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Manuscript copies of papers relating to the Aire and Calder Navigation Company's proposed Leeds and Selby Canal, [1714-1772], as follows.

1. Memorandum, [1771], upon the monopoly enjoyed and the exorbitant charges imposed by the farmer of the Aire and Calder Navigation, and the danger of the proprietors' wish to reroute the navigation away from Knottingley, Yorkshire, '...[which] proceeding would depopulate the... town reduce the property of individuals therein below it's present value and... totally deprive the same of all the natural advantages of it's situation...'. (Single sheet. 13" x 7¾").
2. Memorandum of a meeting held on Monday, 30 December, 1771, at Bluits Inn, York, under the chairmanship of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin, held to oppose the plans of the Aire and Calder Navigation to alter the route of the navigation by Act of Parliament. A list is given of the more notable attenders at the meeting. A plan of intended alterations was produced by Messrs. Wilson, Birt and Smeaton, but not considered, grievances of objectors to the plan were heard, and a subscription entered into to prevent 'the course of the rivers Aire and Calder from being altered by the present undertakers...and... [to concert] the proper means for reducing and ascertaining the tolls and duties on the said rivers...'. Adjournment to 28 January, [1772]. (Single sheet. 19½" x 14").
3. Subscription list dated 30 December 1771 [referred to above] composed of thirteen names, headed by that of Lord Irvine. (Single sheet. 7" x 8").
4. Articles of agreement of 9 July, 1714, made between (1) William Milner, of Leeds, and John Smith, of Heath, Yorkshire, on behalf of themselves and the other undertakers of the navigation on the rivers Aire and Calder, (2) Robert, Marquis of Lindsey, Lord Great Chamberlain and Privy Councillor, and (3) Arthur Ingram and Thomas Atkinson, both of Knottingley, on behalf of themselves and other inhabitants of that town. To settle disputes touching the erection of a lock and dam at Chapel Haddlesey (1) will, on or before 29 September, 1715, make one or more new large cuts or sluices with a turnpike in the middle of the dam at Chapel Haddlesey in the river Aire at least 15 yards wide...and maintain them at their own costs. They will also deepen by one foot the drain running out of Haddlesey Ings into the river Aire, and will erect a good and substantial bridge with two leaves over the Aire near the ferry by Chapel Haddlesey Marsh as good and substantial as Beal Bridge lately built on the said river, and make a good and sufficient causeway to Chapel Haddlesey. There are other clauses relating to tolls, flooding, etc. Bond in £2000 by (1) to (2) to observe and perform all covenants conditions, etc. (2 leaves. 15½" x 10").

Transcript of a series of articles that appeared in the Athenaeum, 1842-1843, giving itineraries and descriptions of monuments that could be visited in day excursions by railway from London, the first headed 'The Bye Paths of England' and signed 'M' (Athenaeum, 1842, pp.634-5), the others headed 'Days' Excursions out of London' (Athenaeum, 1843, pp.715-7, 736-7, 754-6, 819-20, 882-4, 904-6).

Two printed forms, completed in manuscript, dated 12 Jan 1715 and 16 Jan 1717, appointing surveyors of highways for the parish of St Stephen, Bristol. With the signatures and seals of the respective mayors, Henry Whitehead and Nicholas Hickes, and by other Justices of the Peace.

Small mounted oil painting by Thomas Creswick, of a steam train passing Leighton Buzzard on the London and Birmingham Railway line. A note on the reverse suggests that the work was painted in 1837.

Manuscripts and documents relating to Westmorland, including: Book containing transcript by John Gibson of the Customs, Services and Royalties belonging to the Mannors, Lordships and Townshipps in the Richmond lands within the Barony of Kendal, 1574 (230pp) (1689); Transcriptions of documents relating to Westmorland between 1639 and 1720, possibly the Reverend James Wilson, with enclosed note (January 1904); Illustration and text concerning the Heppe or, Shap Monastery, Westmorland (c1773); Two deeds relating to the land of Lady Fford in Westmorland between Thomas Shepherd of Kirkland, Robert Shepherd of Maitland and Thomas Rowlandson of Kirby, Kendall (first deed), and Charles Benson of Kirkby, Kendall and Thomas Shepherd (second deed) (18 May 1693 and 3 July 1711); Printed test of a 17th century farmhold deed for Maggs How, Kentmere between John Ayrey, Hughe Ayrey and Robert Gilpin (26 November 1623); Deed relating to land in Westmorland between John Price of Dublin, Sir John Lowther and Robert Durkett of Kirekby, Kendall (26 June 1685); Two court summons for John Burn, Battalion Clerk and Clerk of meetings of the militia for neglecting to return a militia for his township (October 1791); Plan of the proposed navigable canal from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Eccleston in the County of Lancaster to Kendal in Westmorland, surveyed by Robert Whitworth (1772); Two Endowed Charities returns for the County of Westmorland (15 July 1868 and 5 September 1895).

The original Deed of Association of the English and Bristol Channels Ship Canal. Contains about 600 signatures, opposite each of which are shown the number of deposits paid and amount subscribed, c1825.

Papers relating to the Exeter and Exmouth Railway, 1847-1857, comprising correspondence concerning purchase of lands for the railway and parliamentary proceedings as follows.

1. Four printed letters completed in manuscript, dated between 11 and 17 Dec 1856, and addressed to Frederick Sanders, solicitor, of Exeter, registering assent, dissent or neutrality to proposals to extend the time for compulsary purchase of lands for the railway which were to appear before parliament; (i) and (iii) assented, (iv) dissented, and (ii) James Pitts, declared himself neutral, adding 'If you get an extension of time for 50 years I do not believe your line will be made'.
2. Letter of 28 Apr 1847, from Messrs. Carter & Chanter, Barnstable, to Frederick Kitson, solicitor, of Exeter, concerning land in the Manor of Tawton Deane required for the Taw Valley Railway, in which the Dean of Exeter and Mr Brailey have an interest.
3. Letter of 5 Jan 1854, from Messrs. Osborne Ward & Co., Bristol, to Ralph Barnes, solicitor, of Exeter, replying to a request for advice on the 'mortgage of tolls under the Railway Act'.
4. Letter of 24 Apr 1857, from Messrs. Pritt, Sherwood, Venables, and Quiller, of 7 Great George Street, Westminster, to Frederick Sanders, solicitor, of Exeter, concerning the progress of the railway's bill in parliament.

Letter from N Geary of Fareham, [Hampshire] to Mr Gunner, Waltham, Hampshire, 14 Jan 1815. Asking Gunner to remind the magistrates of the Droxford Bench that they were to inspect the public roads over the Forest of Bere, which Geary had made 'remarkably good'; but since 'the whole of the public money is expended, and the roads are getting bad', he asks the magistrates either to discharge him, or give 'assistance and support without which it will be impossible for me to proceed without much injury to the parishes, and disgrace to myself ...'.

Autograph, with signature. Some pencilled queries in another hand appear on the dorse, e.g. 'Does it lega[ll]y come before us?'

(1) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of the Admiralty to John Spottiswood, 14 May 1834. Concerning the postpoining of the second reading of the Leith Harbour Bill in the House of Commons.

(2) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of Whitehall to James Loch, 30 Nov 1842. Urging him to serve on the Poor Law Commission for Scotland.

(3) Letter from Sir James Robert George Graham of the Admiralty to James Loch, 19 Jun 1853. Discussing works on harbours in Alderney, Guernsey, Dover and Portland, and the training of pilots for the Channel Islands.

Printed share certificate no. 1399 of the Grand Junction Canal, completed in manuscript, owned by Elizabeth Grant, spinster of Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire. It is dated (in print) 16 Sep 1793, at the second general meeting at Daventry, Northants, signed by two clerks to the company, and sealed with the paper seal of the company.

Papers of Benjamin Hall, 1817, to Mr Cooke, Canal Office, Newport, Monmouthshire, assuring him that 'it is wholly untrue that any Treasury warrant has been issued respecting the Forest of Dean coals'.

Collection including 30 envelopes of negatives showing the demolition of Geraldine and various sites and railway stations around London: manuscript and typescript notes on index cards and envelopes recording information on Cecil King and Lord Northcliffe, and on thought transference messages allegedly received from them; 2 boxes of audio tapes of radio interviews with Cecil King and Lord Northcliffe and of programmes on thought transference and Extra Sensory Perception; books entitled When Men Talk Truth and Lord Northcliffe's Return by Hannen Swaffer, both annotated by Holden (n.d.).

Papers collated by Charles Lawrence relating to his interests in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, 1826-1845, comprising the following:
Papers relating to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1826-1842, including four letters from Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre, to Charles Lawrence, Chairman of the Railway, 1826-30, concerning the Company's Bill in the House of Lords; a summons to Lawrence to give evidence before Parliamentary Committee of 1826 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill; material relating to William Huskisson, such as a printed notice regarding his election (1830), a printed copy of the inscription on Huskisson's memorial tablet and a letter to Lawrence regarding the monument erected to Huskisson's memory (1836), as well as letters from C.Heming, Emma Stanley, Countess of Derby (1830), George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (1835) and Robert Benson Dockray (1835) regarding his death; names and numbers of all locomotive engines on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to 1 Mar 1836; statistics of tonnage carried, arranged by subjects, 1830-1836, probably prepared for the Board of Trade; names and numbers of locomotive engines on the Railway to 18 Jan 1837; an abstract of locomotive expenses, 1841; a letter from Edward Woods to Lawrence giving the state of the company's stock of locomotive engines to 31 Dec 1842.
Papers relating to the Grand Junction Railway, 1840-1845, including a report by John Moss, Chairman of the Board of the Grand Junction Railway Company, on the creation of shares, adopted 20 May 1840; a draft agreement in the hand of George Carr Glynn for the amalgamation of the London and Birmingham and Grand Junction Railway Companies, 1845.

Memorandum of agreement of 20 July, 1865, between (1) the Company of Proprietors of the Canal Navigation from Leeds to Liverpool and (2) the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Liverpool, whereby (1) will excavate, make and maintain three side basins and wharves connected with their canal at Philip Street Wharf, Liverpool, for the exclusive use of (2) in the removal of refuse. Term - 21 years. Rent - £1750 p.a.

Letter from W Logan of the [Forth and Clyde] Canal Office to James Buchanan, Esq of 36 Candleriggs, [Glasgow], 28 Sep 1824. Giving information asked for by George Chalmers respecting the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Autographs, with signatures.

Manuscript items relating to the proposed London and Birmingham Railway, 1830-1833, as follows.

1. Copy of an estimate by John Sinclair, civil engineer of Hartshill, Atherstone, of a railway between Coventry and Birmingham, dated 21 March 1832. (2 leaves. 12¾" x 8").
2. Notes on the projected route of the London and Birmingham Railway, from a plan 'deposited with the Clerk of the Peace', 1830. (4 leaves. 9" x 8").
3. List of cuttings, tunnels and other works on the railway line between London and Birmingham, [1830]. (2 leaves. 10" x 7¾").

Alphabetical list for applicants for the post of porter with the railway, giving name of applicant, residence, age, former employment, by whom recommended and remarks. Undated, probably c1837.

Manuscript survey of London Underground including summaries of rolling stock, organisation charts, diagrams of depots and equipment. Also includes typescript copies of weekly reports by (Cadet) Edwards from divisional offices (c 1928 March-July), memorandum on training of traffic operating officers.

Redeemed mortgage, 1849, of £1500 for seven years at 5%.

Copy of a memorandum [by George Fyler] entitled 'Further memorandum as to the most eligible transit route for mails, passengers & traffic through Mosquito & Costa Rica (being a rider to the memorandum of Dec 5th 1849) and directed to consider the shackles which now impede the development of trade with Central America, the means available for their removal and the concentration of the British Mails and traffic to and from Australia as also the Pacific generally... Presented to the Right Honourable Henry Labouchère [President of the Board of Trade], 29 Jan 1850. The manuscript memorandum suggests a route via Greytown (now San Juan del Norte), River St. John, Lake Nicaragua, and by road, eventually by canal, from the lake to Port Salinas, and indicates the advantages of the route, such as quicker mail services and avoidance of the influence of the United States at Panama.

Manuscript memorandum, possibly dating from c1825-1830, addressed to 'Messrs. Gibson's, Bankers, London', describing the facilities and extent of the London docks.

Papers relating to the part of Jacques Louis Chaumont de La Millière in the creation of legislation in the Assembleé Nationale Constituante relating to the Ponts et Chauseés (or bridges and highways) of France, 1790, including:

1. Letter from Millière to [Pierre Louis] Roederer introducing a memorandum entitled 'Observations pour servir de réponse à un mémoire sur les travaux publics du Languedoc...une partie d'administration aussi importante', 30 Oct 1790. The mémoire referred to appears to be that entitled 'Extrait d'Observations faites il y a quelques mois sur un mémoir de l'Ingénieur en chef de la cydevant province de Bretagne par lequel il proposait de conserver à Rennes l'École particulière des Ponts et Chaussées...les observations...pourront servir de réponse à un mémoire d'un directeur des Travaux Publics du Languedoc'.
2. Letter from Millière to [Pierre Louis] Roederer, 20 Oct 1790, enclosing the 'dernières observations...sur la nouvelle rédaction du decret proposé par M. [Charles François] Le Brun [Duc de Plaisance] relativement aux Ponts et Chausées', with brief note in Millière's hand on the principles of the organisation of the Ponts et Chausées, and an item headed 'Observations sur plusiers articles du dernier projet du decret concernant les Ponts et Chausées proposés par le Comité des Finances'.

Letter from Walter Francis Montagu-Douglas-Scott to Messrs Chubb, 25 May 1857. Asking the firm to make 6 locks for miniature frames, exactly similar to those they made for him previously, and to send them to Mr Scott of Messrs Colnaghi.

Autograph, with signature.

Contract between the North Midland Railway Company and Joel Buxton for the building of Masborough station in Yorkshire, 16 Dec 1839. Includes specification and prices for materials.

Papers and drawings relating to the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway, c1842-1867, namely:

1. Lithograph of Nottingham contract specification for execution of the works, to be completed before 1st June, 1846, with a list of 12 drawings to which the specification refers. (These do not, in most cases, correspond with the 12 numbered drawings that now accompany this document). (47 leaves. 12½" x 8").
2. Three lists of equipment and materials, compiled for comparison of the total weights various types of lifting gear will bear, c 1845. (2 leaves. 13" x 8").
3. Printed testimonials of Charles Kinder, railway engineer, 1851-1867, who was trained in the Newcastle works of Robert Stephenson, under whom he prepared the contract plans for and superintended the works on the Nottingham and Lincoln railway. (2 leaves. 9¼" x 7½").
4. 12 engineering drawings, c 1842-1845, comprising a section and plan of the railway through Belper, 1842 (27½" x 51"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 5a and 6a, incomplete (19½" x 23¼"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 7a and 8a (19½" x 27½"); drawings and sections of a mile and ½-and ¼-mile posts (13" x 14¼"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge for the Flood Road, numbered 10 (this corresponds with drawing No.10 listed in the contract, p.2.); tracing on linen (24" x 72"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge over the branch of the River Trent near the 18th mile, numbered 8; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevations and sections of a bridge over the River Witham at Lincoln, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan, drawings and section for a lifting gear to the bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan and sections for a bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevation, plan and section of a bridge for the footway of Queens Road, numbered 8 (this corresponds with drawing No.8 listed in the contract, pp.1-2); tracing on linen (24" x 36"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet, numbered 1, shows the town of Nottingham and 1 mile East - i.e. to the parish boundary), surveyed by J.G.Binns in 1844 (19½" x 27"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet is unnumbered but is the final one of a set; it shows the city of Lincoln and 1 mile West), endorsed 'Nottingham and Lincoln Railway. The ends of the working plans and sections' (19½" x 26½").

Book contains full notes on the administration and officers of the Port of London, customs and excise, freights, smuggling, etc., arranged in alphabetical order, preceded by an index, 1842-1863.

2 letters sent from officers of the Sambre and Meuse Central Railway Company, London, to John Philippart, 1845. Describing developments and public interest in the Belgian railway and asking for Philippart's support as a member of the managements committee; an explanatory pamphlet accompanied the first letter.

Both letters are autograph, with the signatures of company employees: (i) Osmund Lewis; (ii) G D Carvalho.

Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick, 1800-1855, comprising a miscellany of correspondence (including drafts of copies of outgoing letters), with notes, engineering drawings, etc. Many of the notes and calculations are written in Rastrick's private cipher. Major correspondents include the London shipping iron merchants Henckell and Du Buisson; the 2nd Earl of Powis; John (later Sir John) Gladstone [father of W E Gladstone]; the lawyer, estate manager and politician James Loch and [?his son] George Loch; and Rastrick's sons and employees. Topics covered include the canal and railway interests of Rastrick and the other correspondents, as well as the iron industry. Most of the letters were dispatched to or from London or the industrial areas of South Wales and the West Midlands.

Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick, 1830-1832, including valuations, lists of properties, calculations, sketches, estimates and plans for the Birmingham and Liverpool Railway [the Brimingham & Basford Railway and the Wolverhampton Branch), bound into one volume. In the hands of Rastrick and others, most items endorsed by Rastrick.

Includes 2 letters to Rastrick at the Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool: (a) leaves 52-53 - from Wiliam Trubshaw, Forton (near Newport, Shropshire) (17 February 1831); (b) leaves 54-55 - from John Barker, Wolverhampton (12 February 1831).

'Specification of the workmanship for the Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway', the specification itself is not in John Urpeth Rastrick's hand, but it includes notes added to the text by him. His signature appears on the dorse of the fly-leaf, with the date of 16 Oct 1829 and a note: 'the first specification for a railway that was ever made'.

Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick including memoranda, calculations and diagrams, including estimates for iron arch for Stratford-upon-Avon Railway Bridge; for a roof for William Foster; gasworks at Kidderminster; recipe for brass lacquer; lists of materials of six-horse Boulton and Watts engine, and of the contents of packing boxes, with diagrams of each item entered; notes, specifications and sketches for the Stratford and Moreton Railway; and detailed descriptions, statistics and sketches of bridges, railways and engines. Enclosing the following items: (i-ii) 2 sheets of rough calculations. (iii) Card bearing printed statistics of the Burnton and Shields Railway; annotated in MS and signed by Benjamin Thompson (23 January 1829). (iv) Printed wrapper sent from the Office of Ordnance to Messrs J Bradley and Co, [?at] Foster, Rastrick and Co Ironworks, Stourbridge; used for rough calculations and draft accounts in MS.

Specification for Leeds and Selby Railway, contracts numbered 1 and 2, Sep 1830. This specification was owned by Rastrick but may not have been created by him.

Nine notes and memoranda, 1861-1864, addressed to Rainford Junction, near St Helens on railway traffic matters, mostly from the Engineer's Office and the Passenger Dept., St Helens, but also from the Goods Dept. at Garston and Widnes Docks.

Letter from Robert Stephenson of 24 Great George Street, [London] to Edward Ackroyd, 28 Jun 1845. Concerning the importance of good gradients and the 'engineering of the West Yorkshire [railways]'.

Two way bills of the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, 1862, one dated 10 Feb from Adelaide Colliery, Bishop Auckland; the other dated 13 Feb from North Bitchburn Colliery, Witton-le-Wear, Durham.

Papers, 1777-1782, relating to proceedings between Sir Martin Folkes, lord of the Manor of Wells, and George Chad and others, in the Court of King's Bench, concerning the harbour at Wells, annotated throughout and with sketches in the hand of Robert Mylne (see English Reports, XCIX, 589-91, 686-8). Includes a Report to the Commissioners for the Preservation of the Harbour of Wells by John Wooler, 7 Jul 1777; estimates for repair works submitted by Stephen West, [1781]; copy of the judgment of Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, [21 Nov 1782]; a memorandum in Mynle's hand headed 'Facts and Observations on Wells Harbour', with details dating from 1663; 5 maps, one by H.A. Biedermann (no.II) and one of the Wash (no. IV). The following printed matter is also included: April 28, 1781. Mr. Mylne's Report on his Survey of the Harbour (1781); The Report of John Smeaton, Engineer, upon the State and Condition of Wells Harbour (1782); and The Reports of Mess. Hodskinson, Grundy, Hogard and Nickalls on the State and Causes of the Decay of Wells Harbour (1782).