Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/101



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BOLTON AND LEIGH RAILWAY.
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 * 6 George IV. Cap. 18, Royal Assent 31st March, 1825.
 * 9 George IV. Cap. 8, Royal Assent 26th March, 1828.

This railway commences at the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal, in the township of Haulgh, near the town of Bolton-le Moors, and proceeds in a south-westerly direction through the extensive collieries in the neighbourhood of Hulton Hall, thence by Atherton Hall, to that branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal which communicates with the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal, at the town of Leigh. It is in length seven miles and three quarters, and there is a rise of 119 feet, in the first two thousand three hundred and sixty yards from Bolton; and from this point to the highway adjoining the canal, at Leigh, is a fall of 337 feet. There is an inclined plane of one inch per yard, in the township of Great Bolton, one thousand three hundred and eighty-six yards in length; and by the pariiamentary plan it appears that another is intended to be made in the townships of Over Hulton and Atherton, of the length of four thousand six hundred and twenty yards, with a fall of 303 feet.

The act for making this railway, received the royal assent on the 31st March, 1825, and is entitled,  'An Act for making and maintaining a Railway or Tramroad from or from near the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal, in the parish of Bolton-le-Moors, to or near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, in the parish of Leigh, all in the county palatine of Lancaster.' 

The subscribers to this scheme, at the time the act was obtained, consisted of fifty persons, who were incorporated by the name of "The Bolton and Leigh Railway Company," and they obtained power to raise among themselves, by subscription, the sum of £44,000, in four hundred and forty shares of £100 each; and if any part of the said sum of £44,000 remains unsubscribed, the company have power to borrow such part upon promissory notes under the common seal, or they may raise the same by mortgage, on security of the rates, the interest of which is to be paid in preference to dividends.