Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/357

 Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Cut or Canaifrom the city of Hereford to the city of Gloucester, with a collateral Cut from the same to the town of Newent, in the county of Gloucester.

This canal pursues a northerly direction from Byster's Gate in Hereford, near to the banks of the Wye, till it Comes to the River Lugg, near Sulton St. Michael and Sulton St. Nicholas; having crossed this river, it takes an easterly course to Munsley; thence crossing the River Leadon, it proceeds in a southerly direction, till it again crosses the Leadon, two miles below Ledbury; after pursuing its course to Denimoch easterly, it crosses the same river for a third and fourth time at four miles from the last-mentioned place; proceeding onwards to its termination, it passes by Pountley, Newent, Rudford and Lassington, crossing for the last time the Leadon, and also a branch of the Severn, in which river, after going through a cut across Alney Island, it terminates opposite to Gloucester.

By the first act the proprietors of this canal were authorized to demand the following

TONNAGE RATES.
And so on in Proportion for different Distances.

The original sum granted by the act for completing this work was £25,000, with power to raise £30,000, more, if necessary; shares to be £100 each.

The advantages of the amended act are, the nearer approach to Hereford and the tunnel at Oxenhall, which saves the collateral cut to Newent, and avoids a great deal of circuitous navigation.

We have stated above that the length of canal, when finished, will be thirty-five miles and a half, which is on the following levels, - from Hereford to Withington March, six miles of level canal; from thence to Monkhide, (which is a summit level at an elevation of 195½ feet above low water of the Severn,) there is a rise of 30 feet in a distance of three miles: the canal continues on the summit level for eight miles and a half to Ledbury; from that