company to assign the tolls and rates to those proprietors who had advanced the £11,300, as security to them; and to Thomas Dudley, Esq. as a security for the £15,000 to be advanced by him; and although the persons who lent the £11,300 have a prior claim on the tolls and rates to Mr. Dudley, yet in order to induce him to advance the said sum of £15,000, a majority of them, being four-fifths in value, by an agreement dated the 22nd September, 1824, executed by them, agreed that any mortgage of the tolls made to Thomas Dudley, should have priority over any claims which they had or might have on them; and this agreement is confirmed by the act of parlialnent, which declares that Mr. Dudley shall have preference in payment both of his principal sum and interest, at the rate of £4, 4s. per cent, per annum, over those persons who executed the said agreement and who were creditors of four-fifths of the said, sum of £11,300. And the company are also empowered to raise a further sum of £15,000, in addition to the £15,000 to be advanced by Mr. Dudley, by mortgage of their tolls and rates.
The length of the main line of this railway is about sixteen miles, and the branch to Shipston-upon-Stour two miles and a half; and the rise from the canal at Stratford-upon-Avon to Moreton-in-Marsh is 360 feet.
The principal object of this railway is the conveyance of coal to supply Moreton, Stow and other parts of that country; and, in return, to take stone and agricultural produce.
STROUDWATER NAVIGATION.
3 George II. Cap. 13, Royal Assent 15th May, 1730.
32 George II. Cap. 47, Royal Assent 5th April, 1759.
16 George III. Cap. 21, Royal Assent 25th March, 1776.
THIS canal commences at the River Severn, near Framiload, in the county of Gloucester, and from thence runs in an easterly direction by Witminster, rlear which it is crossed by the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal; it thence continues an easterly course, crossing the Stroudwater, by Eastington and Stonehouse, and terminates in the Thames and Severn Canal, at Wallbridge, near Stroud. The length is rather more than eight miles, with a rise of 102 feet 5 inches.
