The Radstock arm was never commercially successful and was replaced first with a tramway in 1815[1] and later incorporated into the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

The resultant lowering in level meant that only small loads could be transported, which reduced revenue, thus the canal company could not afford a replacement pump.

[2] In 1763 coal was discovered in Radstock and mining began in the area, but transport was a major problem because of the poor state of the roads.

[7] He then set himself up in a private practice in Bath but was re-engaged by the company in 1811, to provide advice when repairs became necessary to the canal bed.

3. c. 86), entitled "An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal, with certain Railways and Stone Roads, from several Collieries in the county of Somerset, to communicate with the intended Kennet and Avon Canal, in the parish of Bradford, in the county of Wilts" of 1794,[3] and further detailed surveys were carried out by Robert Whitworth and John Sutcliffe, who was then appointed as chief engineer.

In 1799 William Whitmore and his partner, Norton, offered to build a balance (or geometrical) lift without payment, on condition that if successful they were to have £17,300 and a royalty of 4 pence per ton of goods passed.

Mr Weldon (the inventor) made one successful descent on 7 June and said "I will undertake to pass 1,500 tons of goods through the lock in 12 hrs".

3. c. xxxv), on 30 April 1802, which authorised the formation of a separate body called "The Lock Fund of the Somerset Coal Canal Company", with powers to raise the sum of £45,000.

The money was raised by the Kennet and Avon, the Wilts and Berks and the Somerset Coal Canal each contributing £15,000, and the one shilling surcharge was to be levied until the capital had been repaid, after which it would cease.

Cargoes of over 100,000 tons were common until the 1870s when the decline in output of coal from the various Somerset coalpits, along with competition from the railways, dramatically reduced the canal's profitability.

The closure caused problems across the Somerset coalfield especially to the pits along the Paulton branch, which had relied on the canal for transportation.

It was temporarily replaced with an inclined plane by Benjamin Outram who had successfully installed inclined planes at the Peak Forest Canal in Derbyshire, whilst 22 locks and a Boulton & Watt Steam Pumping Station, capable of lifting 5,000 tons of water in 12 hours, were built to the latest design with metal plate clad wooden gates.

The following extract from the Bath Herald newspaper provides the details of the chosen sites: 14 Jun 1798 Travel: Somerset coal canal – caisson cisterns to be formed at Combe Hay & nr.

on embanking & excavation with the masonry; or each separately – send to sub-committee, Waldegrave Arms, Radstock 20 Jul Plans & specs.

It finally closed in 1874 with the Somerset and Dorset Railway's extension to Bath, built along its route from Radstock to Midford.

Another branch line was constructed in 1882 from Hallatrow to Camerton, running alongside the canal for the last 1+1⁄2 miles (2 km) of its route.

[22][23] The route of the canal lies in a largely agricultural area, dotted with small villages linked by minor roads.

Four locks on the original canal route at Combe Hay have been buried; one by a 20-foot (6 m) railway embankment, and three overfilled by 10 to 20 feet (3–6 m) with building waste since the 1960s.

At Upper Midford the canal is blocked entirely at the accommodation bridge[25] by the 40-foot (12 m) high embankment of the railway that crosses it.

that a statue, commissioned by Sustrans, of William Smith, the father of English Geology, will be sited next to the path on the line of the canal commemorating his work as its surveyor and his recognition of the significance of rock strata.

The 1⁄4-mile (400 m) stretch at Brassknocker Basin where the canal joins the Kennet and Avon at Dundas Aqueduct was restored during the 1980s and is now a thriving marina with moorings.

On the same stretch a retaining wall was discovered in the south embankment continuing for about 100 m (110 yd), possibly built as a repair to a weak section of canal banking.

In October 2006 a grant of £20,000 was obtained from the Heritage Lottery Fund, by the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society in association with Bath & North East Somerset Council and the Avon Industrial Buildings Trust to carry out a technical study on one of the locks and associated structures at Combe Hay.