Thu 26 Feb 1846
Special Meeting. Letter from Mr Gurney recommending Memorial being presented to Lords Commissioners of Admiralty about the South Wales Railway Bill being presented in the House of Lords still containing a proposal bridge over Severn at Hock Crib despite their veto. Memorial to be sent to Capt Berkeley requesting him to present it recorded in minutes.
At a Special Meeting of the Committee of the Stroudwater Navigation held at the Committee Room at Wallbridge on Thursday the 26th day of February 1846
Present: M^r G H A Beard, Dan Watts, Fred Eycott, Jn^o H Warman, Rich^d Martin Chairman, Jn^o Holbrow, Hen^y Wyatt, Geo Wathen.
This Meeting was called in consequence of a letter from M^r Gurney recommending a Memorial being presented to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty relative to the proposed Bridge across the Severn at the Hock Crib.
Resolved that the following Memorial now produced to be sent to Capt Berkeley, requesting the favor of him to present it to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
To the Lords Commissioners of the Board of Admiralty.
The Memorial of the Stroudwater Navigation Company to which their Seal is affixed.
Your Memorialists beg leave most respectfully to call the attention of your Honorable Board to the Memorial of the Stroudwater Navigation Company bearing date the 18th day of March 1845 in which it was stated amongst other things,
That the Stroudwater Canal commences at Framilode on the River Severn and ends at the town of Stroud. It is used for the Conveyance of Coal from South Wales, the Forest of Dean, Staffordshire and Shropshire and for all kinds of Merchandise and Corn with which it supplies the manufacturing Districts of the County of Glocester, together with portions of the Counties of Oxford and Berks.
That you Memoralists observe, notwithstanding the decided Veto given by your Honorable Board last year against any Bridge being erected across the River Severn at or near Hock Crib, that the South Wales Railway Company are still persevering in the application to Parliament for such a Structure.
That Your Memorialist humbly submit, that after the very laborious and minute investigation instituted by Capt Vidal and M^r Walker, the Gentlemen appointed by our Honorable Board and their able report thereon, your Honorable Board will still entertain your original opinion and decision and not Sanction a Scheme that will inevitably impede the free and open navigation on the said River Severn and thereby endanger the lives and property of persons navigating the same, which the promoters of the said Bridge appear to be fully aware of themselves, in as much as they proposed in the first instance to cut a Ship Canal from the Hock Crib to Framilode across the Isthmus (which is locally termed the Horse Shoe) showing thereby that they considered that without such Canal, it would be impossible or at least extremely dangerous for Vessels to navigate the said River.
