. The earth and its inhabitants .. . 1 Mile. as at Portskewet, where a railway ferry-boat crosses the river at regular quite recently the first bridge met with on ascending the Severn was that ofGloucester, but since 1879 a railway bridge has spanned the river at the SharpnessDocks, above the entrance to the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal. Includinga masonry approach, this bridge has a total length of 4,162 feet. It is composedof bowstring girders, carried on cast-iron cylinders filled with concrete. Two of itsspans have a width of 327 feet each, with a headway of 70 feet a
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . 1 Mile. as at Portskewet, where a railway ferry-boat crosses the river at regular quite recently the first bridge met with on ascending the Severn was that ofGloucester, but since 1879 a railway bridge has spanned the river at the SharpnessDocks, above the entrance to the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal. Includinga masonry approach, this bridge has a total length of 4,162 feet. It is composedof bowstring girders, carried on cast-iron cylinders filled with concrete. Two of itsspans have a width of 327 feet each, with a headway of 70 feet above thehigh-water level of ordinary spring tides. The basin of the Severn is designed by nature as a region of great commercial. SHREWSBURY—HOUSE OP THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SHEOPSHIRE. 101 activity, for whilst, on the one hand, it impinges upon the coal-fields of Wales, itapproaches on the other the metalliferous formations of Cornwall, and its easternaffluents mingle their waters, in the very centre of England, with those of theTrent and Thames, which flow to the German Ocean. But this region is peculiarlyfavoured by the vast estuary of the Severn in its commercial intercourse withtrans-Atlantic countries. This estuary is a counterpart of that of the Thames,and lies under the same latitude. Jointly they almost sever Southern Englandfrom the northern part of the island, and merely looking to geographical features,we might conclude that the two leading commercial towns of the country wouldhave sprung up on these great natural outlets. But whilst London actually holdsthat position with reference to the neighbouring countries of continental Europe,Bristol has not been able to maintain its superiority in the face
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
