A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



Berkeley Ship Canal, which by means of the 

 Severn Navigation and the Worcester and Bir- 

 mingham Canals opens up and connects the 

 whole county with the Bristol Channel and the 

 Midlands. It was begun in 1794, opened in 

 1827, and was until the completion of the Man- 

 chester Ship Canal the greatest of its kind in 

 England. It gives a direct route of 1 6 miles to 

 Gloucester, instead of the tortuous 28^ miles by 

 river, which had always been dangerous to ships 

 owing to the shifting sands of the Severn estuary, 

 and to its exceptionally strong tides, which are the 

 highest in Europe. So unwilling had foreign ships 

 been to ascend the river, that we are told that ' in 

 1791 the arrival of one from Oporto was greeted 

 with ringing of bells and firing of cannon.' l 

 The success of the canal has been unbroken, and 

 its cargo tonnage has risen steadily from 107,000 

 tons in 1827, with total receipts of ^2,836, to 

 567,000 tons and 28,600 receipts in 1870, 

 and to 1,053,000 tons of cargo in 1905, with a 

 revenue of J 35,374. 2 Thus since the opening 

 of the New Entrance docks at Sharpness in 1875 

 the volume of cargo borne on the canal has 

 doubled, and a further extension of the canal to 

 supply another entrance at Shepherdine is con- 

 templated. At present ships of 5,400 tons can 

 be docked at Sharpness, while a 1,200-ton vessel 

 can go up the canal, which is 1 8 ft. deep, to 

 Gloucester. 



There are various schemes afloat in the minds 

 of business men of the county by which the 

 inland navigation of the Severn district might 

 be improved. Thus, it has been urged before 

 the Canal Commission that, if the locks, etc. at 

 Gloucester were improved, and if the Birming- 

 ham and Worcester Canal were enlarged, 100- 

 ton vessels might pass direct from Sharpness to 

 Gloucester up the Severn (which has been 

 canalized by the commissioners to Worcester, 

 and can carry boats of 160 to 200 tons), and 

 thence to Birmingham and the Pottery district, 

 thus saving the time and expense at present in- 

 volved in transhipment into small barges. The 

 journey by water from Sharpness to Birmingham, 

 which is 76 miles, has been accomplished in 

 30 hours, and it has been calculated that the 

 substantial lowering of freight thus possible 3 

 would at once secure a large share of carrying 

 trade to the Canal Company, relieve the con- 

 gestion in goods traffic, and definitely 'open the 

 Midlands to the sea.' But that question does 

 not concern Gloucestershire alone. 



To the same period as that which saw the 

 creation of the canal system, belong various 

 small industries of more than local fame, such as 

 the manufacture of hats at Frampton Cotterell 

 and Bitton, and of carpets at Cirencester (first 



1 J. J. Powell, Gloucestrlana. 



' Evidence before Royal Com. on Canals and Water- 

 ways, May, 1906. 



3 To 4-r. 3</. per ton as compared with the present 

 railway rate of 6s. 8</. on similar goods. 



mentioned by Rudder in 1779).* Carpet- 

 weaving died out at Cirencester in 1836, when 

 many of the operatives migrated to Kidder- 

 minster, but it is still carried on at Stroud on a 

 small scale. The hat industry, which consisted 

 in felting wool, and covering it with rabbit-fur, 

 began to decline between 1840 and 1850 with 

 the introduction of silk hats ; during this decade 

 the population of Frampton Cotterell fell con- 

 siderably. In 1871 the census reported only 15 

 persons in Gloucestershire as engaged in the felt 

 industry (which presumably included hats). Edge- 

 tools for curriers were made in the 1 8th century 

 at Cirencester (where the manufacture still con- 

 tinues) and at Gloucester. Button-making, 

 lace-making, and tobacco-dressing had been also 

 carried on at Gloucester as far back as the 1 7th 

 century ; 6 wool-combing survived into the igth 

 century in places where the rest of the clothing 

 industry had died out ; and metal cards for 

 clothiers were made at Dursley, Stroud, and 

 Wotton under Edge at the close of the i8th 

 century. 4 Till within living memory nails were 

 manufactured at Tewkesbury, which had also 

 long been so famous for its mustard as to give rise 

 to the proverb, ' thick as Tewkesbury mustard,' 

 quoted in Shakespeare's Henry IV (pt. ii, 4), 

 a propos of FalstafTs wit. The secret of the 

 peculiarly pungent flavour of this mustard is said 

 to have been an admixture of horse-radish, added 

 when the seed was being pounded. 8 The 

 stocking-frame knitting of Tewkesbury and 

 Cirencester, the pin-making and bell-foundry 

 of Gloucester, are all industries of the old local 

 type, which failed to survive the changed con- 

 ditions of industry that followed the introduction 

 of railways. 



The main lines of Gloucestershire railway are 

 the Great Western lines from Worcester to 

 Oxford, vi'4 Evesham and Chipping Norton, and 

 from Swindon to Gloucester and Bristol respec- 

 tively ; and the Midland line from Birmingham 

 to Bristol, via 1 Cheltenham, Gloucester, Coaley 

 Junction, and Wickwar. From Wickwar a 

 second branch passes westward to Lydney, by 

 the Severn Bridge, built by the Midland Railway 

 and opened in 1879. Eight years later the 

 Great Western completed its scheme for the 

 passage of the river by the Severn Tunnel, 

 two miles below the junction of the Severn and 

 Wye. 7 



With these improvements in communication, 

 the industries of Gloucester and Bristol, which 

 had passed through a period of stagnation, 

 entered on one of rapid development. Docks 

 were, and are still being, improved and the 



4 S. Rudder, Hist, of Gloucestershire, 63. 



6 Fosbrooke, Hist, of Glouc. 424. 



' J. Bennett, Hilt, of Tewkesbury, 201. 



7 In completing this vast undertaking as much 

 water was pumped out as would form, it is computed, 

 a lake 3,000 acres in extent and IO feet deep. See 

 T. A. Walker, The Severn Tunnel. 



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