THE RIVER MERSEY. 5 



of Liverpool should be "from the Red Stones on the point of Wirrall south- 

 erly, to the foot of the Ribble water in a direct line northerly, and so upon 

 the south side of the said river to Hesketh Bank easterly." These limits 

 were adopted in the Dock Act of Anne, and subsequent dock acts, as the 

 limits of the crown revenues, and have been adhered to down to the present 

 time. The limits of the old borough and parish of Liverpool bordering on 



the Mersey are thus defined, viz " The western boundary commences at 



low-water mark of the River Mersey, where a brook, called Beacon's Gutter, 

 enters the river, and continues thence southward along the low-water mark 

 of the said river, to the centre of a certain slip or basin called Etna Slip. 

 The southern boundary commences from the centre of Etna Slip, and runs 

 from thence to the eastward, across the southernmost end of the Queen's 

 Dock. The northern boundary returns along the Beacon's Gutter, to the 

 beforementioned low-water mark of the river." The 8th of Anne, 1709, 

 defined the limits of the port of Liverpool to extend as far Jis " a certain place 

 in Hoylake called the Red Stones, and from thence all over the River Mersey 

 to Warrington and Frodsham Bridges." These boundaries and rights of the 

 Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses to the lordships of Liverpool, comprising the 

 River Mersey up to the bridges and to the strand at Liverpool, Toxteth Park, 

 Birkenhead, and Wallasey, are fully explained in the accompanying statement, 

 No. 6, as also in the second memorial of the Liverpool Corporation to the 

 Admiralty, No. 4. According to a statement made by Mr. RoUet, surveyor 

 of Wallasey embankment, at the fifth meeting of the Architectural and 

 Archaeological Society of Liverpool, in 1854, the sea had formerly effected 

 a direct entrance into the valley of the Mersey through its present channel, 

 from which, he believed, it had been separated previously by a diluvial deposit 

 of clay, boulders, and sand, and that after it had so effected its entrance, its 

 progress, in forming a deep channel, would be gradual. In proof of which 

 he cited the authority of Captain Collins, " That great ships belonging to 

 Liverpool put out at Hyle, or Hoylake, part of their lading until they are 

 light enough to sail over the flats of Liverpool." 



The charts of Collins and M'Kenzie, although taluable as records, can 

 scarcely be depended upon. The first authentic survey of the port of Liver- 

 pool, by Captain George Thomas, in 1813, and published in 1815, and the 

 subsequent and more accurate surveys of Denham, in 1833 and 1837, and of 

 Lord, in 1840, 1841 and 1852, are proofs of the anxiety evinced by the 

 Corporation of Liverpool to employ officers of the Admiralty in recording 

 accurately the actual state of the banks and channels, and the changes which 

 have taken place between those periods. These are very fully detailed in 

 the accompanying report of Mr. Boult, who has taken more than usual pains 

 to compare the different plans with one another and with Captain Thomas's, 

 and has shown in contour and coloured lines the remarkable changes which 

 have taken place in the sea banks and channels at the entrance of the Mersey. 

 These changes show the necessity of causing annual surveys to be made, as 

 set forth in the report of Messrs. Mylne and Rennie, in 1837. 



The history of the Mersey is also well detailed in the accompanying report 

 of Messrs. John and George Wilkin. Those gentlemen show that, in 1818, 

 Mr. Whidbey, of Plymouth, was the first whose assistance was called in by 

 the Mayor and Corporation to examine the encroachments which had been 

 made on the estuary in different parts, and to lay down some general princi- 

 ples as to its future preservation. Subsequently, Mr. Rennie, sen., Messrs. 

 Chapman, Giles, Walker, Mylne, Stevenson, and George and John Rennie, 

 reported in confirmation. Extracts from the reports of some of these engi- 



