Reproduction prints from the Manchester and Southampton Railway plans of 1846

 

This line was to run from Southampton, across rural Hampshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire to Cheltenham. A series of 60 plans mapped out the route. Where these plans feature towns and villages they have been digitally imaged and reproduced as a fresh print. Each print is on  high quality paper/card of A3 dimensions ideally suited for framing. The image itself is 39 x 21 cms. The detail is crisp and fascinating.

 

The plots of land adjacent to the proposed railway line are numbered and supplied with the print will be a copy of the relevant pages from a directory which gives details of the property, its ownership, lessee and occupier, for each plot. This is a fascinating social history of the locality in 1846.

 

 

Click on the term "Manchester and Southampton Railway" to link to an article about the proposed line.

  

Click on a Town or Village name below to link to the print of that location.

 

Towns & Villages featured include:

 

  Baunton & Cirencester 

  Cerney Wick

  Charlton Kings

  Cheltenham

  Chiseldon

  Cirencester

  Cubberley (Coberley) 

  Colesbourne

  Collingbourne Ducis

  Collingbourne Kingston

  Leckford and Fullerton

  Leckhampton

  Leckhampton & Cheltenham

  Lower Clatford

  Ludgershall

  Marlborough   

  North Cerney

  Ogbourne Maizey & Ogbourne St Andrew

  Rodbourne Cheney & Swindon

  Southampton & Docks

  Southampton & Waterfront

  Swindon

  Upper Clatford, Andover

 

The Manchester and Southampton Railway failed to get parliamentary approval and was never built as a single entity at this time (1840's). However little by little over the remainder of the nineteenth century a railway to almost the same route was constructed. From Cheltenham to Andover this became the Midland and South Western Junction Railway and south of Andover the Andover and Redbridge Railway, otherwise known as the Sprat and Winkle line. For a multicontributor comprehensive record, in words and pictures, of the M&SWJ Railway see www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk

 

The Manchester and Southampton Railway plans may also be of interest to canal historians. The proposed route was to run along the course of the Redbridge and Andover Canal and the railway company bought the canal for this purpose. I can supply digital images of the relevant plans which show the entire course of the canal. Several of the railway plans also show parts of other canals, e.g. the Berkshire and Wiltshire Canal in Swindon at the site of the current day "Magic Roundabout", the North Wiltshire Canal to the north of Swindon in the Cricklade area, and a short section of the Kennet and Avon Canal in the parish of Burbage, near Savernake Forest. Please contact me if you are interested in digital images on CD of any of these plans/maps.