This picture did not come to the Tate Gallery as part of the Turner Bequest but was presented in 1944 by Miss M. H. Turner, a descendant of the artist's next-of-kin who successfully disputed his will. The attribution has even been doubted but it is quite definitely in Turner's hand and seems to be the first idea for the composition of Chichester Canal' (No.327), seen at a slightly different angle, with the setting sun but without the ship and the distant glimpse of Chichester Cathedral that add important accents to the composition in the later versions. It is more thickly painted than the other sketches and the way in which the paint has been worked on the canvas when wet is closer to works like Nos.308, 315 and 483.