Burlescombe: Grand Western Canal and Historic Buildings

Burlescombe can be explored through three clearly distinct themes: the Grand Western Canal, historic buildings and the former transport of limestone. If you are interested in the area’s different points of interest, the village offers more than just one main theme. The canal is associated with fishing and water engineering; the church and Ayshford Chapel bring ecclesiastical architecture into the picture, while Black Bridge recalls the transport of limestone.

Grand Western Canal: coarse fishing and the old quay

The Grand Western Canal runs through the Burlescombe section and offers opportunities for coarse fishing there. Permits or access rules may vary; check them before fishing. There is parking and a small picnic area beside the old quay. Check the parking rules on site. This means two different interests come together in the Burlescombe section: fishing on the canal and taking a break at the small picnic area. Which matters to you depends on whether you see the waterway as a fishing destination or the quay as a place to stop for a rest.

Canal construction and limestone transport

The Twin Culverts at St 0643 1643 in Burlescombe were built between 1810 and 1814 for the Great Western Canal. The structure is Grade II listed. Black Bridge tells a different story of infrastructure: it is an old mineral railway bridge over which limestone was transported to the railway line higher up in the village. The comparison shows two different functions. The Twin Culverts are notable for their canal construction; Black Bridge is associated with transporting limestone to the railway.

St Mary’s Church and Ayshford Chapel

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Burlescombe, also known as St Mary’s Church, is a 15th-century parish church and is Grade I listed. Remains of Ayshford Chapel are in the north aisle. It retains an open wagon roof dating from the 15th century, as well as a carved oak chancel screen. The church is also known for its Elizabethan and Jacobean funerary monuments. Several features come together in this one building: the chapel in the aisle, the roof structure, the oak carving and the funerary monuments. If you are interested in ecclesiastical architecture and funerary art, St Mary offers a different focus from the canal and mineral railway structures.

Canonsleigh Abbey by the canal

Canonsleigh Abbey lies on the western bank of the Grand Western Canal. The surviving structure is described as the reredorter: a six-metre-high rectangular building with a passage beneath it. Unlike the dated canal structures, the focus here is on the surviving form: the rectangular building, its height and the passage below. This adds another specific example to Burlescombe’s architectural history, one that differs from the waterworks and the fittings of the parish church.

Discover more destinations: Dartmouth, Shaugh Prior, Woolfardisworthy, Rackenford, Longdown, Dunsford, Lamerton, Woodbury.

For the main travel overview: Devon.