Hackney Canal - History

History

The area to the north of the River Teign, particularly near to Chudleigh Knighton, Kingsteignton and Preston, was an important source of ball clay in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of the extraction sites were owned by Lord Clifford, who lived at Ugbrooke House. The clay was taken to Hackney Clay Cellars for drying, and was then transferred to Teignmouth by packhorse, where it was loaded into coasters for delivery to the pottery industry. The situation was far from ideal, particularly as the Teignmouth moorings were tidal, and the high tidal range made loading difficult.

In order to improve the situation, Lord Clifford built a canal to link the clay pits to the River Teign. Its terminus was close to the Newton Abbot to Kingsteignton road. The canal opened on 17 March 1843. It was 0.6 miles (0.97 km) long, and had a single lock where it joined the river that was 108 by 14 feet (33 by 4.3 m), with a depth of 3.75 feet (1.14 m) over the lower cill. The wooden boats which sailed on the estuary were around 50 feet (15 m) long and 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, with a flat bottom, a rounded bow and a flat transom stern. They were fitted with a single square sail, like a Viking longboat, and in many respects were very similar to the Humber keels which plied the waterways of the north east of England. The length of the lock enabled two boats to use it at the same time.

In 1844 the South Devon Railway Company built a bridge over the canal, with the harbour commissioners of the port of Teignmouth retaining John Rennie to ensure that, among other things, the bridge over the canal was large enough to allow boat traffic to continue.

In 1858, the Newton and Moretonhampstead Railway was authorised, although the company was reconstituted as the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway in 1861, before any work began. It was effectively owned by the South Devon Railway. The neighbouring Stover Canal negotiated with the company, and they bought out the canal for £8,000 in 1862. A month after the acquisition, the minutes recorded a letter from Watts, Blake and Company, who traded on that canal, asking what price they would be willing to sell the canal for, as they believed the directors intended to dispose of it. Although there is no record of the railway company buying the Hackney Canal, a letter was received at the same time from Mr Whiteway, acting on behalf of a Mr Knight who held the lease for the Hackney Canal, asking much the same question. The railway company agreed to notify both parties that no decisions had been made to dispose of their canal interests.