Editing River Parrett (section)

==== Construction ====
With the prospect of the Chard Canal in particular damaging trade on the Parrett, four traders from Langport including Vincent Stuckey and [[Walter Bagehot]], who together operated a river freight business, commissioned the engineer Joseph Jones to carry out a survey for the Parrett Navigation which was then put before Parliament. It was supported by [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel|Brunel]] and a large quantity of documentary evidence. Objections from local landowners were handled by including clauses in the Parrett Navigation Act to ensure that surplus water would be channelled to the Long Sutton Catchwater Drain by culverts, siphons, and sluices, and the act of Parliament{{which|date=February 2025}} was passed on 4 July 1836.<ref name=body13-15/>

The Parrett Navigation Act allowed the proprietors, of whom 25 were named, to raise £10,500 in shares and £3,300 by mortgage, with which to make improvements to the river from Burrow Bridge to Langport, to reconstruct the restrictive bridge at Langport, and to continue the improvements as far as Thorney. The River Isle, which joined the Parrett at Muchelney, was to be improved for its first mile, and then the [[Westport Canal]] was to be constructed from there to [[Westport, Somerset|Westport]]. Locks were planned at Stanmoor, Langport, and Muchelney, with a half-lock at Thorney.<ref name="hadfield83-91"/> An extra lock was added at [[Oath, Somerset|Oath]], when tests revealed that the depth of water would not meet that specified in the act without it. Costs were considerably higher than expected, and a second act of Parliament{{which|date=February 2025}} was obtained in 1839, to allow an extra £20,000 to be raised.<ref name="hadfield83-91"/><ref name="body13-15">{{Harvnb|Body|Gallop|2006|pp=13–15}}</ref><ref name="body16-20">{{Harvnb|Body|Gallop|2006|pp=16–20}}</ref> The lock at Oath has since been replaced by a sluice gate to control flooding.<ref name="Paper by the Environment Agency"/>

The section below Langport opened on 28 October 1839; the section to Thorney and the Westport Canal were completed in August 1840.<ref name="hadfield83-91"/> The Langport Bridge was not finished until March 1841; of the £3,749 cost of construction, £500 came from the Langport Corporation and the rest was raised by a bridge toll operated from March 1841 until January 1843. The total cost of the works was £38,876, and no dividends were paid until 1853, as all profits were used to repay the loans which had been taken out. There are no records of traffic, but it has been estimated at {{convert|60000|to|70000|long ton}} per year, based on the toll receipts and the knowledge that the Stuckey and Bagehot boats carried about three-quarters of the total tonnage.<ref name=body16-20/>