Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/350



HAY RAILWAY.
51 George III. Cap. 122, Royal Assent 25th May, 1811.

52 George III. Cap. 106, Royal Assent 20th May, 1812.

THIS railway commences at the wharf of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, not far from the town of Brecon, and pursuing a circuitous course through a mountainous district, in some parts 670 feet or more above the level of the sea, it ends at the village of Eardisley, in the county of Hereford, where a junction of the Kington Railroad has since been made with it.

This undertaking was commenced in the latter end of the year 1811, under the authority of an act of the legislature, entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a Railway from or near the public Wharf of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, in the parish of St. John the Evangelist, in the county of Brecon, to or near to a certain Place called Parton Cross, in the parish of Eardisley, in the county of Hereford. But before the proprietors had advanced far in their work, they perceived the necessity of varying the line of their original design, and, consequently, went again to parliament for the purpose of obtaining a second act, which received the royal assent in 1812, and is styled, An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Hay Railway to amend, vary, and extend the Line of the said Railway, and for altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act passed in the Fifty-first Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, for making and maintaining the said Railway.

By the first act the proprietors have power to raise £50,000 in shares of £100 each, and a further sum of £15,000, if necessary, amongst themselves, or by the admission of new subscribers or by mortgage, or by promissory notes. The work commenced with a subscription, in £100 shares, of £47,500. Under the provisions of these acts the work has been completed; and the following are fixed as