main line, one of which, called the Newport Branch, commences near the village of Norbury, from whence it passes close to the town of Newport, and from thence to the Shrewsbury Canal, at Wappinshall Bridge, in the parish of Wellington. Its length is ten miles and a quarter, with a fall, from the main line, of 139 feet, by twenty-three locks; the last four miles and a half to the Shrewsbury Canal, being level. From this branch there is a collateral cut to a place called The Buttery, in the parish of Edgmond, which is nearly half a mile in length, the estimate for which is £2,421, 18s. lOd. and for the Newport Branch, £72,629, 13s. 2d. The company had it in contemplation to make a second collateral cut, from the Newport Branch, to Lime Kiln Bridge, but it was abandoned. The length was two miles and three quarters, and the estimate for making it amounted to the sum of £17,652, 14s. 6d.; in lieu, however, of which, the company are required to make a cut or railway from the Newport Branch to the limestone works, at Donnington Wood, and Lilleshall, belonging to the Right Honourable George Granville Lord Gower, whenever he shall require it to be done.
All these estimates were made by Mr. Thomas Telford, in 1826.
On the above branches, the company are empowered to collect the same tonnage rates as are allowed on the main line by the act of 7th George IV.
In this act, the company are restricted from using the water in Aqualate Mere, Wyn's Well Pool, and the Moss Pool, belonging to Sir T. F. Fenton Boughey, Bart. or the streams of water supplying and passing through the same.
The chief advantages arising from the execution of this canal is a shorter navigation between the ports of Chester, Liverpool, and the district of North Wales, and the important towns of Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, the mineral districts of Staffordshire and Shropshire, and the Metropolis. The agricultural districts in the south of Cheshire, the western parts of Staffordshire, and the north-eastern parts of Salop, through which this canal is now being constructed, will also be greatly benefited.
