Chard had been an important commercial centre in the eighteenth century, based on linen drapery, shoemaking, wool and machine-made lace and cloth manufacture; during the canal age, a canal was built to connect the town to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael.
It was completed in 1842 but it was never commercially viable.

The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) had opened its line to Taunton on 1 July 1842, giving rail access to London.
The canal company sought Parliamentary approval to convert the canal to a railway, and it obtained an Act of Parliament to do so between Creech St Michael on the B&ER to Ilminster.
The Act was passed on 16 July 1846; the Company obtained a second Act in 1847 to extend the railway to Chard.
However the Chard Canal Company was in financial difficulty at this time and the necessary capital was not available; the powers lapsed, and the Chard Canal Company went into bankruptcy administration in 1853.
Chard had been an important commercial centre in the eighteenth century, based on linen drapery, shoemaking, wool and machine-made lace and cloth manufacture; during the canal age, a canal was built to connect the town to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Creech St. Michael. It was completed in 1842 but it was never commercially viable.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) had opened its line to Taunton on 1 July 1842, giving rail access to London. The canal company sought Parliamentary approval to convert the canal to a railway, and it obtained an Act of Parliament to do so between Creech St Michael on the B&ER to Ilminster. The Act was passed on 16 July 1846; the Company obtained a second Act in 1847 to extend the railway to Chard. However the Chard Canal Company was in financial difficulty at this time and the necessary capital was not available; the powers lapsed, and the Chard Canal Company went into bankruptcy administration in 1853.
Chard branch line