Braunton Canal

Braunton Canal
The River Caen at Velator, looking downstream towards the River Taw.
Specifications
Locks	0
Status	Navigable below Velator
History
Original owner	Braunton Marsh Commissioners
Principal engineer	James Green
Other engineer(s)	William Williams
Date of act	1811
Date of first use	1814
Date completed	1870s
Geography
Start point	Braunton
Branch of	River Taw

The Braunton Canal is a cut made to straighten the course of the upper section of the River Caen, known as Braunton Pill, and to provide a new quay for the village of Braunton in North Devon, England. It crosses an area known as Braunton Marsh, which was the subject of Enclosure Acts in the early 19th Century, and was the only one of several schemes which was actually constructed.

Before 1808, the area around Braunton, Velator, Wrafton and South Burrow was an extensive salt marsh. In that year, the Board of Agriculture sent Charles Vancouver to investigate the marsh, and his report recommended that it should be enclosed and reclaimed. This met with local approval, and James Green was appointed as engineer for the drainage scheme. Green commissioned John Pascoe to produce a survey and map (held by the Devon Record Office), which outlined two schemes. The first involved an embankment from the mouth of Braunton Pill to Bench Hill, with a canal from the Pill via Wrafton and the edge of Velator Marsh to some lime kilns near what is now Velator Quay. There were concerns about the cost of the project, and objections to parts of the first scheme from the Bassett Estate, and so it was the second scheme that formed the basis for the Act of Parliament obtained on 25 May 1811, for the Inclosing, Draining, and Embanking Lands in Braunton, in the County of Devon.

Although construction started, and good progress was made, the details appear to have been worked out as the scheme progressed. The scheme was financed by passing the costs on to local farmers and landowners, and by the sale of plots of land once the scheme was complete. The Marsh Commissioners, who had overall responsibility for the scheme, received a letter from 20 farmers objecting to the construction of a lock, which Green had proposed to provide access to the interior of the marsh, and so the lock was not built.

Green also made a proposal for the drainage of Braunton Mere, and an agreement was concluded on 10 September 1814 to carry out this work for £765. The task was completed ahead of schedule, with Green being complemented for the "good, workmanlike manner" in which the work had been conducted.