James Templer (1748–1813) of Stover House, Teigngrace, saw this as an opportunity, and began to construct the canal at his own expense in January 1790.

[7] The canal was sold in 1829 by George Templer, along with the Stover estate and the quarries and tramway, to Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset (1775-1855).

[10] The canal passed into the ownership of the Great Western Railway in 1877, but continued to be leased to Watts, Blake and Co., who paid a fixed price for its use, and were also required to maintain it.

Traffic dwindled and finally ceased in 1937, but Watts, Blake and Company's latest 14-year lease did not end until 1942,[11] and so it was not formally abandoned until March 1943.

[13] In the late 1980s, parts of the towpath were incorporated into the Templer Way historical trail, created by Teignbridge District Council, who were by then owners of Jetty Marsh Lock and Ventiford Basin.

[14] In 2013 the towpath was opened to public access; in 2014 the remains of a barge were excavated in Ventiford Basin and a new stretch of the granite tramway was discovered.

With labour provided by the Waterway Recovery Group, some of the stonework was dismantled, to allow tree roots to be removed, after which it was reinstated and the blockwork was repointed.

[16] Ventiford Basin was cleared of silt by staff from a local clay company in 2016, with the work uncovering the remains of two more barges and another section of the Haytor Granite Tramway.

After the stonework had been repointed, a dam was built at the southern end of the basin, and it was relined with puddle clay, allowing it to refill with water during 2019.