186 BRIDPORT HARBOUR. 



and the piers ruined ; they also said that, owing to the lack of 

 " fitting encouragement, " lenders were not willing to make 

 loans for reconstruction, which was not at all surprising in 

 the light of earlier history. Eventually this Bill was thrown 

 out and nothing more was heard of the project for twenty years, 

 when the town made another attempt in 1721 and again went 

 to Parliament for statutory approval of a scheme. (Commons 

 Journal, vols 13 and 19.) On this occasion the promoters 

 were rewarded by success, and Bridport was for the first time 

 empowered to buy the necessary land, the site of which was 

 described with satisfactory precision. The Bill, which became 

 an Act in February, 1721-2 (8 George I., cap. 2), authorised 

 the raising of the necessary capital by means of loans to the 

 burgesses, repayment being secured by tolls to be levied on 

 ships and cargoes using the haven. Among other provisions 

 the Act kept alive the ancient manorial rights to take wreck 

 of the sea on the shore east and west of the river mouth. 

 It is also recited that the " ancient harbour " was on the level 

 ground between the cliffs, but its position is not otherwise 

 defined. So far all was well, but, for an unexplained reason, 

 which was possibly financial, a second period of nearly twenty 

 years elapsed before the long-desired statute was put into 

 operation. 



At the beginning of the year 1740 the Bailiffs saw their 

 way clear to make use of the powers which had been lying 

 dormant, and accordingly engaged the services of a civil 

 engineer to design and build the new haven which was to 

 restore commercial prosperity to the town. The municipal 

 records do not, as I am informed, contain any minutes relative 

 to the preliminary steps, or, indeed, any comment on what 

 was done at that time. In these circumstances a group of 

 documents which were kindly presented to me a few years ago 

 by my friend, Mr. E. A. Fry, are of considerable importance, 

 as they supply all the data essential to a full knowledge of the 

 alterations then contemplated. The deeds in question are 

 three in number, consisting of two agreements as to the con- 

 struction of a harbour and a sluice, and an indenture which 



