Sampford Peverell to Burlescombe – Canal Walk (Stage 3)

Approximate Time: 1¼hrs

Distance: 3 miles/4.8km

Type of Walk: The walk is easy, following the flat, well‑surfaced towpath of the Grand Western Canal with only occasional short lane sections and generally reliable footing. Expect narrow stretches, occasional muddy patches after rain, and low bridges or edges near the water, but overall it’s a gentle, accessible route with minimal climbing.

Directions:

1. On leaving this bridge at Sampford Peverell, you can see the church and the churchyard on the opposite bank, and soon there is an overflow weir. A culvert carries water, which formerly worked the old corn mill at the north side of the village, under the canal to reappear on the opposite side some distance away. Here a path gives access to toilets and a shop.
2. Beyond the next brick bridge, Buckland Bridge, the towpath passes beside a low stone arch in a wall. Here water used to be let into a swimming pool for a boys' home beyond, but the area is now covered by a raised cricket pitch.
3. On the opposite bank a few yards further on, a low brick wall marks another overflow weir, and a short distance beyond that a syphon culvert carries water from a stream under the Canal at some depth to re-emerge in the field opposite.
4. Soon a brick bridge crosses to Holbrook Farm, beyond which is another sluice.
5. Just past the next metal bridge is Ayshford Court and chapel, the former home of the Ayshford Family whose impressive tombs can be seen in Burlescombe Church. The Court is now represented by an interesting collection of farm-buildings, but the stone built house with hipped gables and mullioned windows and the fifteenth-century chapel make a charming group as seen from the towpath opposite.
6. Beyond a shallow cutting wooded embankment leads straight to Wescott Bridge. Soon the entrance to a circular culvert can be seen at the foot of the embankment, a beautifully constructed curved piece of masonry. From here, we can see clearly the quarries which which provided much of the cargo for the Canal, and to the right Burlescombe church stands out on a low hill.
7. The Canal continues alongside the road as far as the limestone Ebear Bridge, where the road crosses it and goes onto Westleigh and the quarries. The towpath bends to the right and the Canal continues in an easterly direction for about one-third of a mile.
8. The next sharp bend, at which the Canal again takes a northerly direction, marks the point at which the Tiverton branch was to leave the 'main line' of the Grand Western Canal, which was planned to continue southwards towards Cullompton and the Clyst Valley to Topsham, following at first the line taken by the later railway.
9. The bridge ahead carried the Westleigh Tramway across the Canal from the quarry to the main railway line at Burlescombe.
10. At Fossend Bridge it is worth leaving the Canal to see a number of interesting features both at Canonsleigh and Burlescombe.
11. Burlescombe Church can be reached by crossing the railway bridge by the Ayshford Arms and continuing half a mile up the road.
12. Return to the Canal bridge and continue along the road. Where the road bends round to the left, go straight up the lane to see the site of Canonsleigh Abbey, a house of Austin Canons founded by William de Claville in the twelfth century.
13. A bridge carrying the tramway can be seen on the left of the road just before the embankment is broken by the Redland Tiles depot. Traces of another bridge, beneath which the tramway entered the quarry, can be seen in the Redland yard. At the junction are the remains of three limekilns.
14. Turn right and continue past the quarry for about one hundred yards. A little way past the Priory remains can be seen the course of another tramway leading across the fields in the direction of the Canal.