From the Wey, at two miles from the Thames, tbe Basingstoke canal commences, and proceeds westerly 37 miles, in the counties of Surrey and Hants, to the town of Basingstoke, in the first 15 miles, 29 locks ascend 195 feet, the remaining 22 miles are level. Acts 18 and 33 Geo. III.
In Berkshire, the river Kennet was made navigable by side cuts and pond locks, in the early part of the last century. From near Readinfr it ascends 142 feet, by 11 artificial cuts and 20 locks, [(Newbury, distant 18 miles. The locks are 122 feet long and 19 wide ; barges 109 feet long, 171 wide, and 31 feet deep of water, carrying 110 tons. Acts 7 Geo. I. and 3 Geo. II. From New bury the Kennet and Avon canal proceeds westwald to Bath.
Returning to LoI:don on the north, the river Lea was made navigable by Acts 12 Geo. II. and 7, I9,. and 45 Geo. III. It commences at Blackwall, and proceeds northward, by Waltham Abbey and Ware, to Hert ford, 20 miles, with a branch to Bishop Hertford of 13 miles.
At Bromley, a canal proceeds south-west to the Thames at Limehouse, which avoids the peninsula of the Isle of Dogs. The length of this cut is 14 mile. This was made at the expense of the city of London. The river Lea was originally made navigable by means of weirs and single sluices. In 1767, John Smeaton was consulted respect ing this navigation. The early formed locks on this ri ver were without walled chambers. There have been various projects for extending this navigation, to the river Ouse in one direction, and the northern parts of London in another.
It was not until 1808, that any canal, entirely separate and independent of rivers, was constiucted adjacent to London. In 1801, acts of Parliament were obtained for three separate projects in the county of Sutrey, viz. the grand Surrey canal, the Croydon canal, and the Surrey Iron Railway. The first commences at Wilkinson's gun wharf, in Rotherhithe, and prOcceds 12 miles to the town of Mitcham. There is one branch to the dock-yards at Deptford, another at Greenland dock, a third at Bat Lane, a fourth to Peckham, a fifth to Horsemonger Lane, and a sixth from near Walworth, to join the river Thames at Vauxhall. From its commencement for a distance of
two miles, to which the Croydon canal branches off from it, it is nearly on a level with high water of the Thames. It also continues on the sante level westward to the se paration of the Vauxhall branch, and the above mentioned branches are on the same level. The upper part of the mainland has a considerable. rise, and it was originally intended to extend it to Epsom and the Wey, as part of a line from London to Portsmouth.
The Croydon canal is a branch of the last. Com mencing near Deptford, it proceeds southward 94 miles to the town of Croydon. In the first 11 mile, 12 locks *raise it 70 feet, and after half a mile of level, there is in three-fourths of a mile a rise of 791 feet, by 13 single and one double lock. From thence to Croydo. n, 7 miles, it is level. The locks are 60 feet long and 9 wide.
The Surrey rail-road commences on the south bank of the river Thames, near Wandsworth, and proceeds south east about 10 miles to Croydon, and thence in a more southerly direction 16 miles to Godstow. It is a double railway. The inclination nowhere exceeds one in 120, or one inch in 10 feet. The engineer was William Jes sop.
Between Gravesend and Rochester, a narrow neck of land projects northward about 12 miles, to nearly °pito site Sheerness, where the Thames and MedWay unite. Between London and Chatham and Rochester, by the present circuitous route, the distance between Graves end and the latter place is upwards of 30 miles, and with easterly winds, it is difficult to get out of the Medway ; but across the neck of the peninsula it is only about 7 miles. A canal is now tnaking in this direction. it is partly along very flat marshy land, and 24 miles through a chalk rib of land, which is intended to he passed by a tunnel. This canal commences on the south bank of the Thames at Gravesend, and will terminate in the Med way, a little below Rochester bridge. It is 28 feet wide at the bottom, 50 at the top, and has 7 feet water. There are only locks at the extremities, and the supplies of wa ter are to he furnished by the Thames at spring tides.