Bridgwater Docks

This is a crop of an image showing the Bridgwater Docks.

The canal

The Bridgwater & Taunton Canal runs from the River Tone at Taunton to Bridgwater. It’s 13.5 miles (21.7km) long and has 7 locks in total.

The canal opened in 1827 and was linked with the Grand Western Canal in 1838.

Railway competition and high operating costs caused closure in 1867. Originally connected to the River Tone at Huntworth, to the east of Bridgwater, the canal was extended to a new floating harbour with two basins and two river locks in 1841.

Bridgwater Docks

Although the last commercial traffic along the canal was in 1907, Bridgwater Docks remained in use until 1971.

Restoration began in the mid 1970s and, after a long campaign by IWA, the canal reopened fully in 1994.