Chopping Off Cornwall and Devon - A Short History.

This week we look at some quirky old routes that may or may not have been part of an attempt to avoid circumnavigating Cornwall and Devon. Be it abandoned canals, Roads and Railways.
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Credits (Public domain if not stated):
Filter: Snowman Digital and Beachfront B-Roll
Maps: Google Maps
Maps: National Library of Scotland
Maps: OS Maps. Media License.
Credits:
Thumbnail saw: www.flaticon.com/free-icon/ha...
Stock Footage: Storyblocks
Music: Storyblocks
Music: Epidemicsound
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:10 The M5
01:29 The Railways
02:43 Water
06:55 More Water
12:13 Medieval
12:46 The Romans
15:47 Neolithic

[@neilthehermit4655]

Paul, the best teachers are ones that bring the story alive. - You bring every story alive. Well done.

[@pwhitewick]

Thanks Neil

[@chrisg1234fly]

Totally agree

[@annenewton5403]

And indeed you bring it alive.

[@Blade_Daddy]

Such great hands-on experience. Love it.

[@sjtutty]

Maybe not an academic but a great story teller, thanks for keeping us informed and entertained!

[@anthonygardiner6213]

Cutting it off, my wife has threatened Me with this many times, seriously though, just watched it, very informative.

[@martinmarsola6477]

Great to see you again today, Paul. Always look forwards to the videos. Say hello to Rebecca for me, and enjoy the week ahead! ❤❤😊😊

[@ChicagoDB]

Thank you Paul for all the fascinating information you bring to us…I’m an American but greatly enjoy the material and historical insights you provide to viewers.

[@darreno9874]

Certainly not a Billy no mates tree falling silently in the woods. Great video, thank you. God bless

[@veridiannexus3535]

Thankyou Paul the way you make history come alive is perfect , Your the best little tree in the Woods!!!

[@Deepthought-42]

Paul, you are no tree falling in te woods that is heard only once. You are more like the breeze that flows through them bringing a breath of fresh air to hitherto relatively unknown places. 😊 Keep up the good work and don’t get too many bramble scratches. 👍

[@colclumper]

Wow I live in Bridgewater MA and didn't realize how closely aligned Bridgewater and Taunton are here in America too

[@Sarge084]

I think it's your unbridled enthusiasm that brings the story to life, even if the subject matter isn't of personal interest to many of your viewers.

[@davie941]

this was really interesting , well done and thank you Paul and Rebecca 😊😍

[@douglasfleetney5031]

Brilliant Paul. Really enjoyed that.The Sweet Track is a must visit for me as well. Thanks for doing this one.

[@davidwilkinson333]

Great vid, Paul, thank you. A good friend of mine, lives along the Polden Ridge. Her Grandfather was one of a small group of peat cutters who found the 'Sweet Tack'. Needless to say the credit went to the boss! My understanding was that the Roman merchants, to avoid the treacherous navigation around the tip of Cornwall, would portage their cargoes from the port at Radipole (Weymouth) overland via Dorchester to Ilchester, the hivhest navigable point on the River Parrett. From here it would be shipped down the Parrett to the port at Dumball (Bridgwater) and thence across the Bristol Channel bound for the Legionary fortress at Caerleon and south Wales.

[@stepheneyles2198]

There's me thinking this was a video about Cornwall's desire to be independent from the rest of the country! Thanks for struggling through all that mud and brambles to bring us such interesting stories, it certainly saves us from having to bother! :-))

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

Fascinating stuff, particularly those early forerunners of the Anderton Lift. Puts you in mind of similar attempts at North-South canal 'short-cuts', such as the Wey and Arun Canal, which suffered a similar fate at the hands of the railway.

[@chazzyb8660]

Paul, yup you are a storyteller, telling me stuff I didn't need to know, but I'm very glad I now do. Thanks mate, and thank you both!

[@kaikiefer499]

This is the type of video I long to watch on youtube. And you never disappoint to deliver this kind of video. The research, the storytelling, brilliant, I love it. It's truly a privilege to be able to watch your works. ❤

[@pwhitewick]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️

[@philiptownsend4026]

There is another aspect too that I very much appreciate. That is the planning and production of the video, difficult to do if searching for a feature from the past in an unknown place, not knowing if it still exists, adapting and developing the story on the fly. All the while planning the video's editing and look-and-feel. The unseen work out in the field with the drone to achieve a few seconds of footage to illustrate the geography from another angle. The work with a tripod to make walk-by shots and the pacing back and forth to achieve one second atmospheric clips illustrating your journey. Similar work to show the variety of gate closing mechanisms that you encounter and show for one second, not mentioning them but showing us the tactile experience you had in that instance. It makes us feel we are there with you. The raising of sea level illustrated by neatly editing a scan of an OS map, tracing contour lines to show a past water level shown for just 1 or 2 vital seconds to illustrate the proof of a theory and to help us to understand it in it's context. I watch your superbly assembled productions in awe of the, thought, imagination, work, persistence and skill that goes into them. I've tried producing videos, it isn't easy and isn't for everyone. I see you apparently effortlessly crossing back and forth over the unseen boundaries between technical, artistic, and storytelling skills that you do so well, weaving them together to bring us your creamy smooth and slick productions. You have truly found your niche and mastered the new art of what I call "specialised citizen broadcasting" that KZbin makes possible to inform, educate and entertain us. This in itself would make a super documentary or even a video maker's text book. Well done Rebecca and Paul, you have a place in our cultural landscape.

[@davidberlanny3308]

Great collection of routes, really enjoyed watching. I definitely heard that tree falling as well, well done!!

[@newforestpixie5297]

the spirits of those engineers & labourers should smile upon you for all this effort to re discover their endeavours Paul. this is really interesting stuff 👍😁

[@martinduddridge329]

I live in Bridgwater. I know a fair bit about the area upto about 50 miles radius. When ever you do a video in this area, you find and show things I didn’t know about. Many thanks.

[@shirleylynch7529]

Well done. Keep telling us your stories. We are all listening. Thank you.

[@theonlywoody2shoes]

You may not consider yourself to be an “academic”, but my dictionary notes this term relates to education, and you are certainly educating me (and hopefully the other 87,600 subscribers here. You may not have “an ‘ology”, but you certainly have the ability to tell a story in an interesting and engaging way - if only some of the “professionals” who look down on those outside their profession had even 10% of your skills in this area. Thanks for all you (and Rebecca) do.

[@tsl56]

Perhaps you two should investigate the Rebecca Riots in South Wales. As it was all about turnpikes, it would be right up your street.

[@tsl56]

As I was born in West Somerset, I have a vested interest in this topic. Somerset now has a unitary local authority, enacted against a local referendum to best suit the mythical needs of the trickle-down economists. It is very much a county of two parts, with the west of the county being greatly disadvantaged; but the locals are still rather proud of their differences. And rightly so!

[@tsl56]

Surprised you didn't mention the still open Tiverton stretch of the canal. It is a few miles long, and a comparatively wide canal. Very scenic and very popular with anglers. Not to mention it has horse-drawn tourist narrow boats. It has a wide towpath which also doubles as a walking trail. I visited it in 2010 and found it well worth the visit. It suffered a major breach sometime in the noughties, as one stretch follows the contours around a hill. But it was rebuilt before 2010.

[@danielbarrows7144]

Random video of Paul having a little swing in the forest in the middle of the main video! Lol feels like an Easter egg 😂

[@fireinsurance]

Well who knew? Thank you for the story telling Paul. Fascinating insight into our past and long forgotten engineering.

[@AndyWoodger]

@paulandrebeccawhitewick not an academic but enthusiasm for a subject encourages research, excellent reporting and your editing is pretty good as well!

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Anyone could do this sort of video, Paul, yes. But you are the one (or one of the few) actually doing it! And in an appealing way too. So, thank *you* for enlightening us with your curiosity :)

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Also: We're not only watching, we're listening! To *you*

[@wamgoc]

Hi Guys, I'm fortunate enough to live in the area, Wellington Allerford, and absolutely love that you have told this story! I enjoy the walks round here and its very fascinating aspects! Great channel!

[@andrewlamb8055]

Thanks Paul, enjoyable as is the norm! 👋👋👏👏⚔️⚔️👍🇦🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@danbuckman5691]

Another fascinating story, so well told. Thank you for bringing the stories of our land to life so vividly.

[@katherinekinnaird4408]

I'm thankful for your stories ,research and diligence. I look forward to your next video.

[@pwhitewick]

Glad you like them!

[@ste2442]

Absolutely tip top channel this and it just keeps getting better . Well done Mate .

[@pwhitewick]

🙏🙏

[@patchso]

A fascinating ‘tree falling over’. Great video.

[@leannemaidment5224]

You are a great storyteller but it's the research that goes into each one that make them even better. I went on a school trip to those marshes when I was 13 and that Sweet Track kicked off my love of history!

[@lindamccaughey6669]

That was fantastic thanks Paul. All these discoveries are quite exciting. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care

[@billmmckelvie5188]

You deserve a special KZbin award as you boldly go to new frontiers, right to the middle of a thicket. For a minute I was about to become angry with Google as ai hthey hadn't joined up the two halves of the photo map correctly. I enjoyed your dig into the past, thanks!

[@charliebalch3023]

This is just a brilliant you tube video. Well made edited and super informative. More like this please.

[@pwhitewick]

Check out the back catalogue... 300 to catch up with. 🤪

[@hedleythorne]

Superb film - a bit of Romans, canals, railways and Paul jumping into undergrowth. Life doesn't get much better than this.

[@pwhitewick]

Consciously aware now that Paul jumping into the undergrowth needs to be a regular thing! ;-)

[@hedleythorne]

@@pwhitewick Paul is the new David Bellamy.

[@bobsrailrelics]

That caisson for the canal lift is epic. Hard to believe, as you say, so much has gone. You can tell Rebecca wasn't there, no way would have got near that swing if she was 😂 Thanks for another great video.

[@johnblack9499]

Awesome video, I grew up a few miles from the Nynehead Boat Lift. I stumbled across it one day on a walk and wondered what on earth it was - no signage back then. Keep up the great work!

[@robertallen8715]

Good work Paul, much appreciated. Thankyou

[@TheDalaiLamaCon]

We don't need academics to arouse interest, often they stifle it. You are doing just fine showing us what interests you.

[@briantinker7290]

Great history well told many thanks!

[@mustrumridcully3853]

Only found you on You Tube recently, but I subscribed quickly. You have a clear and relaxed delivery that makes history interesting. I spend my life giving technical advice - the best explanations involve a story.

[@pwhitewick]

Welcome aboard!

[@ArcAudios77]

Paul, Great watch & education as always. Best wishes for you & the 'Good Lady'. Regards from Western Scotland.

[@pwhitewick]

Many thanks!

[@southerneruk]

Crompton Dundon hill, was being used during the Stone Age, Where you had your bit of fun on the swing, there is a spring, that whole hill holds water

[@pwhitewick]

Oh wow. I had assumed it goes back some way owing to the geography!

[@southerneruk]

@@pwhitewick it do go back a long way, but with hill that contains fresh water, then it becomes not that surprising, Been told the water comes from up on top of 5 valleys hills

[@paulinehedges5088]

That was one of your best videos! LOVED it. Full of information and the scenery was tempting me to go out and look for myself.THANK YOU

[@herbrand47]

Paul, your mini documentary's as I call them are always very informative, full of details and always enjoyable. Thank you.

[@tpobrienjr]

What a walk!

[@jefflaufer3205]

...and without you, there was no tree... Thanks for enlightening this present generation. There's no telling how many more generations are left to experience history. ❤

[@georgeolson3996]

I'd much rather have the sound of the tree falling over as he travels along the pathways --- than the dry scratches of an "academic's" pontificating in printed prose. 😊

[@sUASNews]

My brother's house is just off that line, always wondered about it

[@orif9607]

When you think about Cornwall, Wales and Brittany sharing a common language source it is easy to see why transport routes linking these places go back to pre history.

[@BillRicker]

re title "Chopping off", there's another set of straight lines nearby running N-S that while rather more recent was intended at "chopping off": the WW2 "Taunton Stop Line", part of the post-Dunkirk anti-invasion internal defenses of the isle during the short period when an imminent invasion was once again anticipated. (Touches GWR, Chard Canal, B&T Canal too.)

[@pwhitewick]

I did consider that in the video but at 20 mins I was pushing it. In fact abiut the tunnel portal was a whole load of the anti tank blocks.

[@BillRicker]

@@pwhitewick and i do appreciate you (and some others, but not enough!) keeping videos (and podcasts) short and to the point !

[@syncrosimon]

My old dog walk was along the canal there at Nynehead. There is also a lovely Holloway at Nynehead, never knew the boat lift was in those bushes, walked across there many times. Very interesting 👍👍

[@pwhitewick]

Ah wish I had know!

[@amandachapman4708]

I love your storytelling and the rambles through the countryside

[@pwhitewick]

Thanks Amanda

[@flipinfish]

Well presented very interesting narrative. Something I would watch on mainstream TV.

[@nealeraleigh8239]

Incredible that you found the Aller boat lift, I had thought that the only brick lift was Nynehead so it was great to see the masonry at Aller😄

[@Studio-gp4nk]

I take pruning sheers when walking trails to remove dangerous growth only, like the one you encountered. Food for thought.

[@JB-ym4up]

The master told his student to take this chicken into the woods where no one could see or hear them and kill the chicken. A week later he saw the student carrying the chicken and asked why he had not taken it to the woods yet. The student replied no matter where I go I am there and the chicken is there.

[@timofthomas]

Really liked the format - looking at the same landscape from multiple different eras. Nice work.

[@udorechner6846]

Awesome and very interesting video about ibritish pre ndustrial history and road-/canalbuilding history at least back to the neolithikum. Thanks for those incredible Footage. Greetings from Germany.

[@pwhitewick]

Many thanks!

[@robinhayhurst5943]

"dendrochronology".. BINGO!!!! Did I win? Been waiting months for you to say this!

[@Sim0nTrains]

Very enjoyable to watch and well presented

[@pwhitewick]

Many thanks!

[@hainanbob6144]

I wish I could be a tree in the woods like you are Paul! I find these videos fascinating. Wifey and I walk a lot where we are, but there is absolutely no way to research the history, and every way to get lost in the forest and covered in leeches. We've done that more than once! PS I hear you!

[@tobycowman]

I like this episode but think you missed a trick looking for a route through Somerset. The town and village names give it away. Langport where the tide would run far inland. Then there is Pylle on the Fosse way. A Peel (IoM), pill (Huntspill) or Liverpool, Hartlepool are names of ports I think from Saxon/Viking naming meaning a port. Once you got to Pylle having landed at Moridunum (Axmouth) and walked a couple of days you could wait for the high tide and take a boat across to Caerleon maybe a couple of days paddling through the levels and a days sailing from Burnham instead of the week of walking up to the Severn Crossings. The river levels were higher then as since drainage the land has risen a meter or so.

[@stephanieyee9784]

I Have to visit the Sweet Track! Its on my List for whenever I get back to visit England.

[@hairyairey]

The Devon Canal would I guess (haven't measured it yet) be about 51 miles, ie equivalent to the Panama Canal. No massive lake to feed any locks and I suspect both ends have the same tide. Although the time saving would make it uneconomical.

[@dlittlester]

Thanks, Paul. I really appreciate what you do.

[@pwhitewick]

My pleasure! Thank you

[@richieixtar5849]

Excellent as always, missed you last week, you're part of my Sunday now :)

[@pwhitewick]

Got a few in the bag now!

[@hvee4]

Not really relevant to this video but I was walking in that field 1:25 around the same time this video was published… nice one as always though, you are the tree and we are the ears 👍🏻

[@victoriaeads6126]

The canal structures are very similar to some of the locks and such on the old C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio, if I am not mistaken) Canal near me. It runs along the Potomac River, so it doesn't try to cut off an entire peninsula. We don't have tunnels over its course AFAIK, that's pretty interesting! Many of the canals in the Washington DC and Virginia area were initially designed for horse drawn boats, so the tunnels would have needed to be much larger.

[@Overthinkingerrors]

I am a simple Devonian, I see Devon, I click

[@donniblanco5239]

So Much of the Creative Infrastructure and Mechanical Developments in Our History, leaves me in Wonder about the Availability of Resources, management of Logistics and Labour force Availability over such a Short Period of Time, and How this would all Stack-up when subjected to a Rigorous Feasibility Study versus Modern day Projects, using the Vast array of Earth moving and Construction Technology we are blessed with in Modern times🧐🤔 Great Solo Effort Paul Good to See you off the Leash 😜😆

[@fabled-pilgrim]

I'm pretty new to your channel but so far loving every one, look forward to your future 'waffling', lol. Btw, you seem so natural communicating facts in an engaging, educational way and on camera. Either one is a difficult skill to crack but you seem to have it nailed it. Do you have a background in teaching?

[@richardmorgan9273]

The Somerset and Dorset Railway's original route went from Burnham-on-Sea to near Poole, the intention being to provide the land part of a route from South Wales to Northern France! Obviously, the trans-shipment problems made this impractical for both goods and passengers, but it was intended as a shorter route than going round Land's End, so it fits Paul's criteria.

[@Davidm1fcf]

as always, a really interesting video, and had me searching through the Old Map Library and OSMaps to follow along where you were. Interesting fact about Chard near where you started - it claims the first powered flight by a John Stringfellow who built a steam-powered aircraft in 1848, and managed to fly it around a large room at Oram's Lace Mill.

[@richardwakelin843]

Cornwall & most of Devon was also nearly vut off during ww2 by a line of pillbox & tank traps it started in Axmouth passing through our school at Axminster going on up to North Devon/ n Somerset.

[@user-zb1sr4os9u]

Caught my eye as I plan to visit Okehampton Castle this year: too far West for this little adventure, though :-)

[@pwhitewick]

Have fun!

[@stephensaines7100]

If a tree falls over in the woods, and there's no-one there, is there sound? Of course there is. If a tree falls over in the woods, does it still have colour? Of course it does. If an explosion happens and there's no-one around, is there a shock wave or not? Other than that massive faux-pas in physics, great episode.

[@pwhitewick]

If uou define sound as the waves themselves then yeah. Completely agree. If you define sound as the interpretation of air waves by an ear drum, then nope

[@stephensaines7100]

You're referring to *hearing*...not sound waves. Is a fire engine still red if there's no-one looking at it?@@pwhitewick

[@stephensaines7100]

'Hearing' and 'sound' aren't the same thing.

[@miketherefurbisher8000]

Great Stuff Paul!! "Much appreciated"

[@highpath4776]

That "Roman" field sloping to a tree/waterline is interesting , looks a bit like some stuff time team looked at, I wonder if there were small buildings up the field

[@notmozart1]

my stomping ground - Time team did a great programme on The Sweet Track. Lovely video - thanks.

[@BumblebumBear]

Although I was born in Surrey, my family have a long history from Cornwall. I now live in Devon and wish they would chop off Devon & Cornwall. Make it a separate country like Wales and Scotland

[@pwhitewick]

Oooof. Why so??

[@YannaTarassi]

Lovely presentation as always, Sir.

[@ynot6473]

@ 7.30, i have worked on that site with the waterway recovery group.

[@kastandlee]

Thank you for these stories of places I'm unlikely to be able to visit but that are very interesting. A friend of mine used to live in Trowbridge and showed me some of the area on the times I visited.

[@pwhitewick]

Anything interesting in that area?

[@kastandlee]

@@pwhitewick Nothing as obscure as you've found! More like driving to see places like Wells, the Cheddar Gorge, and the like. We did go see the Peat Moors museum before it closed.

[@christophernoble6810]

Interestingly there once was a boat service into Burnham which connected with a train to Poole which in turn connected with a boat to France. It didn’t last long, though.

[@Richardincancale]

This was a really excellent video! Your presentation was gripping! Music at the right (quiet) level. Great image and sound quality. Possibly your best yet!

[@RotGoblin]

Whenever this tree wants to fall over in the woods, we'll be there to hear it.

[@oldoneeye7516]

very nice to watch again. As an history-enthusiast and enjoyer of nature, this is really great. I should do something similar at my home, just for the enjoyement. Thx

[@davidcarbonnel6396]

NO, THANK YOU PAUL! I absolutely love coming here to hear your wonderful stories!

[@timothyconover9805]

In the 1970s we had people working industriously at cutting off the Florida peninsula from mainland USA. It was a boondoggle that eventually lost support. In retrospect, they should have dug a moat around Tallahassee instead.

[@martynbuzzing3327]

Thanks for that. A very interesting subject and told so well.

[@sdsparkes]

Thank you! Love your videos.

[@tommytron2000]

Great footage considering the over cast.

[@pwhitewick]

Thanks!

[@jonpick5045]

The Sweet track, brilliantly, isn't named for any of the archaeologists or academics who worked on the project. Ray Sweet was a digger driver. I've always liked that they gave him due credit.

[@pwhitewick]

Absolutely yes. Should always be a thing!

[@chuxmix65]

My town in coastal New England, US always shows up in Cornwall videos! Heck, half of the towns in my county have Cornwall names!

[@DP-co8ro]

@ the 14:07 map you can see Exeter. Not far from there is Woodbury where Sir Walter Raleigh lived. He is know for setting up the first Colonies in the US. Probably why there are a lot of places where you live that share their name with places around this location including Woodbury.

[@everestyeti]

Another fascinating film, always think its a shame that all the work that went into canals that were unfinished due to costs and projected use. Sounds a lot like HS2, bought the land and started building infrastructure only for it to be shelved. 🤗

[@jackprier7727]

That 1800 yard tunnel is yet another of those wild magnificent old structures that your countryside has that always brighten my interest and surprise-

[@jaydee4697]

Lovely video; thank you for sharing!