[Default] On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:14:56 +0100, Trevor <[email protected]> finished their pint and wrote::
>Martin wrote thus .. >> Another station I'm very familiar with (my old office was right next to it) >> is Audley End, which is in the village of Wendens Ambo near Saffron Waldon. >> But apparently the squire at Audley End House a mile away had enough clout >> to get the railway to name their station after his gaff rather than after >> the village! I've also heard it claimed that he had enough influence to not >> only require the railway to divert their route adding a couple of >> unnecessary tunnels, but sadly to put the kybosh on one of the London to >> Cambridge canal schemes. However given that it succeeded in getting its Act >> of Parliament, I'm not convinced. >> >As a 'newbie' - well, no longer such a 'newbie as I was last week, after >spending a couple of days on the Macclesfield canal in a GRP narror >cruiser, I'm curious as to why the canals all seemed to require 'Acts of >Parliament' > >Was this because they crossed many different people's land - or was >there some other, more important, reason, such as raising sufficient >finance to start the digging or purchasing the land? I've read about >the Tolls, but I've never been sure who that money actually ended up >with, the land-owner, waterway authority or the exchequer? > An Act of Parliament provided the Company with powers to obtain land and actually build their canal - the examination of the scheme provided a mechanism for objections in a time before planning law was established. Also, tolls and other important matters were defined by the Act. Brian L Dominic Web Sites: Canals: http://www.brianscanalpages.co.uk
