branch of the Churwell; at Nell Bridge it is crossed by the turnpike-road, and pursuing the same southerly direction, leaving Deddington on the west and Aynhoe on the east, it terminates in the River Thames at the city of Oxford, 192 feet above the level of the sea. Its original line throughout is very winding, but particularly so from its commencement to the summit level. From its commencement in the Coventry Canal at Longford to Hill Morton, a distance of twenty-six miles and a half, it is on a level; in the next half mile there is a rise of 19 feet; it then traverses on a level to Napton for about seventeen miles, in which distance it communicates with the Grand Junction and the Warwick and Napton Canals; in the next two miles, the end of the summit at Marston Dobs Wharf, there is a rise of 55 feet 5 inches; for the next ten miles and three quarters is the extent of the summit level; in the next distance of seven miles and a quarter, there is a fall of 77 feet 4 inches to Banbury; from thence to the River Thames at Oxford, where it terminates, is twenty-seven miles and a quarter, with 118 feet fall, making the total length ninety-one miles. The summit level is 55 feet above the northern end of the Grand Junction Canal. It has an aqueduct of twelve arches of 22 feet span each, over the valley at Brinklow, and two others at Casford and Clifton over the Swift and Avon Rivers, which unite in the fork made there by this canal; at Newbold there is a tunnel of a hundred and twenty-five yards in length, passing under the Church Yard and Town's Street; and near Fenny Compton, not far from the summit level, another eleven hundred and eighty-eight yards long. This canal was originally projected by Mr. Brindley, who in 1769 was appointed engineer, and after him Mr. Whitworth. The company in their first act had power to raise £150,000 by shares of £100 each, and if needful a further sum of £50,000. Both these sums, along with £22,300 more, had in 1775 been expended, when the canal was only finished so far as Napton. They again applied to parliament for powers to borrow £70,000; this enabled them in 1778 to complete the canal to Banbury; and again by 26 George III. they obtained parliamentary power to borrow a further sum of £60,000, which enabled them to finish the work, and upon the 1st January, 1790, the canal was opened to Oxford.
