The distance
between the two places is only about four miles, and the difficulty
appeared to have been met in the first instance by the construction of a
straight road from Exeter, to enable goods to be conveyed between that
city and the new port. This arrangement continued for centuries, but in
1544 a ship canal was made to Topsham, which was extended and enlarged
in 1678 and again in 1829, so that Exeter early recovered its former
position, as is well brought out in the finely-written book of the
_Exeter Guild of Merchant Adventurers_, still in existence. Its Charter
was dated June 17th, 1599, and by it Queen Elizabeth incorporated
certain merchants under the style of "The Governors Consuls, and Society
of the Merchant Adventurers of the Citye and County of Exeter,
traffiqueing the Realme of Fraunce and the Dominions of the French
Kinge." The original canal was a small one and only adapted for boats
carrying about fifteen tons: afterwards it was enlarged to a depth of
fifteen feet of water--enough for the small ships of those days--for
even down to Tudor times a hundred-ton boat constituted a man-of-war.
This canal made Exeter the fifth port in the kingdom in tonnage, and it
claimed to be the first lock canal constructed in England.
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