Description:

Photographs of a collection of documents relating to construction of the Golden Valley Railway and associated land purchases. These centre around land ownership between the 1 mile and 1¼ mile posts [from Pontrilas] on the railway, adjacent to the old Abbeydore Court Estate and on the boundaries of the parishes of Ewyas Harold and Abbeydore, whose title and disposition dates back to a court case brought against the Golden Valley Railway Company c.1880. The dispute was over the actions of the GVRC in diverting a 350 yard stretch of the river Dore into a canal, or goit, alongside their new track, to save the expense of constructing two bridges over the existing water course. Their action was claimed to have damaged the ‘riparian rights’ of Elizabeth Pugh, who owned the land adjacent to the original river bed that had been cut off from the main stream river by the company’s action.

Uncertainty over the ownership and rights of the land affected arose in relatively recent times, when the documents in this collection were put together and used to settle matters.

Observations:

Photographs are of a collection of documents by Gail Hales, and are published here with her kind permission.