he supervised the construction of the neath canal from neath to ynysbwllog, where the canal was to cross the river neath by an aqueduct; but in 1792 he resigned before the project was completed, in order to become engineer for the monmouthshire canal. he was contracted to devote three-quarters of his time to the canal, the main line of which was completed by 1796, and the remaining quarter enabled him to fulfill his obligation on the leominster canal. in addition to the canal, he supervised construction of five tramways for the canal company, which connected to quarries, ironworks and collieries, and an independent tramway, the trevil rail road. the monmouthshire canal company also asked him to survey the southern section of the brecknock and abergavenny canal, with a view to finding a high level route which would result in most of the canal being lock-free. this he did and the route was adopted. he retained his position as engineer to the monmouthshire canal until late 1798.