EXTENSION LINE FROM OSWESTRY TO WELSHPOOL AND NEWTOWN.
Whilst this volume was passing through the press a successful effort was made in carrying through Parliament a Bill for extending a line of railway through part of Montgomeryshire, commencing by a junction with the Shrewsbury and Chester Section of the Great Western Railway. The Bill was introduced into the House of Commons in the early part of the present Session of Parliament (1855), and passed through the various stages of that branch of the Legislature without opposition. In the House of Lords a slight but unsuccessful opposition was raised, and the Bill received the Royal assent on the 25th of June. Thus has been secured to the county of Montgomery, which is rapidly growing in population and importance, the advantage of railway communication direct from the metropolis, and from the busy seats of manufacturing industry in the north. The manufacturing and agricultural wealth and enterprise of Montgomeryshire, its rich mineral resources, and the benefits which will accrue to it by throwing open to its use the affluent coal-fields of Shropshire and Denbighshire, were strong claims entitling Montgomeryshire to the boon she sought. The further objects contemplated by the promoters of this line, in connecting it, at no far distant period, with the magnificent national harbour at Milford Haven, and thus opening a grand route from that capacious landing-place from the north of Ireland to Manchester, Yorkshire, and the Midland Counties, were doubtless among the considerations of Parliament in granting their sanction to this railway. The line will commence by a junction with the Shrewsbury and Chester section of the Great Western Railway, at its Oswestry terminus, and then proceed by Llanymynech, Llandrinio, Llandisilio, and Buttington, to Welshpool; thence, crossing the river Severn, near Miltrewydd, will pass between Montgomery and Berriew, and on to Newtown, on the south side of the river, where it will unite with the Newtown and Llanidloes line.
The capital authorized to be raised by the “Oswestry and Newtown Railway Company” is £250,000. Mr. Benjamin Piercy is appointed resident engineer of the line; and Mr. Peter Barlow consulting engineer. The contractors for the making of the entire line are Messrs. M’Cormick and Thornton, whose previous railway contracts give the best assurance that the present line will be constructed in an efficient manner.
The first general meeting of the shareholders was held at the Town Hall, Welshpool, on Saturday, July 21st; William Ormsby Gore, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Provisional Directors, in the chair. The attendance was very numerous. The report stated that it was the intention of the Directors to proceed with the construction of the railway with as little delay as possible, that the certificates of the proprietorship of the shares in the capital of the Company, under the seal of the Company, could be forthwith issued to the Shareholders; that the Directors congratulated the Shareholders and the district upon the unanimity which had prevailed in the establishment and progress of the Company, and expressed their hope that this would lead to the speedy completion of the undertaking, and the further developement of the resources of the country. The speakers on this occasion were the Chairman, Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart. M.P., the Rev. C. T. C. Luxmoore, the Ven. Archdeacon Clive, G. H. Whalley, Esq., the Rev. Maurice Lloyd, Richard Humphreys, Esq., George Brace, Esq., and other gentlemen. The Directors named in the Act were, William Ormsby Gore, Esq., M.P., Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart. M.P., D. Pugh, Esq. M.P., John Naylor, Esq., John Carnac Morris, Esq., Richard Herbert Mytton, Esq., John Davies Corrie, Esq., Rowland Jones Venables, Esq., Arthur James Johnes, Esq., Col. Herbert Watkin Williams Wynn, M.P., J. Powell Wilding, Esq., and Wm. Lloyd, Esq., and they were re-elected unanimously. An important resolution was also passed, “That it is the opinion of this meeting, that it is of the utmost importance to the interest of the Company that a communication by railway should be effected between Newtown and Milford Haven; and the Directors are hereby requested to afford such co-operation and assistance to any Companies now existing, or which may be projected, as would best tend to accomplish that object.” The entire proceedings were marked by harmony and good spirit, and all present appeared suitably impressed with the importance and value of railway communication through Montgomeryshire, and with the benefits, in connection with the great national harbour at Milford Haven, which would ultimately accrue to the “Oswestry and Newtown Railway Company.” Few, if any, railway enterprizes were ever started under a more able and upright management, and perhaps equally few lines, of so short a distance, had at their outset such encouraging prospects before them. With these signal advantages no doubt can be entertained that the undertaking will be crowned with abundant success.
Statistics.
The Borough of Oswestry is situated on the north-west border of Shropshire, in the Diocese of St. Asaph, and Deanery of Marchia, and in the Hundred to which it gives name. In 1535, by a statute of Henry VIII., Oswestry, with Whittington, Maesbrook, Knockin, Ellesmere, Down, and Chirbury, was, by Act of Parliament, severed from Wales, and annexed to the County of Salop. The Hundred of Oswestry is bounded on the west by Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire; on the north by the rivers Ceiriog and Dee, and the stream of Shelbrook, which separates it from Denbighshire and Flintshire; on the east by the Hundred of Pimhill; and on the south by the rivers Vyrnwy and Severn, which divide it from Montgomeryshire, and from the Hundred of Ford.
The Upper Division of the Hundred contains the parishes of
St. Martin,
Whittington,
Selattyn (part of),