Bude Canal - The Canal System

The Canal System

The project:

• improved the difficult exposed sea harbour at Bude
• built a broad canal capable of taking 50-foot (15 m) barges for 2 miles (3.2 km) to Helebridge Basin
• built the rest of the system for tub boats, 20 feet (6.1 m) long by 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) wide
• built a reservoir at Virworthy to feed water to the system

The main line of the canal runs south east from Bude to a wharf near Launceston, with an easterly branch to Blagdonmoor, beyond Holsworthy. There was a northerly feeder arm leading from a new reservoir at Virworthy, called the Tamar Lake.

There were two conventional locks in the short broad canal section, each with a vertical interval of 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m). This section terminated at Helebridge, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Bude, and ordinary coastal barges travelled this far up the canal.

The tub boats were designed to use the main part of the system, and they generally made the transit from the harbour at Bude, or from Helebridge if trans-shipping from coastal vessels there.

After Helebridge there were three inclined planes to the summit section; the whole of the central part of the system was at this level, 433 feet (132 m) above sea level. The main line to Druxton Wharf, near Launceston negotiated three descending inclined planes as it followed the southerly course of the River Tamar.

Having no intermediate locks on the tub boat sections, the canal had to follow the contours exactly between the inclined planes, and this made its route even more circuitous than most canals. However some relatively ambitious viaducts and earthworks were constructed, particularly where side streams and small valleys entered the main watercourse and its valley.