Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/669

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

difficulties which occurred in the execution thereof, would extend our remarks beyond an ordinary length; suffice it therefore to say, that the line was projected by Mr. Brindley, and executed by him up to the time of his decease, after that by Mr. Henshall. Besides the extensive one over the Dove, there are no less than one hundred and twenty-six aqueducts and culverts, ninety-one locks and six tunnels. The lockage from Harecastle Summit to the Trent, at Wilden Ferry, is 316 feet; the six locks near Wilden Ferry are 14 feet wide, enabling river boats to come up to Burton; the rest only 7 feet; from the summit to the Duke's Canal at Preston Brook, is a lockage of 326 feet. The famous Harecastle Tunnel, two thousand eight hundred and eighty yards long, is situated upon the sumnmit of this canal. The total length of the canal is ninety-three miles.

ULVERSTONE CANAL.

33 George III. Cap. 105, Royal Assent 8th May, 1793.

THE object of this canal is to admit ships to the town of Ulverstone. It commences at Hammerside Hill, in Morecombe Bay, in the Irish Sea, and terminates at the new basin and wharfs at Ulverstone, and is about a mile and a half in length; it is level with high water at ordinary tides, and has a sea lock 112 feet long at its entrance.

The act of parliament authorizing this undertaking, is entitled,' An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Cut or Canal from a Place called Hammerside Hill, in the parish of Ulverstone, in the county palatine of Lancaster, to a Place called Weint End, near the town of Ulverstone aforesaid.' It incorporates the subscribers by the name of "The Company of Proprietors of the Ulverstone Canal Navigation," and empowers them to raise amongst themselves, for the purposes of the act, the sum of £4,000 in shares of £50 each, and, if necessary, a further sum of £3,000, and to take the following tonnage rates.