The impressive Albert Street Cutting in Bridgwater was built to avoid the expense of constructing a tunnel. It is 120 metres long and has 4.5 metre high walls made of sandstone rubble, apart from a short section near West Street Bridge, which has been rebuilt with concrete blocks after a collapse in 1968. There had previously been a partial collapse in 1951. The 12 horizontal and vertical timber props shown in the photo below were installed in 1970 to shore up the remaining walls. The cutting is a Grade II listed building.
In 2021 the Canal & River Trust discovered that the timber props didn't provide any structural support and were deteriorating, so they removed them and installed monitoring devices to detect any movement.
Albert Street Cutting without props, July 2026
Each of the 12 horizontal beams had a line from the poem below carved into it:
POEM FOR ALBERT STREET CUTTING, BRIDGWATER
NAVIGATORS
HARD GRAFT
SINEW AND BONE
JOLT OF THE PICK
CRACK OF THE HAMMER
IRON ON STONE
RED QUANTOCK
WE CAME AND WENT
OUR LEGACY
A BOAT
COMING CLEAN
THROUGH THE HILL
The Navigators poem was composed in 1996 by local people in conjunction with writer Tony Charles. It was commissioned for the opening of the River Parrett Trail. It recalls the skill and toil needed to dig the tunnel. The poem was carved into the beams by letter cutter Andrew Whittle.
Further Reading:
By Waterway to Taunton: A History of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the River Tone navigation by Tony Haskell. Published by Somerset Books in 1994.
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal by C.A. Buchanan. Published by Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society in 1984
Wooden props between West Street and Albert Street,
2015
Albert Street Cutting 2015
Albert Street Cutting
Timber props, 2015
Each of the 12 horizontal beams had a line from the poem below carved into it:
POEM FOR ALBERT STREET CUTTING, BRIDGWATER
NAVIGATORS
HARD GRAFT
SINEW AND BONE
JOLT OF THE PICK
CRACK OF THE HAMMER
IRON ON STONE
RED QUANTOCK
WE CAME AND WENT
OUR LEGACY
A BOAT
COMING CLEAN
THROUGH THE HILL
The Navigators poem was composed in 1996 by local people in conjunction with writer Tony Charles. It was commissioned for the opening of the River Parrett Trail. It recalls the skill and toil needed to dig the tunnel. The poem was carved into the beams by letter cutter Andrew Whittle.
Further Reading:
By Waterway to Taunton: A History of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and the River Tone navigation by Tony Haskell. Published by Somerset Books in 1994.
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal by C.A. Buchanan. Published by Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society in 1984
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