[Sir EDWARD BANKS called again. Examined by Mr. GURNEY.] Q. As the water would stand at Yantlet or at Colemouth would there be a considerable difference in the level of the water?-A. There would. Q. To what extent ?—A. From a foot to eighteen inches. Q. Would that occasion a strong current through the creek ?—A. It would. Q. Would that happening occasionally have the effect of clearing away the depositions of the mud in the stream?-A. No doubt of it. Mr. Baron GRAHAM. It would have the effect of scouring it?— A. Yes. Mr. MARRYAT. Of scouring it out clean. Mr. MIREHOUSE. And so it would if you had not stopped it. WITNESS. If the wind blows strong from the northward the tide flows up to Yantlet mouth a quarter of an hour sooner than to Colemouth, and consequently the water flows towards Colemouth and produces a greater revulsion. Mr. GURNEY. It causes a greater revulsion by the return of the tide? A. Yes. We have a similar creek, only of larger dimensions, that goes round the Isle of Sheppey, and when the wind blows to the south-east the tide will be three miles up the River Swale before it enters the mouth of the River Medway, consequently the whole of the creek, from the variation of the wind, if the wind is at the northwest, is direct the contrary way, then the tide meets as it does in Yantlet Creek, and the ground is scoured as clean as this floor; there is nine feet at low water and twenty at high water. Mr. Baron GRAHAM. That is the effect in a particular instance, that it might come up in one tide quicker than at another and form a higher level, and then it would descend with greater rapidity. [Mr. HENRY BELL sworn. Examined by Mr. GURNEY.] Q. How old are you?—A. Almost fifty-nine. Q. Are you a native of Stoke?-A. Yes. Q. Have you been surveyor of the highways of the Parish of Stoke-A. Yes. Q. Did you put down on the road in question a pole to mark the boundary of the Parish of Stoke?-A. Yes. Q. Was there the letter S cut upon it ?—A. An S. Q. About how many years ago did you put down that pole ?—A. Thirteen or fourteen years ago. Q. Did you put that in the place of an old pole ?-A. Yes. Q. That decayed?-A. Yes. Q. And you put this in the same place?-A. Yes. Q. Do you remember the circumstance of the road from Stoke going towards Grain being indicted about forty years ago?-A. Yes, very well. Q. Who was the surveyor of the road of Stoke at that time?-A. Henry Goodwin was one of the surveyors and Nathaniel Bristow. Q. Did you marry Goodwin's daughter?—A. No, he married my mother. Q. Then he was your step-father?—A. Yes. Q. Do you remember after the Indictment, the Stoke road being repaired?—A. Yes. Q. Now at that time was any thing done to Grain Bridge?—A. Yes; we of Stoke made good up to Grain Parish. Q. Did you make up to the pole?-A. Yes. Q. To the old pole?-A. Yes. Q. Was that pole on the Stoke side of the bridge, or on the Grain side of the bridge?-A. On the Stoke side of the bridge. Q. Did the Parish of Grain make good beyond you on Grain Bridge?-A. Up to our boundary. Q. At that time was the road of Grain Bridge raised or not ?— A. No; the Stoke side was. Q. That is, your side was raised?—A. Yes. Q. Do you know whether the Grain side was raised there or not?— A. I cannot say. Q. How much was your side raised at that time?—A. A considerable deal higher than the Grain side was. Q. Was it even before it was raised, or did it go hollow?-A. No; it was quite in a hard. Q. You know of late years there has been a raised causeway across?A. Yes. Q. Is it any thing like what it would be if it had not been raised?A. No, it laid in a hollow as the road runs now. Q. Do you mean it runs in a hollow like this? Plan.)-A. A good deal resembling this. (Looking at the Q. Do you mean in a hollow at the bridge?-A. Yes; it was a stray way over. Q. At that time before it was raised, was there any wharfing on the sides to keep it up?-A. I cannot say. Mr. Baron GRAHAM. Since that time you say it has been much raised?-A. Yes. Mr. GURNEY. What has it been raised with?—A. Our part was with furze, and gravel on the top of them. Q. Do you remember any thing besides furze and gravel being laid? A. No, I do not; besides furze and gravel. Q. I am speaking after the Indictment; when you say something on our part, do you remember any thing besides furze and gravel being laid by you and the Grain people; what was it filled up with chiefly?— A. Furze and gravel. Mr. Baron GRAHAM. Had you cockle-shells?—A. That has been of late years, there were very few shells carried till I carried them at the time when I was a surveyor. Mr. GURNEY. At what time of tide did people use to walk over, could they walk over at high water?—A. No. Q. At common tide they could?-A. They could not at full shore tide. Q. What do you mean by full shore tide?-A. Level with the saltings., Q. Did the springs come over the road?-A. Sometimes they came as high, and sometimes not. Q. But to the best of your judgment?-A. Sometimes a foot, and sometimes a foot and a half and sometimes more; I have seen it myself. Q. Have you seen persons who wanted to go over ever wait for the tide?—A. Yes I have; some on one side, and some on the other. Mr. Baron GRAHAM. They have proved that for you. Mr. GURNEY. Yes, my Lord, they have. Could the people go over for the last five and thirty years much more than they could before?-A. Oh yes. Q. It has all, has it not, been much raised since that time ?—A. Yes, a good deal it has. Q. When you were a boy do you remember any boats going over?— A. No; I do not. Q. When you were a boy did you go from Stoke to Grain?— A. Yes. Q. Did you go frequently?-A. Once or twice a week. Q. Did your father use to give you directions as to what time to go?-A. He knew the time of the tide, and he used to send me off according to that. Q. When people used to walk over when you were a boy, do you remember any thing for them to step upon ?-A. Yes. Q. What?-A. Great stones which lay in the water. [Cross-examined by Mr. MARRYAT.] Q. You have talked about a full shore tide, by that do you mean a full spring?-A. No; about level with the salts. Mr. GURNEY. Meaning the Salt Marshes, my Lord. Mr. MARRYAT. Can you tell us the difference between the level of the saltings, and the level of the carriage road?—A. Yes. Q. What is the difference?-A. No; I cannot. Q. So your father, when you were a boy, did not like you should wet your feet, and told you when the tide was out?-A. Yes. Mr. GURNEY. Took care that he should not be drowned. Mr. MARRYAT. What age were you then?-A. Eight or nine years of age. Q. And during that time you never saw any thing rowed over?— A. I have rode over myself. Q. On horseback?-A. Yes. Q. You never saw boats rowed over ?-A. No. Q. Nor the keel marks?-A. No. Q. When you said rode over, did you mean riding on horseback?A. Certainly. Mr. MARRYAT. Not rowing in a boat? [JOHN SMITH sworn. Examined by Mr. BOLLAND.] Q. How old are you?-A. Fifty-five. Q. Are you an Excavator ?-A. Yes. Q. How long have you known Grain Bridge?—A. Five and thirty years. Q. Do you remember a man of the name of Margetts?—A. Yes; very well. Q. Do you remember any thing about an embankment being made?-A. Yes. Q. Was there any embankment there at all before Margetts made it? A. Very little; there was a little at each end, near the wall. Margetts made a foot-path a little after the high tide about thirty years ago. Q. I am talking of this embankment where the bridge is ; do you remember that being made?—A. Yes; I made that embankment. Q. Do not let us get into any mistake, you know where the other is dug? A. Yes; I made the foot-path on the Yantlet Creek side. Q. How high was that embankment made?—A. The first time it was raised from two to nearly three feet in the cut. Q. What do you mean by the cut?-A. The channel. Q. Was there a hollow there?—A. Yes; a very large hollow, the tide carried away the wharfage on this side. Q. Who employed Margetts ?-A. Grain Parish; it was a parish concern. Q. Did you know Jonathan Wood and Rumball?-A. Yes. Q. Did they work there?-A. Not at that time. Q. When did they work there?—A. Since then. Q. By whom were they employed?—A. By the parish. Q. What did they do?-A. They rose it twice, according to my memorandum. Q. When you say they rose it twice, what do you mean?-A. The tide used to come over it after Margetts rose it, and it was raised again. Q. How high did they raise it again?-A. Nearly to the top of the high water; I would swear, that in my memorandum, it has been raised by Margetts and Rumball four feet. Q. Do you remember Mr. Mackay and Mr. Smith employing any person to make an embankment any where else?-A. Yes; a little lower. Q. Where?-A. Across the channel; I saw them about it. Q. The same people, Wood and Rumball, made that embankment across the creek a little lower, it appears by the plan, was that removed? A. Yes, it was, by the order of the City. Mr. GURNEY. That is a few years ago. -- Mr. BOLLAND. When was that, how many years ago?—A. Five or six years ago. Mr. BOLLAND. In truth, that was in the year 1819, in Mr. Alderman Atkins's Mayoralty. Did you know it before Margetts made the embankment ?-A. I did; I worked in Grain all one summer. Q. How was the water there before the embankment ?-A. The water used to flow over at spring tides, and stop us sometimes an hour, and sometimes more. Q. Have you any means of saying how deep the water was?— A. I have been stopped there myself. Q. How long?-Â. An hour and a half on a Sunday, from eleven to half-past one; the water then over the road was three feet in the channel. Mr. GURNEY. That was the time of the neap-tide ? Mr. BOLLAND. How long is it since Margetts made the embankment?-A. Many tides have not come over it at all. Q. And you say it was two to three feet?-A. Two to three feet in the hollow. Q. Then a further addition of one foot ?—A. Yes, and more than that; I did not see Rumball raise it the last time. [Cross-examined by Mr. POLLOCK.] Q. Are you sure it has been raised seven feet ?—A. I am sure it has been raised above seven feet. Q. What is the extent to which it has been raised?-Q. It has been raised five feet in that hollow. Q. Now has it been raised six ?—A. I will not swear to that, six feet is a great deal. Q. Do you not think so?-A. I will not say more than five. Q. You have been speaking of the foot-path-A. Yes, entirely. Q. Did you help to raise it?-A. I did not raise it or deepen it, but I helped to top it. Q. Did you help to dig any part of the excavation?—A. No. Q. You never have worked upon it at all?-A. No. Q. Are you going to work upon it?-A. No. Q. How do you know the water was over the road three feet?— A. I am not unacquainted with the water, a stone was laid, and three feet to walk over. Q. How long ago is that?-A. Thirty-five or thirty-six years ago, I am not sure which, but thirty-five years I swear to. Q. Then that was before any of this raising had taken place?— A. Yes. Q. How soon after that depth of water did they begin to raise the foot-path ?—A. They did not raise it, I think, till the next year, the year after that we had a very high tide, on the 22nd of February, 1797, then the foot-path was raised bodily all across. Q. And I understand, that since that has been raised five or six feet, the road has never been overflowed at all?-A. The road has been overflowed, but not over that bank; the waggon road is sometimes overflowed, but not the foot-path on the Colemouth side. Q. When did you see it last overflowed?-A. Not for some years. Q. Perhaps you have not seen it for some years?—A. Yes, I have. Q. How many years have you seen it?-A. I have been in the habit of working by the side of it ten years. Q. How long ago?-A. Twenty-two years ago. |