Staple Vale, Taddiport & the Rolle Road

It's not easy to see where the canal went in the area around the old Torrington Railway Station, known before the railway arrived as Staple Vale. From the Furzebeam section the line of the Rolle Canal crosses the Tarka Trail and heads along the contour line across fields, passing close to Staple Vale before crossing the main road and heading towards Taddiport, the centre of operation for the Rolle Canal. 

Taddiport was the base for the whole Rolle Canal operation. On the site of the old Torridge Vale Dairies were the offices, workshops and stores, everything that was needed to run a canal. 

After Taddiport the canal follows the river Torridge around to New Town Mills. When the canal closed in 1871, the then owner, the Hon. Mark Rolle, converted it into a toll road. 

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This is the Rolle Road will Taddiport in the distance.

You can still walk along the towpath or on the road, which at times still looks like a canal. When the road was constructed not all the the puddled clay was removed from the bed of the canal and so the road suffered from lack of drainage. 

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More photos of the Rolle Road HERE