough about 1200; it had a castle and a market and became a port in its own right. It was the major port for Somerset which, around the Quantocks ,
12852-454: The River Isle, around Martock and South Petherton, is rated good for chemical quality, poor for ecological quality and poor overall. From the River Isle to River Yeo around Muchelney, chemical quality is rated good, and ecology is rated moderate. The section around Langport to the West Sedgemoor Drain continues to rate good for chemical quality and moderate for ecological quality, as does the final area leading to Bridgwater Bay. The origin of
13041-418: The River Parrett next to the wharf at Dunball; it enters via a clyce (or clyse), which is a local word for a sluice. The clyce has been moved about 0.3 miles (500 m) downstream from its original position and now obstructs the entrance to the small harbour next to the wharf. The course of the river below Bridgwater is now somewhat straighter than in former times. The village of Combwich lies adjacent to
13230-412: The River Tone Navigation competing with the new Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, then being built. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1824 by the Turnpike Commissioners, authorising the construction of a new bridge and the removal of the old. A design for a 70-foot (21 m) single-span bridge in cast iron was dropped because of the cost of cast iron at the time, and instead a stone bridge was built, which
13419-439: The River Tone and two on the River Culm , and from any other available sources within 2,000 yards (1.8 km) of the line of the canal. The canal company was also authorised to improve the River Tone near Taunton, and to raise £220,000, plus an additional £110,000 if required. Navigation onwards from Taunton was via the River Tone and the River Parrett . Construction did not start immediately. Finally in 1810, work started under
13608-472: The River Tone. In a report of 1830, Green proposed using vertical lifts instead of inclined planes, and estimated the cost of the canal at £65,000. Work started in 1831, and progressed quickly, including the construction of a bridge at Bradford on Tone and Harpford Bridge at Langford Budville , where a new warehouse was also built. In addition to the boat lift in Nynehead two aqueducts were required within
13797-559: The Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society's Gazetteer of sites . Silt was also dredged from the river over a 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch between Somerset Bridge and Castle Fields, Bridgwater, to make Bath bricks, an early abrasive cleaning material patented in 1827. Bridgwater was part of the Port of Bristol until the Port of Bridgwater was created in 1348, covering 80 miles (130 km) of
13986-572: The Somerset Levels, and the Cannington Brook from the " Pawlett Hams", also discharge into the bay. The Parrett has only one gauging station, at Chiselborough, fairly close to the source. It measures flow from the first 29 square miles (75 km ) of the drainage basin , or about 4.3 per cent of the total. The mean flow measured by the Environment Agency at Chiselborough was 42 cubic feet per second (1.19 m /s), with
14175-429: The Somerset Levels. It was designed to drain the area around Westonzoyland, Middlezoy and Othery , and the success of the drainage system led to the formation of internal drainage boards and the construction of other pumping stations . The pump at Westonzoyland originally comprised a beam engine and scoop wheel , which is similar to a water wheel, except that it is driven round by the engine and lifts water up to
14364-640: The Somerset coast line, from the Devon border to the mouth of the River Axe. Under an 1845 Act of Parliament the Port of Bridgwater extends from Brean Down to Hinkley Point in Bridgwater Bay, and includes parts of the River Parrett (to Bridgwater), River Brue and the River Axe. Historically, the main port on the river was at Bridgwater, where a span crossed the river from 1200 AD onwards. Quays were built at Bridgwater in 1424, with another quay,
14553-521: The South West. The Firepool area, just north of the town centre by the main railway station, includes vacant or undeveloped land. The council is promoting sustainable, high-quality, employment-led mixed-use development to attract 3,000 new jobs and 500 new homes. In Tangier, a brownfield area between Bridgwater and Taunton College and the bus station, the project proposed to build small offices and more riverside housing. The "Cultural Quarter"
14742-427: The Tone below French Weir, and heading north-west to Frieze Hill, where there was a right-angled connection to the line of the canal. Although there is little evidence that it was ever used, it appeared on the 1840 tithe map, on John Wood's town plan of the same year, and on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map. Plans for the main line of the canal included seven lifts and one inclined plane, and it was these features that caused
14931-586: The Town Bridge, the Parrett was navigable as far as Langport and (via the River Yeo) to Ilchester. After 1827, it was also possible to transport goods to Taunton via the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Huntworth. A floating harbour , known as the "docks", was constructed between 1837 and 1841, and the canal was extended through Bridgwater to the floating harbour. Lawrence & Lawrence 2005 , pp. 157–158 The dock area contained flour mills , timber yards and chandlers . Shipping to Bridgwater expanded with
15120-701: The Westover Bridge carries a minor road over the river, and another minor road crosses on the Thorney Bridge close to the Thorney (or silent) Mill and a lock. The mill, with an iron overshot wheel, was built to grind corn in 1823. Another bridge and mill occur further upstream at Gawbridge west of Martock, where the mill has been the subject of a feasibility study by the South Somerset Hydropower Group . Carey's Mill Bridge
15309-530: The Westport Canal to keep their section open for navigation, the Commissioners opted to abandon the entire navigation; the canal was maintained for drain purposes only. Some boats continued to use the river to reach Langport and beyond until the early years of the 20th century. There is still a public right of navigation as far as Oath Lock, but very few private boats use the river, largely due to
15498-527: The apples grown are Kingston Black and Yarlington Mill . Like most of South West England , Taunton has a temperate climate, wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50.0 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme because of the adjacent sea. The summer months of July and August have mean daily maxima of about 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter, mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are common. In
15687-420: The beginning of the 5th century, had various settlements, including Bath ( Aquae Sulis ), Ilchester ( Lindinis ) and lead mines at Charterhouse ; and four roads surrounding the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of two Roman ports on the Parrett. The port at Combwich, on the west bank, was ill-recorded before its destruction by quarrying and erosion. The other at Crandon Bridge on the east bank near where
15876-408: The boat to float in. The caisson at the top was jacked against the back wall in a similar manner. When both boats were in, the doors on the caissons and lift were closed, and the jacks released. Because a boat displaces its own weight in water, the system should be balanced, and a small amount of energy is required to start the boats moving. When the top caisson reaches the bottom, the jacks are applied,
16065-476: The bridge being listed as a Scheduled monument , and the rest of the bridge was kept. It was later used as a road crossing, until the construction of the Chandos road bridge alongside it, and is now only used by pedestrians. Parts of the steam engine were moved to Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum in 1977. The next bridge is the Town Bridge. There has been a bridge here since the 13th century, when Bridgwater
16254-585: The building was no longer needed, and it was eventually abandoned. The Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development, which became the Ecos Trust, purchased the site, designated as a brown field site , in February 2003, and worked with Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust , English Heritage and local councils to redevelop it into a craft, heritage learning and small business centre, with the surrounding land being used for an eco-friendly housing development. It
16443-423: The canal continued to be used as a source of water. In the mid-1950s, the Port of Bridgwater was importing some 80,050 to 106,800 tonnes (78,790 to 105,110 long tons) of cargo, mainly sand and coal by tonnage, followed by timber and flour. It was also exporting some 7,300 tonnes (7,200 long tons) of bricks and tiles. By then, Bridgwater's brick and tile industry was in terminal decline. In the 1960s, British Rail ,
16632-429: The canal rangers and Devon County Council if the levels become exceptionally high. Refilling of the breached section began on 4 March 2014 using a sluice gate at Rock Bridge which gradually filled the empty section and the canal was officially re-opened on 19 March 2014 by chairman of Devon County Council Councillor Bernard Hughes. Six narrow boats, led by Chairman of Halberton Parish Council, Councillor Ken Browse, were
16821-521: The canal to Devon County Council, together with some money for maintenance. With some representatives within the council wavering, the preservation committee organised a walk along the entire canal on 18 October 1969. Around 400 walkers set off, with the local member of Parliament firing a starting gun, and by the time Tiverton was reached, the party totalled about 1200 people. By April 1970, the British Waterways Board had agreed to give
17010-470: The canal to Devon County Council, with £30,000 for maintenance. The actual contract was signed on 5 May 1971 at Tiverton Town Hall , when General Sir Hugh Stockwell of the BWB also handed over a cheque for £38,750 to Colonel Eric Palmer, chairman of Devon County Council. The transfer of the canal was effective from 24 June 1971. The new owners set to work immediately. The dry section was excavated and lined with
17199-475: The canal was extended to the new floating harbour in Bridgwater, and the Huntworth link was filled in. The canal and river were not re-connected at this point when the canal was restored, because the tidal Parrett, at Huntworth, is a salt water river laden with silt whereas the canal contains fresh water . Not only is there a risk of silt entering the canal, but the salt water cannot be allowed to contaminate
17388-496: The centre of Bridgwater. It now carries the A38 and A39 roads. At the southern edge of Bridgwater is a bridge which carries the Bristol and Exeter Railway across the River Parrett. Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a brick bridge, known as the Somerset Bridge , with a 100-foot (30 m) span but a rise of just 12 feet (3.7 m). Work started in 1838 and was completed in 1841. Brunel left the centring scaffold in place, as
17577-537: The cessation of hostilities with France at the beginning of the 19th century, there was renewed interest in canal building in Somerset; the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was authorised in 1824, the Glastonbury Canal in 1827, and the Chard Canal in 1834. When the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal was opened in 1827, it joined the Parrett by a lock at Huntworth, where a basin was constructed, but in 1841
17766-531: The construction of the docks, which opened on 25 March 1841, and reached a peak in the 19th century between 1880 and 1885, with an average of 3,600 ships per year entering the port. Peak tonnage occurred in 1857, with 142 vessels totaling 17,800 tonnes (17,500 long tons). In the short term, the opening of the docks increased the profitability of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, which carried 81,650 tonnes (80,360 long tons) of cargo in 1840. This peaked in 1847 at 88,000 tonnes (87,000 long tons) of cargo; however, by
17955-648: The counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England , from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea , into the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve on the Bristol Channel , the Parrett and its tributaries drain an area of 660 square miles (1,700 km ) – about 50 per cent of Somerset's land area, with
18144-518: The current King's Sedgemoor Drain enters the Parrett, was in use between the first and the fourth centuries. Evidence of an extensive site with storehouses was found in the mid-1970s, during motorway construction works. The Crandon Bridge site may have been linked by a probable Roman road over the Polden Hills to the Fosse Way , at Ilchester. Ilchester, the largest Roman town in Somerset,
18333-488: The current extent of the Port of Bridgwater, is the nearest to the mouth and the newest road bridge to cross the river. With a span of 184 feet (56 m), the bridge was constructed as part of the Bridgwater Northern Distributor road scheme (1992), and provides a navigable channel which is 66 feet (20 m) wide with 8.2 feet (2.5 m) headroom at normal spring high tides. Upstream of this
18522-484: The cut was not made due to lack of land owner support and concerns over costs and risks. The English Civil War put a stop to most reclamation work; however, in 1764 a clyse was built at Dunball to contain tidal influences on a run-off stream near King's Sedgemoor. Extensive land recovery was undertaken in the Somerset Levels by land owners between 1770 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, as part of
18711-402: The descending one reached the bottom. Thus it would hold a greater depth of water by the time it was ready to descend again. In practice, about 2 inches (5 cm) of water, weighing about a ton, was found to be sufficient. The difficulty was that Anderson had suggested that the water in the caisson chambers should be at a lower level than that in the canal. This had not been implemented, and so
18900-416: The direction of John Thomas. Surprisingly, the decision was taken to start in the middle, with a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (4 km) section of the main line and the 9-mile (14 km) branch to Tiverton. The logic for this was that there was a large potential trade in limestone between quarries at Canonsleigh and Tiverton, and this would generate income. The summit level was cut 16 feet (5 m) lower than
19089-400: The doors are opened, and the boats can continue. In order to maintain the balance, a second chain was fixed to the bottom of the caisson, so that the total length of chain on each side of the lift remained the same. As a caisson descended, the chain coiled up at the bottom of the lift. The small amount of energy was created by ensuring that the ascending caisson was a little too low by the time
19278-425: The duty (tax) on bricks was abolished. Brick and tile works, making use of river transport, were opened in the 1840s and 1850s south of Bridgwater at North Petherton and Dunwear, in Bridgwater itself, and downstream at Chilton Trinity, Combwich, Puriton and Pawlett. Numerous brickworks were also opened elsewhere in Somerset, but many of them used the railways to transport their products; some 264 sites are listed in
19467-533: The earliest lifts to see commercial service in the UK. The lifts predated the Anderton Boat Lift by nearly 40 years. The 11 miles of Devon section remains open, despite various threats to its future, and is now a designated country park and local nature reserve, and allows navigation. The Somerset section was closed in 1867, and is gradually disappearing from the landscape, although sections are now used as
19656-540: The ferry exist for 1589 and 1810. The White House Inn , a licensed victualler and part-owner of the ferry, traded on the Pawlett bank from 1655 to 1897; the building was retained as a farm dwelling for another 20 years. The Combwich river crossing, which was a main route until the 18th century, fell out of use due to turnpike trusts improving what were to become the A38 and A39 roads , and traffic went via Bridgwater;
19845-537: The fierce tides in the estuary and a lack of moorings along its route. In 2019, the town of Langport obtained a grant of £179,000 from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). With a contribution from the town council and other sources, over £200,000 was available to improve access to 7.6 miles (12.2 km) of
20034-517: The first to travel on the repaired section. Taunton Taunton ( / ˈ t ɔː n t ən / ) is the county town of Somerset , England. It is a market town and has a minster church . Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation , owned by the Bishops of Winchester , which was rebuilt as Taunton Castle by the Normans in
20223-475: The former abbey lands came under the control of the Crown, particularly King's Sedgemoor , which had been wholly owned by Glastonbury Abbey, with Henry VI's Courts of Sewers made responsible for maintaining existing drainage and various Commissions made responsible for land improvements. Further reclamation work was carried out over the next 500 years. In 1597, 50 acres (20 ha) of land were recovered near
20412-473: The former inn was demolished c. 1930. After the departure of the Romans, the low-lying Somerset Levels appear to have been abandoned, as the archaeological record shows that they were flooded and the former Roman landscape covered with a thick layer of alluvial deposits. Recovery of the levels involved both the construction of sea walls and the containment of the Parrett. Celtic Christianity came to
20601-401: The foundations were still settling, but had to remove it in 1843 to reopen the river for navigation. Brunel demolished the brick arch and replaced it with a timber arch within six months without interrupting the traffic on the railway. This was in turn replaced in 1904 by a steel girder bridge. Slightly further east is a modern concrete bridge which carries the M5 motorway over both the river and
20790-535: The fresh, as the canal is still used for the transport of drinking water for Bridgwater's population. With the prospect of the Chard Canal in particular damaging trade on the Parrett, four traders from Langport including Vincent Stuckey and Walter Bagehot , who together operated a river freight business, commissioned the engineer Joseph Jones to carry out a survey for the Parrett Navigation which
20979-409: The incoming tide. Above here, horses were used to pull the boats, either towards Langport or along the River Tone towards Taunton. Stanmoor lock was constructed above the junction with the River Tone, but all traces of it have gone. Next to the pedestrian bridge at Stathe four living willow cones, which were woven in 1997 by Clare Wilks, have now rooted and sprouted. Oath lock no longer functions as
21168-459: The journey. Exceptionally heavy rainfall in November 2012 caused a major break in the Grand Western Canal's banks, near Halberton , necessitating nearby homes to be evacuated. Two temporary dams were installed which allowed the rest of the canal to remain open and meant the horse drawn barge at Tiverton was able to run throughout the summer of 2013. Around 400 fish were returned to the canal from
21357-520: The land-drainage pumping station at Westonzoyland . Further downstream the river passes the village of Huntworth before flowing under the M5 motorway at Dunwear. As it enters Bridgwater it passes under Somerset and Hamp Bridges, and past Bridgwater Castle , which had a tidal moat up to 65 feet (20 m) wide in places, fed by water from the river. From Bridgwater to the sea is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km). The King's Sedgemoor Drain empties into
21546-601: The larger borough of Taunton Deane, which includes the town of Wellington and surrounding villages. This had an estimated population of 109,883 in 2010. The figures here are for the Taunton Deane area. In 2011, Taunton built-up area had a population of 60,479 and the surrounding borough of Taunton Deane one of 110,187. Of Taunton's residents 91.6 per cent were White British in 2011, compared with 93.4 per cent for Taunton Deane. Taunton's ethnic mix resembles that of South West England – 91.8 per cent White British in
21735-414: The lift at Greenham used Anderson's principle, and included a proper drain to lower the level in the chambers. With the inclined plane, the problems stemmed from a miscalculation. Power was provided by a large tank, filled with water, which descended in a shaft, raising one boat on a trolley and allowing another to descend as it did so. When the tank reached the bottom of the shaft, the water discharged, and
21924-491: The loans which had been taken out. There are no records of traffic, but it has been estimated at 60,000 to 70,000 long tons (61,000 to 71,000 t) per year, based on the toll receipts and the knowledge that the Stuckey and Bagehot boats carried about three-quarters of the total tonnage. The Bristol and Exeter Railway opened in late 1853, and the effects on the Parrett Navigation were immediate. Despite petitions from users of
22113-417: The lower caisson would not sink deep enough for either boat to be floated out. Attempts to fit gates and to let the water in the chamber drain to waste had proved ineffective. Ultimately, lock chambers were built at the foot of each lift. These were filled with water from the upper level, so that the boat could float out, and it then descended the final 3 feet (0.9 m) as it would in a conventional lock. Only
22302-405: The main 127-foot (39 m) girders could be retracted, creating a navigable channel which was 78 feet (24 m) wide. It was manually operated for the first eight months, and then powered by a steam engine, reverting to manual operation in 1913, when the steam engine failed. The bridge was last opened in 1953, and the traverser section was demolished in 1974, but public outcry at this resulted in
22491-444: The medieval era the river was used to transport Hamstone from the quarry at Ham Hill for the construction of churches throughout the county. Later, in the 19th century, coal from south Wales, for heating, Bath bricks , bricks and tiles would be carried. Brick making, which had been carried out intermittently in Bridgwater from the 17th century, by the late 18th century had expanded into an industry based on permanent brickyards in
22680-408: The medieval period to reduce the incidence and effect of floods and to drain the surrounding fields. In Anglo-Saxon times, the river formed a boundary between Wessex and Dumnonia . It later served the Port of Bridgwater and enabled cargoes to be transported inland. The arrival of the railways led to a decline in commercial shipping, and the only working docks are at Dunball . Human influence on
22869-470: The mid-1850s the canal was bankrupt due to competition from the railways. Combwich Pill, a small creek near the mouth of the river, had been used for shipping since the 14th century. From the 1830s, with the development of the brick and tile industry in the Combwich area, the wharf was used by two local brickyards to import coal and export tiles to Wales and parts of Gloucestershire. This traffic ceased in
23058-595: The motorway junction. The first store of the multinational New Look clothing retailer opened in Taunton in 1969. Taunton is also famed for cider . Gray's Almshouses in East Street, founded by Robert Gray in 1615 for poor single women, are red brick buildings bearing the arms of Robert Gray, dated 1635, and another arms of the Merchant Tailors. A small room used as a chapel has original benches and
23247-677: The name Parrett is unclear, but several derivations from the Celtic languages used in Wales have been suggested. Priestley-Evans suggests, "Parrett has been said to be a form of the Welsh pared , a partition, and that it was the name which the Welsh people of Somerset and Devon gave to that river because it was at one time the dividing line between themselves and the Saxons". Another spelling, parwydydd ,
23436-428: The navigable section of the Tone through Taunton to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal . Goodland Gardens received a makeover and a new café, The Shed, opened. Projects to develop Somerset Square (a paved area next to the Brewhouse Theatre ) and Longrun Meadow (a country park near Bridgwater & Taunton College) have been put forward. Traffic congestion was identified as an obstacle to further economic growth. Part of
23625-553: The neighbouring parishes of Bishop's Hull , Comeytrowe , Norton Fitzwarren , Staplegrove, Trull and West Monkton ) had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. Taunton includes Holway, once a village in its own right as one of the Five Hundreds of Taunton Deane , the Infaring division or district of three districts that made up Taunton Deane. Taunton is the largest town in the Somerset shire county and forms part of
23814-403: The new parish council were held on 4 May 2023 with 19 Liberal Democrat councillors and one Conservative councillor being elected to represent 14 wards. The council is expected to formally resolve to adopt the style of a Town Council at its first meeting. Taunton was the main settlement and centre of the local government district of Taunton Deane . The district, formed on 1 April 1974 under
24003-429: The original landowners. Limestone traffic continued on the Tiverton section. Only two boats were working the canal by 1904, and the last commercial traffic was roadstone from Whipcott quarry to Tiverton, where there were lime kilns and a crushing plant. Around 7,000 tons per year were transported up to 1925. After this the only income was from the washing of sheep , for which a charge was made for every 20 sheep, and
24192-524: The original plans, so that no locks would be required, but this greatly increased the amount of earthworks required. A further act was obtained, the Grand Western Canal Act 1811 ( 51 Geo. 3 . c. clxviii) to sanction this, and to re-route the canal near Halberton , where Rock Bridge was constructed to carry the road over the canal. The same engineers that built the canal also built a substantial country house, turnpike house and cottages at
24381-433: The owner of the docks, which were limited by the size of its locks to boats of maximum size 180 by 31 feet (54.9 by 9.4 m), decided that they were commercially non-viable. British Railways offered to sell the docks to any buyer; however, there were no takers, so the docks were closed to river traffic. Although ships no longer dock in the town of Bridgwater, 90,213 tonnes (99,443 short tons) of cargo were handled within
24570-468: The peninsula's northern end eroded away or now exists as "islands" visible at low tide within an intertidal area of mud known as the Stert Flats. The mouth at Burnham-on-Sea is a nature reserve where the river flows into Bridgwater Bay on the Bristol Channel. In addition to the rivers Parrett, Brue and Washford , several of the man-made drainage ditches, including the River Huntspill from
24759-489: The port authority's area in 2006, most of which was stone products via the wharf at Dunball. It is no longer linked to the railway system. The link was removed in the 1960s as part of the railway closures following the Beeching Report . Dunball railway station , which had opened in 1873, was closed to both passengers and goods in 1964. All traces of the station, other than "Station Road", have been removed. The wharf
24948-690: The power to negotiate with the British Waterways Board in March 1967, but the Board were unwilling to offer financial assistance. Changes in legislation aided the cause. From 1968, county councils could set up country parks , under the Countryside Act 1968 , and the Transport Act 1968 enabled the British Waterways Board to allow local authorities to maintain or purchase inland waterways. By 1969, BWB had stated that they were prepared to hand over
25137-567: The proprietors, of whom 25 were named, to raise £10,500 in shares and £3,300 by mortgage, with which to make improvements to the river from Burrow Bridge to Langport, to reconstruct the restrictive bridge at Langport, and to continue the improvements as far as Thorney. The River Isle, which joined the Parrett at Muchelney, was to be improved for its first mile, and then the Westport Canal was to be constructed from there to Westport . Locks were planned at Stanmoor, Langport, and Muchelney, with
25326-427: The railway line. It was started in 1971 and opened in 1973. Before 1826, the bridge at Burrowbridge, just below the junction with the River Tone, consisted of three arches, each only a little wider than the barges that used the river. They restricted the flow of water in times of flood and made navigation difficult. The bridge was highlighted in a report made by William Armstrong in 1824, as a factor which would prevent
25515-403: The railways started. The Bristol and Exeter Railway reached Taunton in 1842 and Exeter in 1844. A branch to Tiverton was opened in 1848, and although the canal company received £1,200 for loss of trade while an aqueduct was constructed over the line of the railway, deficits started to mount up almost immediately. In 1853, with income no longer meeting operational costs, the canal was leased to
25704-471: The remoter areas of the Somerset Levels, making use of "island" sites. Glastonbury Abbey , possibly founded in the 7th century (or earlier), was nearby and had undertaken extensive water management to enable it to bring materials by boat to Glastonbury, albeit not via the Parrett. Muchelney Abbey, founded in the mid-8th century, was sited at the confluence of the Parrett and its tributaries, the rivers Isle and Yeo; and Athelney Abbey lay on another tributary,
25893-466: The right conditions before proceeding. The abortive Ivelchester and Langport Navigation scheme had sought to avoid the Great Bow Bridge by making the Portlake Rhine navigable, rebuilding Little Bow Bridge in the centre of Langport, and making a new cut to Bicknell's Bridge. Seven locks, each with a small rise, were planned, but the scheme foundered in 1797 due to financial difficulties. After
26082-427: The risk of flooding of surrounding land. The river is a highland carrier , as it is embanked and the water level is often higher than the land through which it flows. Water from the surrounding countryside does not therefore drain into the river naturally, and drainage schemes have relied on pumping to remove the water. The pumping station at Westonzoyland was built in 1830, the first mechanical pumping station on
26271-530: The river from Oath Lock to Thorney Bridge. The grant funded the construction of pontoons and access ramps, and improvements to the riverside pathway between Langport and Huish Bridge. The project covered 6.5 miles (10.5 km) of the upper Parrett, together with 1 mile (1.6 km) of the River Yeo and a tiny section of the River Isle. Langport councillor Ian Macnab launched a former ferry from Devon onto
26460-413: The river has left a legacy of bridges and industrial artefacts. The Parrett along with its connected waterways and network of drains supports an ecosystem that includes several rare species of flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been established along the banks of the river. The River Parrett is 37 miles (60 km) long, flowing roughly south to north from Dorset through Somerset. Its source
26649-471: The river in Bridgwater until 1958. Above the bridge there were two shoals, called The Coals and The Stones, which were a hazard to barge traffic on the river, and bargees had to navigate the river at high tide, when there was enough water to carry them over these obstructions. In March 1958 a new reinforced concrete road bridge, the Blake Bridge, was opened as part of a bypass to take traffic away from
26838-444: The river's current. Near the source at Chiselborough the typical level range for the depth of the river is 0.05 metres (2.0 in) to 0.63 metres (2 ft 1 in) but has reached a maximum of 2.93 metres (9 ft 7 in). The mean flow rate is 1.196 cubic metres per second (42.2 cu ft/s). By the time it reaches Gaw Bridge the normal level range is 0.23 metres (9.1 in) to 0.97 metres (3 ft 2 in) and
27027-546: The road which runs from Great Bow Bridge to Little Bow Bridge. The Warehouse in Langport was built in the late 18th century of English bond red brick, with Flemish bond extensions. It has clay plain tile roofs with hipped ends. It was built by the Parrett Navigation Company , a trading company owned by Vincent Stuckey and Walter Bagehot , on the banks of the River. When the river became unnavigable,
27216-585: The sale of water lilies which grew in the canal. In the 1930s, dams were built at both ends of a section near Halberton, where persistent leakage could not be cured. Having passed into the ownership of the Great Western Railway in 1888, the canal became the responsibility of the British Transport Commission when the railways were nationalised in 1948, and was formally closed in 1962. The responsibility for it passed to
27405-399: The same year. It is also matches other major regional centres like Poole and Plymouth . The larger urban area, extending to Monkton Heathfield , Norton Fitzwarren and Bathpool, had a 2011 population of 64,621. Taunton Deane had low unemployment of 4.1 per cent compared with a national average of 5.0 per cent in 2005. Taunton is home to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO),
27594-571: The second tank was used to reverse the process. Green had been the engineer on the Bude Canal , where this design had been used successfully, but the size of the tanks at Wellisford were much too small. On the Bude Canal, a tank holding 15 tons of water was required to raise a boat weighing six tons. The Grand Western Canal used boats holding eight tons, but the tanks only held ten tons of water, whereas tests indicated that about 25 tons
27783-480: The section to Thorney and the Westport Canal were completed in August 1840. The Langport Bridge was not finished until March 1841; of the £3,749 cost of construction, £500 came from the Langport Corporation and the rest was raised by a bridge toll operated from March 1841 until January 1843. The total cost of the works was £38,876, and no dividends were paid until 1853, as all profits were used to repay
27972-547: The site. Several other bridges, including Batten's Bridge, Crownhills Bridge, Greenway Bridge and Sellick Bridge were also constructed at Halberton to carry minor roads over the canal. With costs much higher than anticipated, work ceased in June 1811. After much deliberation, it was decided to continue construction, and to obtain a third act of Parliament, the Grand Western Canal Act 1812 ( 52 Geo. 3 . c. xvi), to authorise increased charges for carriage of goods. By 1812, progress
28161-424: The strategy was a new road infrastructure consisting of a £7.5 million link road to ease traffic in the town centre (Taunton's "Third Way"), completed in 2011, and a Northern Inner Distributor Road linking Staplegrove Road, the station and Priory Avenue at a planned cost of £21 million, opened in 2017. Taunton is governed by a parish/town council and the unitary authority of Somerset Council . A large part of
28350-543: The streams. At a total cost of £244,505, the canal was opened on 25 August 1814, when the first boat travelled from Lowdwells to Tiverton, laden with coal. At Sampford Peverell two rectories were built in 1836, at the expense of the Grand Western Canal Company, in compensation for cutting through the grounds and demolishing the south wing of the Old Rectory. Two road bridges were also needed in
28539-414: The subsequent delay in the completion of the canal. Teething problems with the design of the lifts gradually came to light, and although the cost of rectifying these was borne by Green, the canal could not be opened. There were also problems with the inclined plane. The canal was partially opened to Wellington , in 1835, but in January 1836, Green was dismissed. The engineer W. A. Provis was asked to survey
28728-493: The summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, but convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the sunshine hours. Annual sunshine rates are slightly under the regional average of 1,600 hours. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection – in autumn and winter by the former, which are then at their most active. In summer, much rainfall results from
28917-430: The sun heating the ground, leading to convection, showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is about 700 mm (28 in). Some 8–15 days of snowfall are typical. November to March have the highest mean winds and June to August the lightest. The prevailing wind direction is from the south-west. The town of Taunton (which for population estimates includes the unparished area or former municipal borough plus
29106-502: The terms of the Parrett Navigation Act of 1836. Completed in 1841 at a cost of £3,749, it replaced the previous medieval bridge, with its nine tiny arches, all too small to allow navigation. A bridge at this site was first mentioned in 1220. The medieval bridge consisted of a total of 31 arches, of which nine crossed the river, and 19 of the original arches were located by ground-penetrating radar in 1987, buried beneath
29295-410: The tide, was built beside the old one. The pumping station is now an Industrial Heritage museum of steam powered machinery and land drainage, and houses most of the equipment from the disused Burrowbridge pumping station. The Somerset River Authority was established in the 1960s, and later became part of Wessex Water . Tidal models were used to explore the effects of any improvements to the river, and
29484-409: The town was unparished from the 1974 local government reorganisation until 1 April 2023, when a new Parish Council came into being following a Community Governance Review held by Somerset West and Taunton Council. While the town was unparished, Charter Trustees made up of the district councillors representing wards in the unparished area elected a Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The first elections to
29673-474: The town's second Sainsbury's . There is a Venue in the park with restaurants, an Odeon cinema and a Hollywood Bowl bowling alley. It is now known as Riverside Retail Park. Taunton has three other such parks. Belvedere is near the town centre. St Johns is just off Toneway, towards the motorway, and consists of two units, occupied by DFS , joined by Go Outdoors in April 2014. Taunton's second largest retail park
29862-408: The transfer of heavy goods for the two existing Hinkley Point nuclear power stations. With the possible future construction of the two Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations by EDF Energy , it is proposed that Combwich wharf be employed to transfer heavy goods to the sites. Combwich Pill is the only site where recreational moorings are available in the estuary. Sedgemoor District Council acts as
30051-451: The upper Parrett on 5 July 2017, with a view to running it as a community boat. The launch of The Duchess of Cocklemoor was witnessed by over 200 local people, and the vessel has since had its diesel engine replaced by a 1.5 kW (2.0 hp) electric motor, powered by solar panels mounted on the roof. Much of the history of the river is defined by its bridges, which are described here from mouth to source. The Drove Bridge, which marks
30240-406: The upper reaches between Langport and Thorney, and along the River Yeo to Long Load Bridge and Ilchester. The channel below the junction with the River Tone had been improved as a result of Acts of Parliament passed in 1699 and 1707, "for making and keeping the River Tone navigable from Bridgewater to Taunton", and a third act with a similar purpose was passed in 1804. Traffic on the higher reaches
30429-402: The village. The original Grand Western Canal Act 1796 had envisaged the canal joining the River Tone at Taunton, and made provision for the improvement of some 500 yards (460 m) of the river, which would then be granted to the canal company and effectively become part of the canal. They could build warehouses and wharves on this section. By late 1830, there was considerable hostility between
30618-517: The village. Traffic on the opened section was much lower than anticipated, and the prospects of building the rest of the canal dwindled, as profits were minimal. However, in 1829 James Green turned his attention to the link to Taunton. He had been the architect of the Bude Canal , which was built for tub-boats and used inclined planes to change levels, and proposed a similar solution here. The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal had opened in 1827, making navigation from Taunton to Bridgwater easier than on
30807-591: The waterwheel and sluice keeper's cottage still exist. Further south the river flows under the A303 near Norton-sub-Hamdon and the A356 near Chedington. The waters of the Severn Estuary, which are heavily laden with silt, flow into the lower reaches of the Parrett and the Tone on each tide. This silt can rapidly gather on the banks of the rivers, reducing the capacity and performance of the channel, and increasing
30996-507: The west of North Perrott and Haselbury Plucknett . It then runs through fields between Merriott to the west and West Chinnock and Chiselborough to the east. Passing under the A303 road to the east of South Petherton , the river flows between East Lambrook and Bower Hinton west of Martock and then towards Kingsbury Episcopi , through Thorney and Muchelney , passing the remains of Muchelney Abbey before entering Langport , which
31185-594: The wharf. The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, which had been bought out by the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1866 and later passed into the control of the Great Western Railway had, by the beginning of the First World War, fallen into disrepair due to lack of trade. This trade, particularly the Wales-Somerset traffic after the opening of the Severn Tunnel in 1886, had been lost to the railways;
31374-424: The working lift, 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 km) of the canal would be restored to provide moorings for boats using the lift. The scheme is supported by local MPs and by Taunton Council. The Friends were hoping to carry out a feasibility study in 2018, at a cost of £35,000. A competition to design the boat lift using modern materials and energy efficient mechanisms, but remaining faithful to Green's basic design,
31563-498: The works, and to report on the lifts and the causes of the failure of the plane. His clear report is an important source of information on the canal at the time of its construction. Some remedial work was instigated, following the report, including the provision of a steam engine to power the Wellisford incline. The 14-mile (23 km) extension was fully opened on 28 June 1838, at a cost of about £80,000. Green's use of boat lifts
31752-589: Was a port with large granaries , sited where the Fosse Way crossed the Ilchester Yeo by means of a paved ford. The Yeo was navigable by small craft all the way to the Parrett allowing military supplies to be brought by boat directly to Ilchester; however, disembarkation at Crandon Bridge and use of the Polden Hills roadway allowed more rapid movement to Ilchester. The Yeo may already have been straightened and canalised before Roman occupation. The Parrett
31941-491: Was a series of improvements to the river to allow increased boat traffic between Burrowbridge and Thorney. The work, done in the 1830s and 1840s, was made mostly obsolete by the coming of railways in 1853, though some aspects survive to this day. Trade on the river upstream of Bridgwater had developed during the 18th century, with 20-long-ton (22-short-ton) barges operating between Bridgwater and Langport, while smaller barges carrying 6 to 7 long tons (6.1 to 7.1 t) operated on
32130-521: Was abolished on 1 April 2023 when Somerset Council took over. Somerset County Council , which was based at County Hall in Taunton from 1974-2023, consisted of 55 councillors. The town has broadly six electoral divisions, each of which had a single county councillor: Taunton North; Taunton East; Taunton South; Bishop’s Hull & Taunton West; Comeytrowe & Trull, Monkton & North Curry (which includes rural areas). On 1 April 2023, Somerset's county council and four district councils were replaced by
32319-466: Was being made, but was hampered by the need for rock cuttings at Holcombe Rogus . Leakage also meant that some sections needed to be lined with puddle clay . Lime kilns were constructed to provide the materials. These kilns can still be seen beside the canal, close to the Waytown Tunnel. Fenacre Bridge and Fossend Bridge were constructed at Burlescombe , where culverts were also needed to manage
32508-468: Was built of Ham stone in the 18th century and named after Carey's Mill, which originally occupied the site. It is surrounded by a collection of buildings known as the Parrett Iron Works , founded in 1855 on the site of a former snuff mill, which included a foundry, with a prominent chimney, ropewalk , workshops and several smaller workshops and cottages. The sluice which powered
32697-539: Was completed in 1826. This is the longest single span masonry road bridge in the county, and was also the last toll bridge in Somerset until it was "freed" in 1946. It now carries the A361 road . Just below the bridge there was a shoal of rocks and stones, which was also mentioned in Armstrong's report, but no action was taken to remove it. Except at spring tides, Burrowbridge was the normal upper limit for barges riding
32886-552: Was defended by Robert Blake from July 1644 to July 1645, and suffered destruction of many medieval and Tudor buildings. On 20 June 1685, the Duke of Monmouth crowned himself King of England at Taunton during the Monmouth Rebellion . In the autumn of that year Judge Jeffreys lived in the town during the Bloody Assizes that followed the Battle of Sedgemoor . The town lacked a charter of incorporation until 1627. This
33075-399: Was elevated to the status of Taunton Minster . The town name derives from "Town on the River Tone " or Tone Town. Cambria Farm , which now hosts a park and ride close to the M5 motorway Junction 25, was the site of Bronze and Iron Age settlement and a Roman farm. There was a Romano-British village near the suburb of Holway . Taunton was important in Anglo-Saxon times as
33264-465: Was enhanced by the arrival of the railway in 1842. A permanent military presence came to Jellalabad Barracks in 1881. In the Second World War, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal formed part of the Taunton Stop Line , set to curb any advance of a German invasion. Pillboxes can still be seen along its length. A fire aboard a Penzance to London sleeping car train approaching Taunton in 1978 killed 12 passengers and injured 15 others. Taunton
33453-452: Was established as the border between the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and the Brythonic kingdom of Dumnonia in 658, following the Dumnonians' defeat at the Battle of Peonnum that year. This natural border endured for almost a century until further fighting between the Anglo-Saxons and Britons in the mid-8th century, when the border shifted west to its current location between the modern ceremonial counties of Somerset and Devon . It
33642-408: Was granted a charter by King John . The present bridge was designed by R. C. Else and G. B. Laffan, and the 75-foot (23 m) cast iron structure was completed in 1883. It replaced an earlier iron bridge, which was completed in 1797 and was the first cast iron bridge to be built in Somerset . The stone abutments of that bridge were reused for the later bridge, which was the only road crossing of
33831-428: Was hindered by shoals in the river and by the Great Bow Bridge at Langport, which consisted on nine small arches, none of them big enough for navigation. All cargoes heading upstream had to be off-loaded from the bigger barges, carried to the other side of the bridge, and reloaded into the smaller barges. Traffic above Langport was sporadic, as the water levels were often inadequate, forcing boats to wait several days for
34020-399: Was innovative. The idea was not new, as he acknowledged in an article describing the lifts which he published in Transactions in 1838, having been suggested in principle by James Anderson of Edinburgh in 1796. Robert Weldon had tried to build one at Combe Hay on the Somersetshire Coal Canal in 1798, which was replaced by a lock flight after persistent failures. One was built at Ruabon on
34209-414: Was known as Comich, which means "the settlement by the water", from the Old English cumb and wic . The ford was later replaced by a ferry, one of which was in operation from at least the 13th century. In the 15th century the ferry was regarded as part of the King's Highway , and both passengers and cattle were carried in the 16th and 17th centuries. Records of the joint Manorial ownership and costs of
34398-414: Was launched, and was supported by the engineers Clarke Bond, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the University of Exeter . The first stage of the project was operational by mid-2020, with solar-powered boats operating on 1 mile (1.6 km) of canal between the proposed site of the new boat lift at Silk Mills Water Station and French Weir in Taunton. The shuttle boats take around 15 minutes to complete
34587-488: Was needed. It was for this reason that the steam engine was obtained to supply the power. Download coordinates as: The Somerset section of the canal was suitable for tub-boats, which were about 20 feet (6.1 m) long and capable of carrying eight tons. The Devon section was suitable for larger broad-beam barges, carrying up to 40 tons. Income from tolls increased steadily from £971 in 1835, rising to £2,754 in 1838 and £4,926 in 1844. At this point, competition from
34776-403: Was on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was shown to be able to lift 100 tons of water per minute (1,700 L/s), to a height of 6 feet (1.8 m). The Westonzoyland pump lifts water from the rhyne (pronounced "reen") into the River Parrett. The pump operated until 1951, when a new diesel-powered pumping station, capable of pumping 35 tons per minute (600 L/s) at any state of
34965-409: Was partially addressed in the 13th century by building a number of embankment walls to contain the Parrett. These included Southlake Wall, Burrow Wall and Lake Wall. The River Tone was also diverted by the Abbot of Athelney and other land owners into a new embanked channel, joining the Parrett upstream from its original confluence. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, much of
35154-405: Was rated "strategically important" in the government's Regional Spatial Strategy, allowing Somerset County Council to receive funding for large-scale regeneration projects. In 2006, the council revealed plans dubbed "Project Taunton". This would see regeneration of the areas of Firepool, Tangier, the retail town centre, the cultural quarter, and the River Tone, to sustain Taunton as business hub in
35343-465: Was renewed in 1677, but lapsed in 1792 due to vacancies in the corporate body, and was not reincorporated until 1877. The medieval fairs and markets (a weekly market remains) were celebrated for the sale of woollen cloth called "Tauntons" made in the town. On the decline of the woollen industry in the west of England, silk-weaving was introduced at the end of the 18th century. In 1839 the Grand Western Canal reached Taunton, aiding southward trade, which
35532-414: Was then put before Parliament. It was supported by Brunel and a large quantity of documentary evidence. Objections from local landowners were handled by including clauses in the Parrett Navigation Act to ensure that surplus water would be channelled to the Long Sutton Catchwater Drain by culverts, siphons, and sluices, and the Act of Parliament was passed on 4 July 1836. The Parrett Navigation Act allowed
35721-560: Was used as a fertiliser and for building houses. This intended canal-link was never completed as planned, as the coming of the railways removed the need for it. Construction was in two phases. A level section, from Tiverton to Lowdwells on the Devon/Somerset border, opened in 1814, and was capable of carrying broad-beam barges , carrying up to 40 tons. The Somerset section, suitable for tub boats (which were about 20 feet (6 m) long and capable of carrying eight tons) opened in 1839. It included an inclined plane and seven boat lifts ,
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