2 REPORT — 1856. 



7. Letter from William Lord, R.N., to the Chairman of the Conservancy 

 Committee, 23rd March 1840. 



8. Letter from William Lord, R.N., to R. Radcliffe, Esq., 3rd April 184.0. 

 The history of the Mersey is well detailed by Messrs. Wilkin down to the 



date of their inquiry. From their report it appears that until 1818 there 

 was no check or control exercised by any authority over encroachments upon 

 the tidal area of the river. In that year the Corporation of Liverpool, whose 

 jurisdiction extended from Hoylake to Hesketh jBank on the Ribble, and all 

 over the River Mersey to Warrington and Frodsham Bridges, and who had 

 authority to remove any obstructions to the navigation, " be it the ground 

 or soil of the King's most excellent Majesty, or any other person or persons, 

 bodies politic or corporate whatsoever," called in Mr. Whidbey, of Plymouth 

 Breakwater,to examine the encroachmentswhich had been made on the estuary 

 at different parts, and to lay down some general principles as to its future 

 preservation. Subsequently Mr. Rennie, Sen., and Messrs. Chapman, Giles, 

 Walker, Mylne, Stevenson, and George and John Rennie, reported in con- 

 firmation of the general principles laid down by Mr. Whidbey. They may 

 be briefly stated as follows : — " That tide harbours are deep or otherwise in 

 proportion to the quantity of water which flows and ebbs through their 

 channels, and that to embank portions of the tidal area is to diminish that 

 quantity of water and consequently to injure the harbour." So completely 

 had these principles been contravened in former days, that it appears from 

 Mr. Rennie's calculation of the area and content of water in the River 

 Mersey (No. 2), that the original tidal area was 36,500 acres, of which 

 13,440 acres were then (1838) lost to the tideway, being enclosed marshes. 



The very elaborate survey of the Mersey, from the Blackrock to Woolston 

 Weir, which was prepared about thirty years since by the late Mr. Giles, 

 C.E., for the Corporation of Liverpool, is an invaluable and unique docu- 

 ment. As it is plotted to an adequate scale, and furnishes data for determining 

 the extent of any changes, either in the area or depth of the river, since that 

 date. As, however, the survey has not yet been repeated, your Committee 

 have been unable to investigate the changes in that part of the Mersey : 

 there is reason to believe that some of them have important relations to the 

 well-being of the river, and the great interests in either shore. Amongst 

 others, the mutations in the Devil and Pluckington Banks, and the waste of 

 various portions of the shore are the most remarkable. 



Unfortunately, Mr. Giles's survey did not include the outer estuary or. 

 Liverpool Bay ; of this frequent and excellent surveys have been made 

 during the last twenty-three years by Capt. Denham, and his successor Lieut. 

 Lord, who, as marine surveyors to the port, exercised unceasing vigilance on 

 the changes within the sphere of their observations. Mr. Boult's attention 

 has been espacially directed to the alterations recorded by these surveys, 

 and to the influence which may have been exercised upon those alterations 

 by the dock-works of Liverpool and Birkenhead, and by meteorological phae-, 

 nomena. The changes in the areas and positions of the several banks have 

 been laid down in coloured outlines, upon the accompanying charts* A, B, 

 and C, and the alterations in their cubical contents and in the average areas 

 of the sea channels, as far as they can be approximately ascertained from the 

 surveys, are recorded in the tables D, E, F, and G. 



From these it appears that there has been a progressive, though irregular, 



* Of these charts it has been found desirable to publish Chart A. only ; as the scale to 

 which the illustrations are necessarily restricted is too small to permit distinctness in the 

 several contours. 



