The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-11 00:00:00

Lime-street.

SOLICITORS IN THE COUNTRY.
Mr. Edwin Nicholetts, Bridport
Mr. Baruch Fox, Beamister
Messrs. Rowcliffe and Son, Stogumber, neat Watcher.
LOCAL SOLICITORS.
Mr. Samuel Walter, Chard
Messrs. Bcadons and Sweet, Taunton
Mr. Woodland, Taunton
Mr. W. Bridge, Dorchester
Mr. F. Napier Bower, WiveliscoMbe
Mr. J. F. Knight, Axminster.
The object of this Company is to establish a direct line of rail-
way for passengers, goods, and commercial, mining, and agricul-
tural produce between the harbour of Watchet on the Bristol
Channel, and the harbour of Bridport on the English Channel, and
provide means of inland transit for a large proportion of the pro-
duce at present necessarily sent by the dangerous and uncertain
passage round the Land's End, and at the same time afford to the
intermediate rich and populous districts ready and convenient rail-
way communication.

The direct line will be 48 miles in length, and will proceed from
Ilminster to Chard, and
Watchet to Taunton, and thence by
Hatch Beauchamp, and by
kesne and Beaminster to Bridport
by Crevid
harbour. A branch will proceed
out
a n betweend manyo of
Watchetthem andver y Tinauuenht o.n. ~
the directly to Wivelisconthe. All
these towns and their neighbourhoods
andare
relocalities are remarkable
oof the line, about midway
and opulent,
numerous resident gentry.
for their richness, fertility, beauty, and
At Wiveliscombe this line will avail itself
Railway,
it will
l
at Taunton of the North Devon
Railway to Taunton, and also westward;
i
enter the station of the Bristol and Exeter
land thence
proceed to Mangerton, four miles short ofßridp
tay;ere it will
unite with the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth,
Great Western lines of Railway, and thence proceed :Ill'ethoaft line
the
to Bridport Harbour.
It will also cross the proposed line from Yeovil to Ezeter
about two miles west of Crewkerne.
The junction of the two Channels was long since deemed an im-
portant object. To effect it, surveys were successively made for a
ship canal by the late Mr. Rennie, Mr. Telford, and other scientific
men, who concurred in the importance of such a work in a na-
tional point of view ; the design was matured, and in 1824 an Act
of Parliament was passed; and it stands recorded as the opinions of
Mr. Telford and Captain Nichols, that the canal would afford a
remuneration to the subscribers of 16 Ya per cent, on a capital of
1,712,844/.
The sum required for this work, being so much less than that
for the Ship canal ; the increased demand of a greatly increased
population, and the present vast commercial energies of the
country, make it manifest that goods may be conveyed by this
railway at far less than half the charge upon which Mr. Telford
and Captain Nichols formed their opinion.
The Intended line from Minekead to Bridgewater, will meet
and cross this line near Watchet.
No railway, either made, or being made, or projected, will serve
the purposes which this important and favoured line will serve.
The country it will pass through possesses a population exceed-
ivingeylmsooll,otoho,: L
ylmt
el e, a
ad
ns
dt osmeaatorinneownattheeriggplilsahcecshoafnmneulcshhorrees,orat--nd
Linton, Minehead, and Blue Anchor on the shore of the Bristol
Cha
of sonnel. Taunton, which may now be considered the county
town mersetshire, has always been the market and trading
town of the country north-west of it, including Watchet Wits
. .