Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/40

18 to admit vessels of one hundred tons burthen up to the towns of Leeds and Wakefield; and will enable vessels from Leeds and Wakefield to reach Goole in eight hours, and from Manchester within forty-five hours; these vessels are expedited by a steam tug. An elegant steam packet runs daily from Castleford to Goole for the conveyance of passengers. 

ALFORD, whence this canal takes its name, is a market town on the Lincolnshire coast, five miles in a direct line from the German Ocean, and about equi-distant from Louth and Wainfleet. The canal was designed by Mr. William Tierney Clarke, civil engineer, and the estimated cost of completing it was £36,924, 15s. The act, which received the royal assent on the day quoted above, is entitled,  'An Act for making and constructing a Canal, from the town of Alford, in the county of Lincoln, to the Sea, at or near the village of Anderby, in the said county, with a Basin, Harbour, and Pier.' 

The canal is 8 feet deep, and is supplied with water from Holywell Spring, and from a drain, or stream, called Boy Grift, from which are feeders communicating with the canal. It enters the sea near the village of Anderby, about a quarter of a mile from low-water-mark; it has a sea-lock, which keeps the surface of the water, in the pool next the sea, 14⅔ feet above low-water at spring tides, which is equal to high-water-mark, neap tides, - the average spring tide being 18½ feet. From the sea-lock, to another rising 7¾ feet, it is level for three miles and a half; thence it is level to the basin of the canal, which terminates half a mile south of Alford, and is rather more than a mile and a half long, making the total length of the canal to low-water-mark six miles and a half.

The subscribers to this canal were incorporated under the name and style of "The Alford Canal Company," and were empowered to raise among themselves a sum, not exceeding £38,000, of which, more than £30,000 was raised before the application to parliament. This sum was divided into seven hundred and sixty shares of £50