quarter, to the coal and other works at Nailsea; and another, of four miles and three quarters, on the north bank of the Axe, by the town of Axbridge, to Cheddar. At Clevdon Hill there is a proposed tunnel of six hundred yards in length; and another at Banwell, the eastern edge of the Mendip Hills, the length of which is one thousand and fifty yards.
The subscribers to this canal were, at the time the act was obtained, three hundred and twenty-six in number, amongst whom were Sir James Dubberley, Sir Richard Graves, Sir John Kennaway, Sir William Rawlins, and the Right Honourable Sir George Yonge, Baronets. They were incorporated, in the first act, by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Bristol and Taunton Canal Navigation," with power to raise among themselves the sum of £420,000, in four thousand two hundred shares of £100 each, with further power to raise among themselves, in proportion to the first subscription, if necessary, an additional sum of £150,000; or they may raise the same on mortgage of the tolls and duties hereby granted, the interest of which to be paid in preference to dividends or any other claim. In addition to the line of canal, the company obtained power to make railways or stone roads from the Nailsea Branch to the collieries and other works in that neighbourhood.
In the aqueducts over the navigable River Brue, or Glastonbury Canal, and the Axe River Navigation, the company are bound to specified areas; that for the first-mentioned river to be 360 square feet, and for the Axe 240; they are also required to make, on each of those rivers, near their respective aqueducts, two locks sufficient for passing vessels of ten tons burthen; and in order that these, and other things therein mentioned, should be properly executed, the company are directed to invest, in the public funds, the sum of £10,000, to be under the control of the commissioners of sewers acting for the county of Somerset.
The company are prohibited from taking the water from Lox Yeo, and from Banwell Hill Spring, and if injury be done to the latter, which is in the estate of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the fund of £10,000 above-mentioned is to be answerable for damages. They are also restricted from cutting any portion of the canal between the parish of Clevdon and the Parrett, until it is finished
