The Exeter & Crediton Canal

In May 1973, contractors to the then Devon River Authority were excavating a trench on the west bank of the River Exe above Exe Bridge North to form a flood relief channel around Exwick. Almost at the southern end of this trench they came across a quantity of brickwork, suggesting a building, some ten feet below the surface. As no buildings were shown on historical maps of the area the engineer in charge contacted the Exeter Industrial Archaeology Group to enquire if they knew what it might be.

Members of the group visited the site and preliminary investigations suggested the the site might be one end of the proposed Exeter & Crediton Canal.

The dig

An emergency dig took place over the next few days and revealed a lock chamber which had not, apparently, been completed. The chamber was some 80 feet long and 14 feet wide, and the sill at the upstream end had apparently been designed for double gates. The wooden floor of the lock consisted of planks, 8 inches wide and 3 inches thick, spiked to square cross beams at 4 foot centres. Building lock chambers on a wooden floor was common practice at the time in marshy ground.

The Exeter & Crediton Navigation had been proposed in the latter years of the 18th century and the scheme had failed. A further attempt resulted in an Act of 1801 "for improving and extending the navigation of the River Exe, from the public quay at Exeter to the public road adjoining Four Mills near Crediton, in the County of Devon, by making a navigable canal or cuts, and deepening and widening such parts of the rivers Exe and Creedy, as shall be necessary for that purpose".

The portion of the canal revealed would have enabled craft to bypass Blackaller Weir and Head Weir and return to the river. A further bypass was necessary to get round the mill leats at Exwick and after passing under Cowley Bridge, a further short cut took it into the River Creedy. Other diversions would have been necessary before reaching Crediton.
Acquisition of land began in 1808 but only ½ mile of cut was commenced in 1810 and apparently not completed. In 1818 the scheme was abandoned and the Company subsequently wound up.

Photographs of the area in the latter part of the 19th century show a rough outline of the other end of the cut above Blackaller weir but it had obviously been back-filled by then. Following the Blitz of the City the rubble was taken to this area and all traces of the works obliterated. Maps of the City after 1800 show all or part of this cut but are obviously incorrect (or the product of wishful thinking). Descriptions of an open cut still being visible postwar in various books refer to another water course coming down to the river from Redhills and now culverted.
© 2007 text and photographs by Alan H Mazonowicz - not to be used without permission.