Friday 14 February 2014

Dundas Junction Somerset Coal Canal

Dundas Junction
Somerset Coal Canal
February 2014

I have to admit that I skipped the section from Tucking Mill through Monkton Combe to the A36. The route was not readily accessible from the road and being short of time I moved on the the watered arm at the junction with the Kennet and Avon Canal at Dundas.


Entrance to the Somerset Coal Canal

This short half mile section has been restored to navigation and is used as moorings right up to the A36 beyond which the canal bed is overgrown and dry.



At the other end there is the remains of a stop lock, which was originally created to wide beam dimensions but was later reduced to narrow - no one seems to know why.


End of the line at A36

And so this final post serves as a conclusion to the tale, which has run for over 10 miles from the basins at Poulton. The lower half from Combe Hay has a good footpath but the upper section is much more hit and miss, bits of footpath here and there but in other areas you gain access where you can.


All in all a very interesting country canal and well worth a visit.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post, I'm inspired to look a lot more closer to my surroundings.
Thanks for your efforts
Geoff from Paulton

Unknown said...

It's my understanding that the lift bridge to the Somerset CC junction at Dundas came from Banbury when the Oxford canal there was 'gentrified' in the early 1980s.