Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/259

 from the River Dee, within the liberties of the city of Chester, to or near Middlewich and Nantwich, in the county of Chester; and the other made in the Seventeenth Year of his said Majesty's Reign, for varying and enlarging the Powers of the said former Act.

If the sum of £33,600, hereby authorized to be raised by the call above-recited, be insufficient for the purposes required, the company may borrow, on security of the tolls, the further sum of £10,000.

Under these several acts the canal from Chester to Nantwich was completed about 1780; but the branch to Middlewich, in consequence chiefly of the restrictive clause contained in the act of 17th George III. remained unexecuted until the present time, when the united companies of the Chester and Ellesmere Canals have, under new powers lately granted, commenced the undertaking under the skilful direction of Mr. Telford; and it is expected shortly to be opened. Mr. James Brindley was employed upon this canal as well as other engineers. So much was this concern depressed at the time it had no communication with other navigations, that it is said that shares were sold for one per cent. of their original value.

About fifteen years subsequent to the passing of the last-recited act, an act was obtained by a company consisting of twelve hundred and thirty-eight persons, (amongst whom were Sir Foster Cunliffe, Sir Richard Hill, and Sir Thomas Hanmer,) entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from the River Severn, at Shrewsbury, in the county of Salop, to the River Mersey, at or near Netherpool, in the county of Chester; and also for making and maintaining certain collateral Cuts from the said intended Canal, by which they were incorporated by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Ellesmere Canal," and empowered to raise among themselves the sum of £400,000, and an additional sum of £50,000, if necessary; and, by mortgage of the tolls, the further sum of £50,000.

The line of this proposed navigation was from the Mersey along its present course to Chester, where it crosses the Dee, and thence by Wrexham and Poolmouth to the Pont-y-Cysylte Aqueduct, and thence along the present executed line by Francton Com-