John Edyvean
John Edyvean was a British engineer from Cornwall who developed an inclined plane system, to reduce the necessity for locks on the English canal network.
Canal
In 1773, during the reign of George III, a plan was approved in principle by the House of [Commons of Great Britain] to create a canal from Mawgan Porth, through various parishes including St Mawgan, St. Columb Major, Little Colan, and St. Columb Minor, to Porth. Edyvean gave evidence and was described as John Edyvean of St Austell, Gentleman. The scheme, called the St Columb Canal or Edyvean’s Canal, was designed to be 13 miles long, running in a loop inland from Mawgan Porth and then back to Newquay, with the purpose of moving sand, seaweed, and stone to farms inland. It would follow a contour line and thus need no canal locks. Work is said to have begun in 1773, but only the section between Mawgan Porth and St Columb was ever finished.However, Edyvean died before the project was completed at a cost of £100,000. An attempt to revive the scheme was made in 1829 by a Mr Retallick of Liskeard, but this amounted to nothing.
Edyvean also proposed the Bude Canal.