Today
The route of the canal lies in a largely agricultural area dotted with small villages and minor roads.
Despite the building of railways along both arms, there are traces of the Paulton arm of the canal and of the Radstock arm. A short stretch of the canal where it joins the Kennet and Avon at the Dundas Aqueduct was restored during the 1980s, and is used for moorings. Excavations of the old stop lock showed that this had originally been a broad (14 feet (4 m)) lock that at some point was narrowed to 7 feet (2 m) by moving the lock wall. While some canal features are on private land, the towpath may survive in places as a right of way, while the later railway between Midford to Wellow is being surfaced to form part of National Cycle Route 24. It has been proposed that a statue, commissioned by Sustrans, of William Smith, the father of English Geology, will be sited next to the path on the line of the canal commemorating his work as surveyor on the canal and his recognition of the significance of rock strata.
Read more about this topic: Somerset Coal Canal
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I myself smoke, but my wife asked me to speak today on the harmfulness of tobacco, so what can I do? If it’s tobacco, then let it be tobacco.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“I remember a very important lesson that my father gave me when I was twelve or thirteen. He said, “You know, today I welded a perfect seam and I signed my name to it.” And I said, “But, Daddy, no one’s going to see it!” And he said, “Yeah, but I know it’s there.” So when I was working in kitchens, I did good work.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)