A RARE opportunity will be available later this month to explore one of Exmoor’s most intriguing and mysterious features.

The Pinkery Canal is the highest canal ever built in England and for a time saw tug boats crossing the moors.

It was commissioned by industrialist John Knight, who brought his family from Worcestershire when he purchased the 15,000-acre Exmoor Royal Forest from the Crown Estate in 1819.

He carried out what was described as one of the largest single upland reclamation schemes in southern England, a part of which was the canal project.

The Royal Forest area was previously uninhabited for more than a thousand years, meaning much of its prehistoric landscape survived.

An exploration of the remains of the Pinkery Canal on Exmoor is being opened to the public for a day.
An exploration of the remains of the Pinkery Canal on Exmoor is being opened to the public for a day. (Contributed)

Now, an archaeological dig of the old canal is being opened to the public for a day to allow people to see what is taking place.

A spokesperson sad: “While the canal itself has puzzled people for years, this excavation is looking beneath it, at the peat and soils sealed below its banks.

“These hidden layers act like a time capsule, helping us piece together what Exmoor looked like before the Knight family came to Exmoor and transformed the landscape in the 19th century.

“Join us for a rare chance to step onto the moor and see archaeology in action at the Pinkery Canal.

“Bring a picnic and make a day of it.”

The 200-year-old canal route runs from Pinkery Pond, near Simonsbath, to just south of Warren Farm and was once navigated by small tug boats pulled by horses.

The open day is on Saturday, July 18, from 10 am to 3 pm, and visitors are advised to use the Goat Hill Bridge car park and then walk north on the Macmillan Way West footpath for slightly more than half-a-mile until they see the excavation signposted on their left.