Aqueduct. 1800-1801 for Dorset and Somerset Canal. Coursed masonry blocks with furrowed dressings, much of the ashlar robbed. Two semi-circular arches approx 10m wide and slightly less in height, approach abutments with curved revetment walls splayed back from each side of the bed of the former canal, parapets/canal trough/tow path missing, arches with keys, masonry coursed right through; masonry mostly survives on north-east and south-west revetments, one pilaster buttress on the former, 2 on the latter. Crosses a pathway/drive and a stream. The Dorset and Somerset Canal was intended to link the Kennet and Avon Canal to the River Stour in Dorset (Act of Parliament 1796). This section carried the canal down the valley from the Nettlebridge collieries. Canal abandoned 1803 through lack of finance. Inscribed stone, possibly from the aqueduct believed to survive at the village of Chantry, inscribed:- "Aqueduct Ere Anno 1801". The whole structure is in a poor state of repair (June 1985). (Clew K.R., The Dorset and Somerset Canal, 1971)
filmed 17/04/2021
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