Somerset Coal Canal

The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 starting in basins at Paulton and Timsbury to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield, , access east toward London. The longest arm was long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow. A feature of the canal was the variety of methods used at Combe Hay to overcome height differences between the upper and lower reaches, initially by the use of caisson locks and when this failed an inclined plane trackway and then finally a flight of 22 conventional locks. The Radstock arm was never commercially successful and was replaced first with a tramway in 1815 and later incorporated into the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Paulton route flourished for nearly 100 years and was very profitable, carrying very high tonnages of coal for many decades; this canal helped carry the fuel that powered the nearby city of Bath.

The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 starting in basins at Paulton and Timsbury to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a tunnel at Combe Hay, then via Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal. This link gave the Somerset coalfield, , access east toward London. The longest arm was long with 23 locks. From Midford an arm also ran via Writhlington to Radstock, with a tunnel at Wellow. A feature of the canal was the variety of methods used at Combe Hay to overcome height differences between the upper and lower reaches, initially by the use of caisson locks and when this failed an inclined plane trackway and then finally a flight of 22 conventional locks. The Radstock arm was never commercially successful and was replaced first with a tramway in 1815 and later incorporated into the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Paulton route flourished for nearly 100 years and was very profitable, carrying very high tonnages of coal for many decades; this canal helped carry the fuel that powered the nearby city of Bath.