Exeter Ship Canal
Five miles down the Exe estuary from Exeter's quay to Turf Lock, and the oldest ship canal in the country
The Exeter Ship Canal runs about five miles alongside the Exe estuary, from the canal basin behind Exeter’s quay down to Turf Lock, where boats pass out onto the tidal river. It is a broad, deep canal built for seagoing ships rather than narrowboats, and the towpath along it is flat, surfaced and shared with cyclists on the Exe Estuary Trail.
It is the oldest artificial waterway of its kind in the country. In the 1560s the city’s merchants, cut off from the sea by weirs built across the Exe, employed the engineer John Trew to dig a channel bypassing them, and it opened in 1566. It was the first canal in England to use the pound lock, the gated chamber that has raised and lowered boats on every canal since. James Green rebuilt and lengthened it in the 1820s, carrying it south to Turf and building the sea lock there so that ships could enter at any state of the tide; that extension opened in 1827.
The walk is easy throughout and close to the city, which makes it a popular local route rather than a long expedition. Halfway down, the Double Locks — a single long lock with a waterside pub beside it — is a natural place to stop or turn. From the towpath there are wide views across the estuary and its mudflats to Topsham on the far bank, and the flats are busy with wading birds and wildfowl, especially in winter.
The canal is still owned and run by Exeter City Council. Trip boats work the lower reaches in season, and the basin end has become part of the city’s revived quayside.
