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Station between Eldon Street and Worship Street. One of the objects
of the Bill was the diversion of that portion of Finsbury Avenue between
Sun Street and Eldon Street further westward, this the Company proposed
to make but 15-feet wide; the Vestry opposed, and insisted upon
a wider thoroughfare not less than 20-feet. The question was heard by
the Commons Committee, and the terms offered to the Vestry not being
satisfactory, the Bill was with the assistance of the Metropolitan Board
opposed in the Lords, and the Vestry were successful in obtaining a
minimum width of 20-feet with other protective clauses.
THE THREATENED STOPPAGE OF SUN STREET.
This is a question which will materially affect Shoreditch, though
the exact point of intersection by the Railway is on the City of London.
The Corporation of London introduced a Bill into Parliament to remove
the doubts as to the alleged power to stop up the street, and to provide
that it should be kept open, but the House of Lords Committee threw out
the Bill on the ground that as the Corporation had already appealed to
the Court of Equity it could not avail itself of two remedies concurrently.
The existence of the alleged power to close this street, affords a
striking instance of the unsatisfactory character of Private Bill Legislation,
and as it is a matter of considerable importance to the parish, the
following statement prepared for circulation among Members of Parliament,
&c. may not be without interest.
"In 1864, the Great Eastern Company obtained an Act to make
the City Extension from Shoreditch to Liverpool Street by a
viaduct to cross over Sun Street; and the deposited plans show
that the level of Street was to remain unaltered, and the street
was to be spanned by a bridge 35 feet wide and 16 feet high,
this being a great arterial thoroughfare with about 130
vehicles per hour passing through.
"The preamble states that it "is expedient that the Company
should be authorised to acquire all the Lands and Buildings
in the City of London comprised within an area bounded, fas
described) and to stop up all streets and highways within the
said area, and to appropriate the site of such area to the
purposes of a Railway Station." Sun Street bisects this area.