Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/276

 parallel with the river, was made by the corporation of Exeter, to that city, so early as the reign of Henry VIII. under powers of an act granted in the thirty-first year of that reign, entitled, An Act concerning the amending of the River and Port of Exeter, but as this work was but very imperfectly constructed, and subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, which, at its entrance, rises 13 feet at the springs, the mayor, bailiffs and commonalty stopped up the entrance of this old canal, at the lower sluice, and extended it lower down, into a deeper part of the tideway, to a place called The Turf; considerable sums had been borrowed for carrying these works into execution and improving the old cut, and as more money was required for the purpose of completing the same and the additional works contemplated, an act was obtained during the last session, to enable the corporation to borrow a competent sum, on mortgage of the undertaking, or by granting annuities on lives, or by tontine.

This act is entitled, An Act for altering, extending, and improving the Exeter Canal; and when all is done which the act authorizes, the canal will be, by the extension from the old lower sluice to the esfuary of the Exe, (two miles lower down,) five miles in length, with a basin and entrance tide lock at The Turf, and another commodious basin near the King's Arms Sluice, in the city, where there is a public wharf 500 feet in length. Another entrance into this canal, with a lock, will also be placed above the old sluice, near the town of Topsham, to facilitate the communication between that town and Exeter. The depth of the canal will be 15 feet. Within a mile and a half from Exeter, there is a double lock, with a fall of 6 feet; and at The Turf, a tide lock, with a fall of 4 feet to high water, spring tides, which here rise 14 feet. Mr. James Green projected these improvements in 1829, and estimated the cost at £10,000, the whole of which sum is to be advanced by the corporation of Exeter.