cutting  through  Castley  and  necessitating  huge  embankments  which
half  conceal  it,  the  village  has  steadily  declined  in  population.  In
1 83 1  (the  top  year  of  its  modern  prosperity),  there  were  between
twenty  and  thirty  houses  in  the  place  including  an  inn,  (the  old  Malt
Shovel^  with  a  census  return  of  118.  Now  the  population  is  less  than
half  that  number  while  the  inhabited  houses  are  about  a  dozen.
