Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/344

 The direction of the canal is nearly north-east; the length about thirty-five miles, crossing the south-west branch of the Grand Ridge.

When it is considered, that by its means, particularly if connected with the projected Bristol Ship Canal, those populous places, Exeter, Wellington, Tiverton, Taunton, &amp;c. will be enabled to import and export articles of commerce and produce, it will be evident that the completion of this undertaking must be of general utility.

GRANTHAM CANAL.
33 George III. Cap. 94, Royal Assent 30th April, 1793.

37 George III. Cap. 30, Royal Assent 3rd March, 1797.

THIS canal was executed in consequence of an act of parliament, bearing date 30th April, 1793, and entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from or nearly from the town of Grantham, in the county of Lincoln, to the River Trent, near Nottingham Trent Bridge; and also a collateral Cut from the said intended Canal, at or near Cropwell Butler, to the town of Bingham, both in the county of Nottingham.

According to the tenor of the above-recited act, the canal commences on the east side of the town of Grantham, in Lincoinshire, from which place it pursues its course nearly due east, though in a very circuitous direction, to its termination at the Trent Bridge at Nottingham, having completed a distance of above thirty miles. After leaving Grantham, it passes by Harloxton to Woolsthorp Point, a distance of five miles on the summit level, 1 97½ feet above low water; from Woolsthorp Point to Stainwith Close, a distance of less than two miles, there is a fall of 59 feet nearly; from Stainwith to Cropwell Butler, the distance is twenty miles, and level; from this place to the termination at Trent Bridge, in Holme Pierpoint, a distance of four miles, there is a fall to the Trent of 88½ feet. The canal is cut through a clay soil, and has its water entirely supplied by reservoirs, of which there are two; one at the summit level near Denton, of twenty acres, 9 feet deep; the other at Knipton, made for the purpose of receiving the flood waters of the River Devon, and covering sixty