The sea lock gates at Bude cost �500,000 to restore

The canal, built in the 1820s, carried calcium-rich sand to improve farmers' soil.

Two arms ran to Launceston, in north Cornwall, and to Holsworthy in Devon.

It was one of several West Country waterways - others were built at Tiverton, Tavistock and Exeter.

Most of it has dried out, except for a short stretch where it meets the sea at Bude, and an area of marsh and rare grassland nearby.

Floating wagons

The marsh section cannot be re-connected to the rest of the canal because it would upset the delicate ecology.

Little remains of the spectacular engineering incline planes that carried tub-boats to 430 feet above sea level within six miles of the coast.

The canal banks contain rare grasses

David Brown, chief executive of North Cornwall District Council, says the squat wooden boats were linked together like railway wagons.

He said: "It's very interesting industrial archaeology.

"It's not merely a canal - it's also a railway.

"It had these little wooden boats with wheels underneath them, and enormous wheels to drag them up the inclines."

The boats were hauled up hill on steep rails.

Oak gates

No complete tub boats survive and little remains of the winch machinery.

Local people are now being asked what parts of the canal they would like restored.

Mr Brown said: "It would be lovely to open the whole thing, but that's not practical."

He added that restoring the gates on the sea lock this year was a massive logistical headache.

"It is a listed structure and English Heritage insisted we used green oak.

"They're under water or covered in barnacles most of the time.

"We had to go to the Netherlands to find a contractor who could supply them."

When they arrived, they did not fit. An extra section had to be attached to each gate.