CHAP. XVI. MORECAMBE BAY. 339 



reclaimed from the sea, the sale of which would con- 

 siderably reduce the cost of the works. He estimated 

 that by means of a solid embankment across the bay, 

 not less than forty thousand acres of rich alluvial land 

 would be gained. His scheme was, to carry the road 

 across the ten miles of sands which lie between Poulton, 

 near Lancaster, and Humphrey Head on the opposite 

 coast, forming the line in a segment of a circle of five 

 miles' radius. His plan was to drive in piles across the 

 entire length, forming a solid fence of stone blocks on 

 the land side for the purpose of retaining the sand and 

 silt brought down by the rivers from the interior. The 

 embankment would then be raised from time to time as 

 the deposit accumulated, until the land was filled up to 

 high-water mark ; provision being made, by means of 

 sufficient arches, for the flow of the river waters into 

 the bay. The execution of the railway after this plan 

 would, however, have occupied more years than the 

 promoters of the West Coast line were disposed to wait ; 

 and eventually Mr. Locke's more direct but uneven line 

 by Shap Fell was adopted. A railway has, however, 

 since been carried across the head of the bay, in a 

 greatly modified form, by the Ulverstone and Lan- 

 caster Eailway Company ; but it is not improbable that 

 Stephenson's larger scheme of reclaiming the vast tract 

 of land now left bare at every receding tide, may yet 

 be carried out. 



While occupied in carrying out the great railway 

 undertakings which we have above so briefly described, 

 Mr. Stephenson's home continued, for the greater part 

 of the time, to be at Alton Grange, near Leicester. But 

 he was so much occupied in travelling about from one 

 committee of directors to another one week in England, 

 another in Scotland, and probably the next in Ireland, 

 that he often did not see his home for weeks together. 

 He had also to make frequent inspections of the various 

 important and difficult works in progress, especially 



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