Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/100

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BLYTH RIVER.
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 * 30 George II. Cap. 47, Royal Assent 1st April, 1757.

This river rises near Laxfield, in the north-eastern parts of Suffolk, whence it takes an easterly course, by Ubbeston Hall, Hevingham Hall, and Walpole, to near the market town of Halesworth, from which place to the sea, at Southwould, it was made navigable under the authority of an act, entitled,  'An Act for making the River Blyth navigable from Halesworth Bridge, in the county of Suffolk, into the Haven of Southwould.' 

It is in length nine miles, and there are four locks upon it, and although it is in a part of the kingdom where there are neither minerals or manufactures, it is of considerable advantage to the district lying between the navigable Rivers Waveney and Gipping, by the facility it gives for the export of its agricultural productions, and the import of lime, coal, and merchandize in general. 

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BLYTH RIVER.
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THIS river rises a few miles west of Belsay Castle, in Northumberland, the seat of Sir Charles Miles Lambert Monck, Bart. whence, taking a westerly course, by Kirkley Hall, and about a mile to the north of Blagdon Park, it pursues a circuitous route by Bedlington, and falls into the harbour of Blyth, near a village bearing that name, which is situate on its southern bank.

It is navigable only for a short distance, as a tideway river, and consequently free of toll. On its northern bank, at about a mile above the village of Coopen, are the Bedlington Iron Works, and a short distance west of the last-mentioned place, a railway of considerable length extends to the collieries near Willow Bridge, five miles east of Morpeth. At Blyth there are also private railways from the collieries situate three quarters of a mile to the west of the village, upon which coal is conveyed to the harbour, to be shipped for London, and the towns on the eastern coast.