THE TAVISTOCK CANAL AND JOHN TAYLOR
The former towpath beside the Tavistock Canal is a favourite le
vel walkin and around Tavistock. It goes through the Meadows and passesthe Bedford cottages at Fitzford, where kingfishers can be seen darting along the canal. It then curves into the wooded embankment adjoining the beautiful Lumburn Valley.
The canal embankment was built from spoil from tunnelling excavations at Morwell Down. Copper lodes found here in 1805 led to a mine being developed at Wheal Crebor. This delayed construction of the canal, which had been initiated to transport ores from the mines at Mary Tavy to the port at Morwellham and on to Plymouth via the tidal River Tamar. From Plymouth the ores went to the smelters in South Wales.
The four and a half mile canal is unusual in that the water has a current, as it was engineered with a gradient of 1 ft per mile. This originally powered water wheels for agricultural uses along the route and facilitated the movement of ore-ladenbarges on their journey to Morwellham. Only one horse was needed to pull the barges with the current but two against. Today this flow of water is used to power the turbines at the hydroelectric station at Morwellham.
To prevent young salmon from the River Tavy water source entering the canal, a filtering system is installed at Abbey Bridge just above the weir, where the Tavistock Canal originates. Here river is diverted into the canal feeder channel. An open section of this can be seen at the back of the Bedford Hotel gardens, behind their car park. It is visible again at the footpath bridge entrance to the main Bedford public car park.
The canal proper is first seen emerging under the Guide Hall, which was originally a granary, built over the canal, alongside the quay at Canal Road.
The adjacent buildings, which are now the Wharf Arts and Entertainment Centre, were originally a warehouse and offices for the canal business. The Wharf quay was once the bustling site of 19th century industrial activity, where cargoes of metal bearing ores and slate, lime and agricultural produce were loaded and unloaded.
One of the cottages alongside the quay bears a plaque dedicated to John Taylor FRS (1799-1863), who is best known locally as the C19th mining entrepreneur and engineer who managed the planning and building of the Tavistock Canal between 1803 and 1817.
John was appointed in 1798 as manager of the Wheal Friendship mine at Mary Tavy. This was an extraordinary responsibility for a nineteen year old, as this mine was then one of the largest producers of copper ore in Devon. John had been apprenticed to a civil engineer and surveyor in Norfolk at an early age and received a very thorough education. His family had connections with the prosperous Martineau family of Norwich, who had invested in Wheal Friendship mine at Blackdown near Mary Tavy. Following a holiday in Devon with the Martineaus, John was offered the position at Wheal Friendship.
To build the Tavistock Canal he had to overcome many engineering challenges. Although the canal is only three feet deep and sixteen feet wide it had to cross the Lumburn Valley, which required an aqueduct. The canal also had to pass under Morwell Down, though a one and a half mile tunnel, which was eventually completed in 1816. The final engineering challenge was to transport the cargo from the canal barges down the 227 feet from the end of the canal to the quay at Morwellham. This was resolved by the construction of an inclined plane railway.
Canals were the 19th century motorways, but the Tavistock Canal was only profitable for about sixty years and in 1873 it was overtaken by the faster and cheaper transport provided by the railways. It still however contributes to a source of green power in driving the turbines at Morwellham hydroelectric station, which feeds electricity into the National Grid. John Taylor’s Tavistock Canal is his lasting legacy, which in 2017 will celebrate 200 years since its opening.
Dr Ann Pulsford
Dr Ann Pulsford will be giving an illustrated talk which is free to the public on John Taylor and the Tavistock Canal at the Bedford Hotel on Friday 5th June at 7.30 pm as part of the Devonshire Association’s annual conference in Tavistock.