Editing Bridgwater and Taunton Canal (section)

===Decline===
[[Image:Demolition chambers, Mausel Lock.JPG|thumb|left|Demolition chambers under a bridge over the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal – they were later filled with concrete and now appear larger than they originally were.]]
The canal was increasingly affected by water supply problems. The main source of water was the River Tone, although this was not fed into the canal at Firepool, in order to ensure that the mills on the upper section could function. Instead water was pumped out of the river at [[Creech St Michael|Creech]],<ref name=haskell8>{{harvnb |Haskell |1994 |pp=78–84}}</ref> by the Charlton Pumping Station,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/43831|title=Canal pumping house, SW of Charlton, Durston|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council|access-date=2008-10-11|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003100802/http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/43831|archive-date=3 October 2016}}</ref> where the river and canal were only {{convert|300|yd|m}} apart. Large volumes of water were discharged from the canal every fortnight, when the Bridgwater Dock was scoured, in order to free it from silt, while the Railway Company was extracting water to supply the station and [[steam locomotive]] sheds at Taunton. During the summer months there was often not enough water to go round.<ref name=haskell8/>

The canal gradually became clogged with weed, and the railway took much of the trade. Between 1870 and 1874, income dropped from £2,500 to £1,700. Three years later, the Bristol and Exeter Railway merged with the [[Great Western Railway]]. The new owners were remote, and were more interested in the water supply for Taunton station and for the Bridgwater Dock, than running the canal as a going concern, with the result that the canal deteriorated further. The Conservators continued their annual inspections, but had little hope of any improvements being made.<ref name=haskell8/>

The opening by the Great Western Railway of the [[Severn Tunnel]] in 1886 brought further decline, for the imports of [[coal]] and [[slate]] from [[South Wales]] to Bridgwater Dock and the canal could now be moved more directly. The provision in 1902 of [[water trough]]s on the railway near Creech, to enable non-stop trains to pick up water, required another {{convert|100000|impgal|m3}} a day, which was extracted from the Tone.<ref name=haskell9>{{harvnb |Haskell |1994 |pp=85–105}}</ref> The remaining traffic moved to the railway, the last commercial boats used the canal, from Bridgwater dock to a wharf in North Town, Taunton, in 1907,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somerset-waterways.org/somerset-waterways-water.html |title=Bridgwater & Taunton Canal |work=Somerset Waterways |publisher=Somerset Waterways Development Trust |access-date=2008-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705121844/http://www.somerset-waterways.org/somerset-waterways-water.html |archive-date=5 July 2008 }}</ref> and the canal was effectively closed.<ref name=haskell9/>