Rivers and River Transport 117 



north, and though they have no navigable river that way yet 

 they drive a very great trade through all those counties." 



The " two great rivers," the Severn and the Wye, enabled 

 them, also, to " have the whole trade of South Wales, as it were, 

 to themselves," together with the greater part of that of North 

 Wales, l while the sea gave them access to Ireland, where they 

 were carrying on a trade which, says Defoe, was not only 

 great in itself but had " prodigiously increased " in the last 

 thirty years, notwithstanding the greater competition of the 

 Liverpool merchants. 



The transport facilities offered by the Severn were a further I 

 material factor both in the local development of great coal, 

 iron and other industries, at a time when like industries were 

 still in their infancy in the north, and in the increase of the 

 general wealth of the western counties. In regard to Shropshire, 

 Archdeacon Plymley writes that the inhabitants of the 

 county, having such ready communication both with the 

 interior of the country and with the sea, had opened mines 

 of iron, stone, lead, lime, etc., and had, also, established very 

 extensive iron manufactures. As the result of all this enter- 

 prise, much capital had been drawn into the district ; a great 

 market had been opened for the agricultural produce of the 

 country ; the ready conveyance of fuel and manure had 

 enabled the cultivation of the soil to be carried on even beyond 

 the demands of the increasing consumption ; and all had so 

 operated together as to increase the wealth and well-being of 

 Shropshire in general. 



Some interesting facts as to the conditions under which the 

 navigation of the Severn was conducted in 1758 are given in 

 a communication published in the " Gentleman's Magazine" 

 for that year (pages 277-8) from G. Perry, of Coalbrookdale, 

 under the heading, " A Description of the Severn." The 

 following passages may be quoted : 



" This river, being justly esteemed the second in Britain, 

 is of great importance on account of its trade, being navigated 

 by vessels of large burden more than 160 miles from the sea, 

 without the assistance of any lock. Upwards of 100,000 tons 

 of coals are annually shipped from the collieries about Madeley 



1 "Wines and groceries," says Archdeacon Plymley, "are brought up 

 the Severn from Bristol and Gloucester to Shrewsbury, and so on to 

 Montgomeryshire." 



