Several alternative routes were considered and costed before obtaining an Act of Parliament and issuing a prospectus to raise funds for the building of the canal.

The shortfall in income and engineering problems with water supply and waterlogged peat causing the clay puddling to fracture meant that it was sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway.

Glastonbury is situated in an area of low-lying land, known as the Somerset Levels, through which rivers and drainage ditches (locally called "rhynes") run.

There is evidence that the town was served by a medieval canal connecting it to the river system in the Saxon period, and the waterways were later used by the monks who were located at Glastonbury Abbey, both for draining the land and for transport of produce.

The drainage works were not wholly successful in preventing flooding, and the Commissioners often failed to obtain the levies they required to finance their operations.

[4] He saw the canal as a way to halt the economic downturn in the town and its drainage problems, and called a meeting in August 1825, at which a firm plan was formulated.

[5] He considered two main routes; the first followed the course of the River Brue, but was rejected on the grounds of engineering costs, and the interference with its drainage function.

After this, the South Drain would need to be made wider and deeper, but this would aid its drainage function, and would reduce the levy on the local landowners, as the canal company would then be responsible for its maintenance.

[8] A prospectus was issued which contained a detailed breakdown of the likely costs, revenue and profits of such a scheme,[9] and the promoters prepared to obtain an act of Parliament.

The first was ruled out on cost, the third because of the need to transship all goods at Highbridge, and the second was adopted because it allowed the coasters that worked the Bristol Channel to use the canal.

[14] At the Highbridge end, the plans for a floating harbour to accommodate vessels of up to 250 long tons (250 t) were dropped, and the entrance lock was moved further along the original course of the River Brue.

In 1840, the Prat brothers, whose legal firm had played a major part in the creation of the canal, disappeared, leaving a financial shortfall of over £40,000.

They were declared bankrupt and Richard Prat was removed from office as town clerk and a Commissioner of Sewers, but the firm's collapse had a serious effect on the prosperity of Glastonbury.

[21] On the upper section, the final pond prevented the proper drainage of the surrounding land, which being composed of peat, started to swell.

This caused the canal itself to rise and the clay puddling to fracture, resulting in further loss of water, and a reduced depth for navigation.

The remains of the three-arched aqueduct and syphon over the River Brue are still visible, near the old railway bridge, and from there the canal headed towards Glastonbury, passing the Ham Wall and Street Heath nature reserves and making a sharp right-hand turn just before its terminal basin, which was located near the old Glastonbury and Street railway station.