The Cann Quarry canal was a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
which ran for just under from Cann Quarry to the
River Plym
The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongsi ...
at Marsh Mills. It opened in 1829, and a short tramway connected it to the
Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway
The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR) was a gauge railway built to improve the economy of moorland areas around Princetown in Devon, England. Independent carriers operated horse-drawn wagons and paid the company a toll. It opened in 1823, and ...
at Crabtree Junction. It had been replaced by a tramway within ten years, but continued to be used as a mill leat to supply Marsh Mills corn mill, and most of it is still visible.
History
In 1778, the Cann Slate Quarry was owned by John Parker, and in order to make transport of the slate easier, he asked the engineer
John Smeaton
John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fi ...
to survey a canal, to run from the quarry to the bridge at Marsh Mills. The
River Plym
The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongsi ...
between the bridge and
Plymouth was navigable by barges. Although Smeaton carried out the work, he concluded that the canal, which would be long and would need several locks to accommodate the drop of in level, was unlikely to be economic, since the only trade would be the output from the quarry. He therefore suggested that a tramway would be a better solution, and could be built for about half the cost of the canal. Parker did not proceed with either option.
In 1819, an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
was obtained which authorised the construction of a horse tramway between
Princetown
Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the ...
and Plymouth. In 1821, the directors of the
Plymouth and Dartmoor horse tramway applied for a second Act, to authorise a deviation to the route, and in order to obtain consent for the new route from Parker's son, also called John Parker and Earl of Morley since 1815, they agreed to build a branch, possibly including an inclined plane, to the quarry. The company ran into financial difficulties, and the branch was not built. Despite the fact that he was a member of the management committee for the tramway, Parker took legal action against the three directors who had proposed the branch. They suggested that he should build the branch himself, and in return, all goods transferring from it to the existing tramway would be subject to lower tolls.
Parker proceeded to build a tub-boat canal from the quarry to Marsh Mills. It was about wide, and stopped above the bridge. He then wrote to the tramway company, suggesting that he was undecided whether to complete the canal by tunnelling under the turnpike road to connect it to the river, or to link it to their tramway at Crabtree by building a private branch. The letter resulted in an agreement on tolls, and the private tramway was built to complete the link. The canal was a little under long, and the tramway was about long. It crossed the river on a
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
bridge with two arches.
The canal was opened on 20 November 1829. Some time after 1834 and before 1839, Earl Morley's tramway was extended up the valley to Cann Quarry. Near the quarry, it was built on the canal bank, but lower down it was built further to the west. Once it was opened, the canal ceased to be used as a navigation and served as a
mill leat
A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or Aqueduct (watercourse), aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill ...
for the corn mill at Marsh Mills. A branch of the tramway, which was built to the unusual gauge of , was constructed from Plym Bridge to the quarries at Lee Moor, and the whole railway became known as the Lee Moor Tramway. The
South Devon and Tavistock Railway
The South Devon and Tavistock Railway linked Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon; it opened in 1859. It was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, in Cornwall in 1865. It was a broad gauge line but from 1876 also carried t ...
built a branch up the Plym Valley, which was completed in 1854. For most of its route between Marsh Mills and the quarry, it was built between Earl Morley's tramway and the canal. The new railway cut across the quarry, which closed the following year. Marsh Mills corn mill continued to operate until 1927, when the owners became bankrupt.
Route
![Cann Quarry Canal towpath after rain - Plymbridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Cann_Quarry_Canal_towpath_after_rain_-_Plymbridge.jpg)
Crabtree Junction, where Earl Morley's Tramway joined the Plymouth and Dartmouth Railway, has disappeared, covered by a motel and the interchange between the
A38 road and the A374 road, although the two-arched cast iron bridge over the River Plym remains. The tramway towards the quarry has become a cycleway and long-distance footpath, known as the
West Devon Way
The West Devon Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in South West England in the United Kingdom. The West Devon Way runs for 58 km (36 mi).
Route
The route runs from the western fringes of Dartmoor National Park moorland countr ...
, while most of the canal is still visible, and is often filled with water after rainfall, although the final section at Marsh Mills is not visible. The South Devon and Tavistock Railway branch was abandoned, but the lower end is now part of the
Plym Valley Railway. The current Marsh Mills Station is a little further to the north than the original one, as a mineral line which serves a china clay works still passes through the old site. The Plym Valley Railway is being extended to Plym Bridge, where the Lee Moor incline branched off. The railway crosses the route of the canal in two places on this section, and both of the bridges have been rebuilt as part of the restoration. Beyond Plym Bridge, the cycleway leaves Earl Morley's tramway and follows the South Devon and Tavistock Railway instead, allowing it to cross the River Plym just beyond Cann Quarry, and continue on to
Yelverton.
[Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 map]
Points of interest
See also
*
Canals of the United Kingdom
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's ...
*
History of the British canal system
Bibliography
*
References
External links
Cann Quarry about a hundred and eighty years ago
{{Coord, 50.407, -4.083, type:river_dim:5000_region:GB-DEV, display=title
Canals in Devon
Canals opened in 1829
Industrial archaeological sites in Devon