Creech St Michael Aqueduct
in Creech St. Michael, near Taunton, Somerset.
Also known as Tone Aqueduct, Creech St Michael.
The aqueduct carried the Chard Canal from its junction with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, over the River Tone and across adjacent fields. With the coming of the Bristol and Exeter Railway it was necessary to construct another aqueduct to cross the railway. This has now been demolished, but a small adjacent aqueduct for a drainage ditch has survived.
Immediately south of the Tone Aqueduct, the canal continues across fields on a combination of stone arch bridges and earthen embankment. Some of the arches were presumably provided to allow the passage of river water in times of flood, as the piers of the aqueduct would be restrictive.
200 yards upstream of the Tone Aqueduct is Five Arch Bridge, Ruishton, which carried a branch line to Chard from 1866 to 1962. It appears that the river was widened here to compensate for the restrictive presence of the piers.