The original Exeter Canal, opened in 1566, was built to bypass weirs that had been erected on the River Exe and thus enable goods to reach the port of Exeter - originally in barges, later in ocean-going ships. It was the first canal in Britain to have pound locks. It was substantially altered in 1701 and again in 1827. It reached its present form in the 1830s, when the canal basin was also built.
The Ship Canal commences at the basin in the south of the city of Exeter, and proceeds by Topsham to Turf, where it joins the estuary of the River Exe. The River Exe in Exeter is also navigable from Exe Bridge to the junction with the canal through Kings Arms Flood Gates.