HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [21 



below Burton, where it becomes navigable. In its course it re- 

 ceives the Dove, the Manyfold, the Hamps or Hanse, the two last 

 being subterraneous for a considerable length above Ham. It also 

 receives the Churnet, the Blythe, and the Teyn : these rivers 

 rise in the Moorlands. Afterwards it receives the Sow from 

 Stafford, after the Sow has received the Penk from Penkridge : 

 the Penk has its sources from Cannock-heath, Chillington Pool, 

 Byshbury, and Tettenhall. Below Wichnor it receives the Tame 

 from Tamworth, which has its sources near Walsall, Wednesbury, 

 and Birmingham : the Smestall, which rises near Wolverhampton, 

 runs into the Stour, which passes through the south of the county 

 into the Severn. 



The most considerable lake in the county is Aqualate Meer, on 

 the borders of Shropshire, near Newport, said to be 1848 yards long, 

 and 672 broad. There are several other pieces of water of smaller 

 dimensions, and many as ornaments to gentlemen's seats, in differ- 

 ent parts of the county. 



Navigable Canals have been executed with great spirit, and to 

 great extent : they are 1. the Trent and Mersey ; 2. the Stafford- 

 shire and Worcestershire ; 3. the Birmingham Canal, passing 

 through the Collieries, and Wolverhampton, into the above ; 4. 

 Lord Dudley's, or the Stourbridge Canal ; 5. the Wyrley and 

 Essington Canal, across Cannock-heath, and uniting the coal and 

 lime- works of the county with the other canals ; and, 6. the Dudley 

 Tunnel, and Netherton Canal, are partly in this county. These 

 Canals, in the aggregate, are about 200 miles in length in this 

 county, and cost upwards of half-a-million of money : some of them 

 are so full of business as to pay 30 or 40 per cent, upon the money 

 expended, and have greatly promoted the mining interest, com- 

 merce, and population of the county. 



Estates are in great variety as to extent and value, from that of 

 the Nobleman, and opulent Commoner, of 15 or o20,000. per 

 annum, to the humble freeholder of forty shillings a-year. The 

 county can boast of many gentlemen of fortune, who farm upon a 

 considerable scale, and a number of proprietors of 200 or 300 acres 

 of land who farm it themselves, and whose lands are cultivated in 

 a first-rate style. It is from this class, and the more opulent 

 farmers, that improvements in stock, and the introduction of new 

 plants, and new modes of culture, are to be expected, and in which, 

 when established, they will be imitated by others. 



Tenures. A large proportion of the county is freehold : consi- 



