Exeter Ship Canal

The Exeter Ship Canal runs beside the River Exe from the city’s centre to the tidal estuary, linking Exeter Quay to the sea. Built in the 1560s, it is one of Britain’s oldest artificial waterways and introduced the first pound locks. In 1677 the entrance was moved downstream, and in 1698 local men and women volunteered to finish work after the contractor fled with the funds. James Green widened and straightened the canal in the 1820s, extending it to Turf where a new lock allowed ships to enter whatever the tide. For centuries the canal carried wool, timber and other goods, with receipts rising from £747 in the 1750s to £3,221 by the 1810s. By the 1970s only the sludge carrier Countess Wear still used it, dumping sewage sludge at sea until the practice ended in 1998. Commercial traffic finished in 1973, and the canal now serves leisure boats and historic drama filming. Visitors walk or cycle the towpath from Exeter Quay to Turf Lock, passing Trew’s Weir and the swing bridges at Countess Wear. The canal basin at Haven Banks offers views of the quay and the city walls. Along the route old mills and floodgates recall the waterway’s working past, while the limited headroom under the M5 bridge shows how modern roads shape its use today.