Tavistock Canal facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tavistock Canal
The Tavistock Canal, in the Lumburn Valley
Specifications
Status	Water supply for hydro electric plant
History
Original owner	Tavistock Canal Co
Principal engineer	John Taylor
Date of act	1803
Date of first use	1805
Date completed	1817
Date closed	1880s
Geography
Start point	Tavistock
End point	Morwellham Quay
Branch(es)	Mill Hill quarry

The Tavistock Canal is a special waterway in Devon, England. It was built a long time ago, in the early 1800s. Its main job was to connect the town of Tavistock to Morwellham Quay on the River Tamar. This allowed goods to be loaded onto ships.

Even today, the canal is still used! It provides water for a hydro-electric power plant at Morwellham Quay. The canal is also part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, which is a World Heritage Site. It's quite unique because it has a gentle slope, making the water flow along its path.

Building the Tavistock Canal

Why was the Canal Needed?

Morwellham Quay is on the River Tamar. Even though it's about 23 miles (37 km) from the sea, the river still has tides there. For centuries, this quay was the furthest point ships could reach inland. It served as a port for Tavistock since the 1100s.

By 1800, large ships were using the quay. There was a growing trade in copper, especially from the Wheal Friendship mine, which opened around 1797. People needed a better way to move these goods.

Planning the Canal

In 1802, a local engineer named John Taylor looked at the land. He planned a route for a canal from Tavistock to Morwellham. People discussed the idea in March 1803.

The canal would be 16 feet (4.9 m) wide and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep. It would also have a branch to the Millhill slate quarries. The canal would carry copper ore from mines like Wheal Friendship and Wheal Crowndale. It would also move slate, limestone, and other general goods.

The canal was designed for small boats called tub boats. It would be built on land owned by the Duke of Bedford, who supported the project. The estimated cost was about £40,000.

Starting Construction

An Act of Parliament was passed in 1803. This law allowed people to raise money to build the canal. Work began in August 1803. John Taylor, who also managed the Wheal Friendship mine, was the main engineer.

The biggest challenge was digging a long tunnel under Morwell Down. As they started digging near Tavistock, they found copper ore! This led to a new mine called Wheal Crebor. It even used water from the canal to power its machinery.

The first part of the canal, from Tavistock to the tunnel, opened in 1805. This section included a large aqueduct that carried the canal over the River Lumburn.

The Morwell Down Tunnel

The tunnel was 2,540 yards (2,323 m) long. It was dug through tough rock. John Taylor had to invent special pumps to keep the tunnel dry and to clean the air inside. Both pumps were powered by water wheels, using water from the canal.

The tunnel went through different types of rock, including hard elvan and clay-slate. At its deepest point, it was 360 feet (110 m) below Morwell Down. The tunnel was finally finished in 1816.

The Inclined Plane

At the end of the tunnel, the canal was 250 feet (76 m) above Morwellham Quay. To get boats down, Taylor built an inclined plane. This was like a railway that went steeply downhill. It dropped the level by 237 feet (72 m) to the quay.

The inclined plane had two tracks. One went all the way to the quay. The other stopped higher up, at chutes where ore could be dropped directly into ships. Wagons with four wheels were used on these tracks.

A huge waterwheel, 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, powered the system. It was fed by water from the canal. This wheel turned a winch that pulled the wagons up and down using chains. Later, the chains were replaced with cables.

Canal Opening and Expansion

The main part of the canal officially opened on June 24, 1817. Ships on the River Tamar fired a 21-gun salute to celebrate!

The Tavistock Canal was built with a gentle slope. This was unusual for canals. The slope made water flow along the canal, which helped boats move towards the quay. It also provided power for waterwheels along the route, attracting industries.

Between 1817 and 1819, a 2-mile (3.2 km) extension was built. This branch went to slate quarries and a general wharf at Mill Hill. This part cost £8,000. Because there wasn't enough water for locks, they built another type of inclined plane. Boats were loaded onto special cradles. Loaded boats going down would help pull empty boats up.

This Mill Hill branch likely closed around 1831. However, in 1844, a new quarry wanted it reopened. Part of the canal was then turned into a tramway. But the quarry wasn't very successful.

The Tavistock Canal was a great engineering success, thanks to John Taylor's vision. It moved slate, silver-lead ore, and copper ore from Tavistock to the quay. It also brought goods like limestone, coal, iron, and timber back to Tavistock. For almost 40 years, it was very profitable, moving over a million tons of cargo!

Decline of the Canal

In 1844, a huge copper ore deposit was found near Morwellham Quay. However, the canal couldn't benefit much because the mine was in a different direction. In 1857–58, the mining company built its own tramway from the mine to the quay.

Competition from Railways

In 1859, railways arrived in Tavistock with the South Devon and Tavistock Railway. To stay competitive, the canal company spent money to improve its inclined plane. They even tried a system of ropes powered by waterwheels to pull boats through the tunnel. But this system failed after less than a year.

Traffic and profits on the canal kept falling, even when they lowered the fees. In 1870, the canal owners offered to sell all their shares to the Duke of Bedford. Two years later, the Duke offered to buy the shares. The Tavistock Canal Act was passed in May 1873, and the Duke took over.

The canal was still listed as open in 1883, but not by 1898. This shows it had likely closed to boats by then.

Boats of the Canal

No complete boats from the Tavistock Canal have survived. However, a wrought iron rudder was found in the tunnel in 1976. You can see it at Morwellham Quay Museum. Recent studies have also found more iron plates inside the tunnel.

Reports from the late 1800s describe the boats as 30 feet (9.1 m) long and 5 feet (1.5 m) wide. They were made of rivetted iron. An earlier description from 1826 said they were 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m) wide and 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 m) deep.

These iron barges were first mentioned in 1811. Nine of them were built by 1817. They are very important because they seem to be the earliest boats ever built from wrought iron. The second earliest was launched on the Forth & Clyde Canal in 1816.

The Canal's Route Today

The main part of the canal starts at Abbey Weir in Tavistock. Here, it takes water from the River Tavy. It goes through wharfs in Tavistock and then heads towards Morwellham Quay in a fairly straight line.

It makes a large horseshoe loop when it reaches the valley of the River Lumburn. It crosses this river using a big aqueduct. The two-mile Mill Hill branch turned off right after this aqueduct.

After about 3 miles (4.8 km), the main canal reaches the northern entrance of the Morwell Down tunnel. The tunnel comes out 1.5 miles (2.4 km) later, above the quay. A short section of canal after the tunnel brought boats to the top of the inclined plane.

The Canal Today

After the canal stopped being used for boats, it still supplied water for different industries at Morwellham Quay. The last use was for a tin and wolfram mill, which stopped in 1930.

In 1933, an electric supply company bought the canal. They built a hydro-electric power plant at Morwellham Quay. This plant uses the canal and tunnel to get water. Today, the power plant and canal belong to South West Water. They still send power to the National Grid.

Between 2002 and 2010, people did a lot of research and digging around Morwellham Quay. In 2006–2007, they found the tunnel for the second inclined plane. Parts of it are now being fixed up.

Morwellham Quay is now an open-air museum where you can learn about its history.

Part of the Mill Hill Branch of the canal still exists. You can see its dry bed from the junction near the Lumburn aqueduct to the A390 road. Beyond that, there's no clear sign of the inclined plane or the route to the quarry.

Places of Interest