18, Duke Street, Westminster.
Great Western Railway.
June 2d 1845.
Private
My dear Sir
I do not propose that any referee should have any instructions to fix the compensation <1> at the bare amount or any other instruction but to determine fairly & fully what under the circumstances he would award to you and I think that is the only fair way
where I spoke of the line being in cutting was in that part of your property which is nearest to Laycock abbey it is however almost entirely in cutting in your property with the exception of the last or most southern three furlongs – where it is on embankment and upwards of a mile from the house I will undertake on the part of the company <2> that the line shall nowhere be within 9/10 of a mile or say to be safe 1550 yards –
I am my dear Sir Yours very truly
I K Brunel.
H Fox Talbot Esq
Notes:
1. Brunel’s line for the Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth railway [a branch of the Great Western] ran across WHFT’s land, and Talbot was disputing the amount of compensation offered by the GWR Company. See Doc. No: 05264.
2. The Great Western Railway Company.