Description

ST74NE GREAT ELM CP
MURTRY BOTTOM
7/161
Murtry Aqueduct
(previously listed in Buckland
Dinham and Selwood Civil Parishes)
29.4.83

- II

Former aqueduct carrying disused canal over Mells River. Aqueduct. C 1795. Doulting stone, sandstone coping to
parapets. Three arch span, supporting channel c 12 m wide and 1.75 m deep, and with c 17m run of retaining wall to the
East, on the South side of aqueduct. Flat segmental arches with clear span c 6.1 m and rise c 1.5 m with triple
projecting keystones and y-jointed voussoirs tapered in depth from crown to springing-point, set in rusticated
spandrels under flat projecting string. Above the string plain ashlar parapet c 1.7 m deep, coped with heavy sandstone
blocks with rounded saddleback profile moulded to outer face only. Between arches, trianglular cutwaters and at ends of
walling and between arches, v-jointed ashlared pilasters carried through full height. Maximum overall lenght of parapet
on South side c 38 m, and on North side c 21.5 m; river width c 20 m. This is one of very few structures remaining on a
branch of the proposed Dorset and Somerset Canal which was begun in the last decade of the C18, but abandoned in 1803.
Murtry Aqueduct is a good quality design with some architectural pretension; at the time of the survey, the arches,
spandrels and abutments appeared to be sound, apart from the loss of some voussoir stones at the cutwaters. The parapet
walling also looks sound, but the proposed channel is filled with earth and growing undergrowth and trees. (Robin
Atthill, Old Mendip, pages 165-177, 1971; Kenneth Clew, The Dorset and Somerset Canal, 1971).

Listing NGR: ST7622849783

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Murtry Aqueduct at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q6939758

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2