The first which would have connected Chard to the canal network was a scheme surveyed in 1769 by Robert Whitworth, to link the River Parrett to Seaton in Devon.

4. c. cxcix) was obtained on 6 July 1825, and although subscriptions of over £1.5 million were promised, no further action occurred, with the company disappearing after 1828.

[3] With the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal having opened in 1827, there was further initiative to link Chard to it, and James Green carried out a survey in 1831.

The route was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long, but with Chard some 231 feet (70 m) higher than the canal at Creech St Michael, his plan involved two boat lifts, two inclined planes and two tunnels, and was costed at £57,000.

4. c. liii) was obtained in June 1834, authorising the raising of £57,000, with an additional £20,000 if required, but local enthusiasm for the scheme was muted and most of the capital was provided by just five men, all of whom were involved in the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.

[5][6] Further changes to the original plans were made above Ilminster inclined plane, where another tunnel was constructed, enabling the line of the canal to be built at a lower level.

A lock was added at Bere Mills, to raise the line by 7 feet (2.1 m) and the length of the Chard incline was increased.

There were immediate benefits to the community, as coal prices fell, but the total cost of construction had been about £140,000, and as income was only a third of what had been projected, the canal company was never able to meet even the interest payments on its debts.

The incline at Chard Common was quite different, consisting of a single track, with the tub-boats being carried on a cradle with four wheels.

Near Lower Farm, a bridge on the Thornfalcon to Creech road is now a grade II listed structure,[12] and the three-arched aqueduct which carried the canal over the River Tone is largely intact, although it no longer has its parapets.

[13] During World War II part of the Taunton Stop Line invasion defence project ran along the canal.