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Historic England. "Aqueduct, formerly carrying Grand Western Canal over driveway to Nynehead Court (1307612)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 December 2007.
Parking is nearly impossible, but there is a footpath that you can take from the road down to view the boatlift. It even has an info board erected by the Friends of the Grand Western Canal. Walk ahead through the field, boundary to your right, leaving the road behind. You soon pass through a scrubby field boundary. Keep on in the same direction beside the right-hand hedge, passing beneath the electricity wires. Near the end of the field the path continues in the same line, going beneath trees in the field corner to reach a kissing gate. Find someone to kiss, as appropriate, then continue as before, re-crossing the River Tone. This ambitious solution to the height differences that canals faced relied on the simple balance principle and they worked a treat. The idea had actually been proposed before (way before) in 1777 by no other than Erasmus Darwin in his Commonplace Book. He eloquently described a device including balanced water-filled caissons that could be used to raise boats from one level to another. Bingo!
The first documentary evidence comes from 737 when the manor was granted to the Bishop of Winchester. In 890 the land was granted to a Wulfhere Gidding. [2] The parish of Nynehead was part of the Taunton Deane Hundred. [3] The remains of Nynehead boat lift For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the village comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Somerset West and Taunton (formed on 1 April 2019) and, before this, the district of Taunton Deane (established under the Local Government Act 1972). From 1894-1974, for local government purposes, Nynehead was part of Wellington Rural District. [8]
Cross the aqueduct and follow the footpath as it drops downhill. At the bottom of the slope go left to find a notice board, situated beside historic remnants of the canal’s lower pond and lifts, which explains the engineering in fascinating detail. James Green’s lifts were possibly the first of its kind in the World and came and went some 10 years before the Anderton Boat Lift was even built!A family of swans graces the River Tone near Nynehead Court near bridge over the river that once carried the carriageway to the Court (Image: submitted) Guided walks and talks are available by appointment as well, which will explain the Nynehead Aqueduct over the carriageway of Nynehead House and the close proximity of Brunel’s railway. We recently took delivery of three of the Scammell training films from the IWM. The quality of them is top hole. a b "Statistics for Wards, LSOAs and Parishes— SUMMARY Profiles" (Excel). Somerset Intelligence . Retrieved 4 January 2014. The Nynehead Boat Lift, built by James Green in the 1830’s, is probably the earliest boat lift in the UK and it’s on the Grand Western Canal. Would you believe he built 7 of these substantial structures, but the remains at Nynehead are the most we have left of them.
Beautiful trees flank the route of what was the Grand Western Canal. The nearby railway rendered the canal commercially unviable. This section is now a lovely footpath (Image: submitted) Pause here. To the left is the other end of the avenue of young trees; to the right you can look down on the remains of the carriageway that once led to Nynehead Court. The bridge over to the right was built by Brunel to carry the railway over the carriageway. The aqueduct on which you are standing was part of an elaborate feat of engineering, which lifted the canal and its boats up and over the carriageway.Go through another kissing gate, swiftly followed by yet another. Walk through the next field, still beside the right-hand hedge, towards a small but perfectly-formed sewage works – sorry!! (It is very small, as was the whiff when we passed). Pass this works on your left and go through the gate just beyond it. Gradually the path comes close to the well-screened railway – any trains are barely visible – and, about 750m from joining it, the once-canal swings left, away from the railway and crosses an old aqueduct.
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