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On the antiquity and invention of the lock canal of Exeter; in a letter from Philip Chilwell de la Garde, esq. to Sir Henry Ellis, KH, FRS, Secretary

By Philip Chilwell De la Garde

Archaeologia, 28, (1838) pp. 7-26

Prepared by Michael Steer

Initially, the River Exe was tidal and navigable up to the city walls enabling it to be a busy port. In the 1270s or 80s, Countess Isabella de Fortibus, built a weir across the river to power her mills. This had the effect of cutting off Exeter's port from the sea and damaging its salmon fisheries. In 1290, trade with Exeter's port was restored, only to be blocked by a new weir built in 1317 by Earl Hugh de Courtenay. Because of the blockages on the river, boats were forced to unload at Topsham and the earls were able to exact large tolls to transport goods to Exeter. For the next 250 years the city petitioned the King to have the waterway reopened, to no avail, until 1550 when Edward VI finally granted permission. However it was by then too late because the river channel had silted up. In 1563, Exeter traders employed John Trew of Glamorgan to build a canal to bypass the weirs and rejoin the River Exe in the centre of the city where a quay would be built. Work was completed by 1567. The canal had three locks with vertical gates - the first pound locks to be built in Britain. They accommodated boats up to 16 tonnes. The original cut ran one and three quarter miles (2.8 km) from just below the Countess Weir to the centre of Exeter. It was not very effective. The weir that maintains the water level in the quay is still named "Trew's Weir" after the canal's builder. This rare and much sought-after book was produced digitally by Google from a copy in the Harvard University Library and can be downloaded from HathiTrust. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.