THE SEVERN TUNNEL. 



65 



low-water rocks, close to tlie cdgo of the Shoots, and from 

 thence to drive the heading. 



For this purpose, a strong tower would have liad first to 

 be built upon those rooks to a height well ahove tlio highest 

 tides ; and then, wor'king in that, the shaft could have been 

 sunk. But there wa,s so strong an opposition to the building 

 of this tower at tliat place on the part of the navigation, 

 that the idea was at length abandoned, and the shaft was 

 placed on shore at Sudbrook. The two other shafts, which 

 were to have been placed on the English Stones, were also 

 given up. This opposition soomod somewhat captions on the 

 part of the navigation authorities, who might have had to 

 put up with the piers of a bridge all across the river, and 

 who had already been beaten in their opposition to the bridge 

 scheme of Mr. Fowler, a few miles higher up. The objections 

 of tlio pilots were something fanciful, as may be imagined 

 from their objection to the building of the beacon on the 

 Charstono Rock, by the South Wak)S Union Co., some years 

 before, for the, safety of their ferry passage, which beacon 

 bas now become the most important latidmnrk for their 

 navigation of the Slioots channel, and concerning which, if 

 it were now removed, there would no doubt be the most 

 dreadful outcry. One must suppose that they object to any- 

 thing now, whether good or bad. 



The Sudbrook Shaft was started on shore in March, 1873. 

 It began in new rod rock and marl, in which a good deal of 

 water was found, and then passed through a 4-feet bed of 

 magnesian conglomerate. Down to this, 91 foot fi-om the 

 surface, the strata were horizontal. The shaft then went 

 through Pennant sandstone, 19 feet ; clay shale, 24 feet ; 

 «oal shah), 10 feet; millstone grit, 11 feet; fireclay, 9 feet; 

 mountain limestone lumps in fireclay, 15 feet ; and firestone, 

 '^o feet ; all these dipped towards the river 1 in 7. 



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