to the proposal for a canal which could transport the coal to Bath and Wiltshire. Initial surveys were conducted during 1793 by William Jessop and William Smith under the direction of John Rennie who presented the report on 14 October 1793 estimating the cost of construction of the canal at £80,000. Smith, who also worked at the Mearns Pit at High Littleton, made the original observations leading to his important stratification theory by observing the dips in the geological strata through which the canal was cut. Smith became Surveyor to the company, but was dismissed in April 1799, apparently because he had used his position as surveyor to buy a local house at advantageous terms. 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. The canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament 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, and further detailed surveys were carried out by Robert Whitworth and John Sutcliffe, who was then appointed as chief engineer. Construction In May 1795, tenders were invited for the first section to be built from the meadows near Goosehard (or Gooseyard) near Paulton to Hopyard in the parish of Camerton. In June 1795 a contractor, Houghton & Son from Shropshire, started the terminus at Paulton meadows using local labour. This first section of the canal was completed on Monday 1 October 1798; the first load of coal carried on the canal was delivered to Bath via Dunkerton. Some 14 collieries at Timsbury and Paulton were connected to their respective basins in the meadow terminus by tramways; this required the construction of three tramway bridges over the Cam brook. A further bridge at Upper Radford was required over the canal; at this point tramways connected the Withy Mills and Radford workings. The course of the Cam brook was modified at various places to protect the canal from erosion. 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