Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/256

 of Sir Thomas S. Massey Stanley, Bart. and ten miles south-east of the port of Liverpool. Its course is south by Stoke, Wervin, and between Moston and Mollington Hall, to Chester, where there is a short branch which locks down into the River Dee. Hence its course is eastwardly, skirting the north wall of the city, by the shot manufactories; thence more southerly, passing Christleton, Waverton, Beeston Castle, to Wardle Green, from whence a branch proceeds to join a branch of the Trent and Mersey or Grand Trunk Canal at Middlewich. The main line proceeds for about one mile and a half from Wardle Green to near Hurleston, where another branch proceeds to near Darfold Hall, about three quarters of a mile west of Nantwich, where it connects with the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, now in course of execution. From Hurleston the main line proceeds southward by Burland to Woodcot, and thence westward by Wrenbury and Tushingham, near Whitchurch, where the canal enters the county of Salop. Hence its course lies on the west side of the town of Whitchurch, to which there is a short branch; thence it skirts the boundary of a detached portion of the county of Flint to The Cottage, where there is a branch to a wharf near Edstaston. The main line proceeds in a westwardly direction, crossing a point of Flintshire, and by Welsh Hampton to the south side of Ellesmere, to which town there is a short branch; hence its course is more southerly, by Tetchill to Francton Common, where the Llanymynech Branch proceeds from it. The main line continues from the last-mentioned point in a westwardly direction, by Halston Hall and Belmont, and across the River Ceiriog, by a fine stone aqueduct; thence through Chirk Tunnel to the River Dee, over which it is carried by means of the famous cast iron aqueduct at Pont-y-Cysylte. From this aqueduct a navigable feeder is made along the north bank of the Dee to Llantysilio. There is also a railway from the same place to Ruabon Brook Collieries, which also belongs to the proprietors of this navigation.

The Lmanymynech Branch takes a south-westerly course from Francton Common by Wood House and Crickheath Hall, to near Llanymynech, where it forms a junction with the Montgomeryshire Canal, in the township of Careghofa, in the county of Salop.