Report of the Knaresbrough Rail-way Committee

Report of the Knaresbrough
Rail-way
by Knaresbrough
Rail-way Committee

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Title: Report of the Knaresbrough Rail-way Committee
Author: Knaresbrough Rail-way Committee

Release Date: June 28, 2007 [eBook #21956]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REPORT OF
THE KNARESBROUGH RAIL-WAY COMMITTEE***

Transcribed from the March 1820 edition by David Price, email
[email protected]

REPORT OF THE KNARESBROUGH RAIL-WAY COMMITTEE.
TO THE NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN,
Proprietors of Estates,
ON THE ADOPTED LINE;
TO THE SUBSCRIBERS FOR THE SURVEY, AND TO AN
ENLIGHTENED AND LIBERAL PUBLIC,
This Report OF THE KNARESBROUGH RAIL-WAY,
(Originally intended for a Canal)
IS WITH ALL DUE DEFERENCE AND REGARD PRESENTED BY
THEIR FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT SERVANTS, THE
COMMITTEE.

PREFACE.
If the River Nidd and the brooks adjacent, in the vicinity of Knaresbro',
up the valley to Ramsgill, near Pateley-Bridge, and near the adopted
line, had not possessed the many water-falls, and given motion to the
sixty-seven mills which they do;--or had the great landed proprietors,
on the line now adopted been hostile to this all improving project, of
this highly favoured and not less honoured, their native district;--or had
the hand of Nature, when it varied the surface of our earth, no doubt for
wise purposes, and formed those high hills, composed their bowels of
any other substance than what it is;--or had the commercial necessities
of Knaresbro' and its neighbourhood not existed, and the slow progress
of their redemption, compared with others, at one time of far less note,
not been too apparent; then, perhaps, this project, commendable as it is,

would have shared the same fate, during a season of sickness, which it
did twenty years ago.
But since these falls of water do exist, and are always ready to lend
their willing aid to turn the ponderous wheels which impart motion to
many mill-stones and many thousand spindles, beyond the possibility
of denial;--and since the great landed proprietors have expressed
nothing unfriendly to the project, but, if any thing, the reverse, at this
moment of national difficulties and distress, highly to their credit and
understanding;--and since the all-wise hand of Providence hath
permitted an unceasing demand in one place, and a never-failing supply
in another, at distances perhaps the most suitable and interesting for a
work of this kind; {vi}--and, considering the necessity which the
commerce of this district so evidently requires in an improved mode of
transporting, from place to place, its heavy weights, with despatch and
cheapness; then there can be no doubt of the propriety of prosecuting a
scheme of this kind, so long, as we believe, on substantial data, that the
completion of it will reward the shareholder, and give to this place
what it once possessed, and be the means of rendering it again the first
district in the kingdom for the manufacture of linens.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
At a meeting held the 16th day of March, 1818, in the Town's-Hall, at
Knaresbro', your Committee were authorised to appoint a suitable
person to take a survey of the country, in order to point out the most
eligible line for a Canal to Knaresbro'.
After various correspondence with different engineers, the choice of
your Committee fell upon Thomas Telford, Esq. a gentleman of long
experience, and of whose abilities, as a civil engineer, every reliance
was placed. About the latter end of May following, this gentleman
visited Knaresbro', viewed the localities of the place, took running and
comparative levels over the shortest and most convenient ground, to the
higher side of Linton-lock, and also towards Tadcaster. In the latter
direction, as being a more direct communication with the port of Hull,

he fully recommended a close survey to be made, for which purpose he
sent his assistant Mr. Palmer, who commenced the survey with such
other assistance as he required, about the latter end of June, and
continued surveying and levelling in various directions until the middle
of September;--about this time your Committee became alarmed for the
success of the intended Canal, both on account of the unfavourable
ground between the town of Knaresbro' and Ribston, and the difficulty
of obtaining a sufficient head of water in a natural manner.
Besides at this time the elevated situation of Knaresbro' above the
Wharfe was ascertained to be 198 feet, equal to 22 locks of 9 feet each;
and hence, even if water could be obtained at a cheap rate, by artificial
means, the number of locks