LIVES

THE ENGINEERS.

VOLUME II.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON, RAILWAY ENGINEER.

Eighth Thousand. Portrait. 8vo. 16s.
IT.

THE STORY OF THE LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON.

Condensed from the above Work. Tenth Thousand. Woodcuts. Post 8vo. 6s.

in.

SELF-HELP; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct.

Thirty-fifth Thousand. Post 8vo. 6s.

IV.

WORKMEN'S EARNINGS,— SAVINGS,— AND STRIKES :

Reprinted from the ' Quarterly Review.' Post 8vo, Is. Gd.

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

OF THE

[ UNIVERSITY )

r or

•SiL'FORHXh,

f

by W.HoU,, after t7ie pcrti-ait* ~by Mather

td. bv John, Murray Alkemarle. Street. 1881.

LIVES

OF

THE ENGINEERS,

WITH

AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR PRINCIPAL WORKS;

COMPRISING ALSO

A IFTSTOKY OF INLAND COMMUNICATION IN BRITAIN.

BY SAMUEL SMILES.

' Bid Harbours open, Public Ways extend ;
Bid Temples, worthier of God, ascend ;
Bid the broad Arch the dang'rous flood contain,
The Mole projected, break the roaring main ;
Back to his bounds their subject sea command,
An 1 roll obedient rivers through the land.
These honours, Peace to happy Britain brings ;
These are imperial works, and worthy kings."

POPE.

WITH PORTRAITS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1861.

V-

oy" •

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOAVES AND SONS, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PART VI. — LIFE OF JOHN SMEATON.

CHAPTEE I.

John Smeaton's birth and education — Leeds at the beginning of last century —
Road communications of the neighbourhood — Austhorpe Lodge — The
boy's mechanical amusements — Leeds Grammar-school — Smeaton's work-
shop — Hindley's account of his boyish occupations Page 3-9

CHAPTEE II.

Placed in an attorney's office — Attends the Law Courts in Westminster Hall —
Learns the trade of mathematical instrument maker — Frequents meetings
of the Royal Society — His mechanical contrivances and inventions — His
paper on the Natural Powers of Wind and Water to Turn Mills — An inde-
fatigable student — Turns his attention to civil engineering — His tour in
Holland '. .. .. .. .. 10-14

CHAPTEE III.

Dangers of the Eddystone Pock — Necessity for a lighthouse — Henry Win-
stanley — His eccentricities — Designs and erects the first lighthouse on the
Eddystone — Is washed away in a storm — John Rudyerd — Builds the
second lighthouse — Is destroyed by fire — Mr. Smeaton applied to for a
design 15-25

CHAPTEE IV.

Lord Macclesfield's recommendation of Smeaton as engineer of the new light-
house on the Eddystone — His investigation of the subject — Decides that
it must be built of stone — The design — His journey to Plymouth — His
visits to the rock — Makes a model of the proposed building — Mr. Jessop
appointed resident engineer, and the excavations commenced — Dangers of
the work — Smeaton narrowly escapes shipwreck — Progress of the work —
Smeaton's courage — His carefulness as to details — Smeaton on the Hoe —
The lighthouse finished and the light exhibited — Its uses — The lights in
the English Channel 26-48

110.

vi CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PART VI. — Continued.

CHAPTER V.

Smeaton appointed receiver for the Derwentwater estates — The roads and com-
merce of England — General want of capital — Smeaton extensively em-
ployed as an engineer — Improvement of navigations — Calder Navigation —
His Report on the drainage of the Lincoln and Cambridge Fens — Various
drainage works — Repairs London Bridge — Designs pumpiug-engines —
Erects bridge at Perth — Constructs Forth and Clyde Canal — Erects
bridge at Coldstream — Designs improvements for the Carron Works —
Banff Bridge — Hexham Bridge — St. Ives Harbour — Ramsgate Harbour
— Use of the Diving-bell — Eyemouth Harbour — Mills and machinery
erected by Smeaton — His improvements in Newcomen's steam-engine

Page 49-73

CHAPTER VI.

Smea ton's home at Austhorpe — His study and workshop — His blacksmith —
Papers contributed to Royal Society — His tools — His lathe — His mecha-
nical ingenuity and skill — His visits to London — Engineers' first club —
His views of money — Refuses an engagement to serve the Empress of
Russia — Determines to publish an account of his works — His opinion of
literary composition — His manners — Anecdote of Smeaton and the Duchess
of Queensberry — His domestic character — His benevolence — Recognition
of his eminent intellectual ability — His great industry — Failure of his
health — Death 74-89

PART VII. — LIFE OP JOHN EENNIE.

CHAPTER I.

Rennie born at Phantassie, East Lothian — Scotland at the middle of last
century — State of agriculture in the Lothians — The population — Their
. indolence — Their poverty — Wages of labour — County of Ayr — The
Highland border — Want of roads — Communication between Edinburgh
and Glasgow — Stage-coaches and carriers — Post-road between Edinburgh
and London — The first Scotch Turnpike Act passed — Ancient Scotch bridges
— Low state of the mechanical arts in Scotland 93-104

CHAPTER II.

Fletcher of Saltoun introduces barley-mills and fanners into Scotland — James
Meikle — Popular prejudice against 'artificial wind' — Andrew Meikk-,
millwright — Progress of agricultural improvement in East Lothian —
Mr. Cockburn of Ormiston — Meikle's mills — Clumsy methods employed
in thrashing grain — Various attempts made to invent a thrashing-mill

— Mr. Kinloch's models — Andrew Meikle's invention of the thrashing-
machine — His improvements in windmills — Drainage of Kincardine Moss

— Meikle's mechanical ingenuity — His death 105-117

CONTENTS OF VOL. II. vii

PART VII. — Continued.

CHAPTEE III.

The Rennie family — Early mechanical bias of John Rennie — Frequents
Andrew Meikle's workshop — Attends the parish school of Prestonkirk —
Learns carpentry and mill-work under Andrew Meikle — Attends Dunbar
Grammar-school — Is offered the appointment of teacher — Begins business
as a millwright — Attends the University of Edinburgh — Dr. Robison —
Rennie's studies and amusements — Mills erected by him in Scotland —
Tour in England — Visits James Watt at Birmingham — Eennie builds his
first bridge near Edinburgh — Removes to Birmingham — Is engaged to
superintend the erection of the Albion Mills, Southwark .. Page 118-133

CHAPTER IV.

London in 1785 — Coaches and turnpike roads — Trade — The shipping of the
Thames — Erection of the Albion Mills — The first employment of the
steam-engine in driving mill machinery — Rennie's extensive use of iron-
work in their erection — The Albion Mills destroyed by fire — Rennie's
employment on similar works — Earl Stanhope and steam navigation —
Renuie undertakes works of civil engineering — Constructs the Kennet and
Avon Canal — The Rochdale Canal — The Lancaster Canal — Various canal
works — The Royal Canal, Ireland 134-151

CHAPTEE V.

Recommends the employment of the steam-engine in Fen drainage — Drowned
state of the Lincoln Fens — Arthur Young's account of them — The East
Fen — Sir Joseph Banks resolves upon their drainage — Mr. Rennie em-
ployed to devise a plan for draining Wildmore Fen — His comprehensive
view of the subject of Fen drainage — His catchwater system — His report
— The works executed — Great Hobhole Drain — Effects of the drainage on
agriculture — His proposed improvement of the Witham at Boston —
lie-ports on the drainage of the Great Level' — Eau Brink Cut — Charac-
teristics of Fen scenery 152-169

CHAPTEE VI.

Dr. Robison visits Rennie in London — Theory and practice in bridge-building
— Early designs of bridges — Designs Kelso Bridge — Musselburgh Bridge —
Projected cast-iron bridge over the Menai Straits — Boston Bridge — Rennie's
various designs of bridges- — Waterloo Bridge — Its distinctive features —
Foundation of the piers — The centering — Mode of fixing the centres —
The bridge road — Completion of the work — Southwark Bridge — The
iron-work — Details of construction — Characteristics of the bridge 170-194

viii CONTENTS OF VOL. If.

PART Nil.— Continued.

CHAPTER VII.

Growth of the Trade of London — Police of the Thames — Necessity for docks

— Eennie's London Docks — Construction of the lock entrances — Arrange-
ment of the working details — The East India Docks — Improved methods
of working — Keport on Wick Harbour — The River Clyde — Grimsby
Docks — Invention of hollow quay walls — 'Holyhead Harbour — Hull
Harbour and Docks — Improvement of the dredging-machine — Leith Docks

— Various harbour works — Eennie's principles of harbour construction —
Ramsgate Harbour — Improvement of the Diving-bell .. Page 195-222

CHAPTER VIII.

Dangers of the Bell Rock — Scotch lighthouses — Plans of a lighthouse on the
Bell Rock proposed — Rennie requested to report — His recommendations
adopted — Appointed engineer — Prepares detailed plans of the lighthouse

— The excavations commenced — Dangers of the work described by Mr.
Stevenson, resident engineer — Rennie's visits to the rock — Recommends
modifications in the plans, which are adopted — The lighthouse finished —
Mr. Rennie's claims as chief engineer vindicated 223-234

CHAPTER IX.

Rennie extensively employed by Government — Defences of the coast — Defensive
works on the river Lea — The Hythe Military Canal constructed after his
designs — Fulton's Torpedo — Report on the Government dockyards —
Recommends extensive improvements and concentration of dockyard ma-
chinery — Plymouth, Portsmouth, Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham — His
plan of a naval arsenal at Northfleet — Sheerness dockyard works — Con-
struction of the great dockyard wall — Design of Medway improve-
ment 235-251

CHAPTER X.

Plymouth Sound — Plans for its protection from southerly winds — Mr.
Rennie's report thereon — His plan of a breakwater adopted — The works
commenced — Methods employed — Effects of storms — Modifications of the
plan — The works completed by Sir John Rennie — Uses of the break-
water 252-263

CHAPTER XL

Rennie's extensive and various employment as civil and mechanical engineer

— Advises the introduction of steam-power into the Royal Navy — The
' Comet ' built — New London Bridge, his last great design — His private
life — Failure of his health — Short continental tour — His close applica-
tion — Death — His portrait — Habits — Conscientiousness — Truthfulness
— Anecdote of his handiness as a mechanic — Love of old books — Solidity
of his structures — Conclusion 264-284

CONTENTS OF VOL. II. ix

PART VIII. — LIFE OF THOMAS TELFOED.

CHAPTEE I.

Eskdale — Langholm — Former lawlessness of the Border population — Johnnie
Armstrong — Border energy — Westerkirk — Telford's birthplace — Glen-
dinuing — Valley of the Meggat — The " unblameable shepherd " — Tel-
ford's mother — Early years — " Laughing Tarn " — Put to school — His
school-fellows Page 287-297

CHAPTEE II.

Telford apprenticed to a stonemason — Runs away — Re-apprenticed to a mason
at Langholm — Building operations in the district — Miss Pasley lends
books to young Telford — Attempts to write poetry — Becomes village
letter-writer — • Works as a journeyman mason — Employed on Langholm
Bridge — Manse of Westerkirk — Poem of ' Eskdale ' — Hews headstones
and doorheads — Works as a mason at Edinburgh — Study of architecture

- Revisits Eskdale — His ride to London . . 298-307

CHAPTEE III.

Telford a working man in London — Obtains employment as a mason at
Somerset House — His impressions of Sir Robert Chambers and Mr. Robert
Adam, architects — Correspondence with Eskdale friends — Observations
on his fellow- workmen — Proposes to begin business, but wants money —
Mr. Pulteney — Becomes foreman of builders at Portsmouth Dockyard —
Continues to write poetry — Employment of his time — Prints letters to
his mother 308-315

CHAPTEE IV.

Superintends repairs of Shrewsbury Castle — Appointed Surveyor for county of

Salop — Superintends erection of new gaol — Interview with John Howard

— His studies in science and literature — • Poetical exercises — Fall of St.

Chad's church, Shrewsbury — Discovery of the Roman city of Uriconium

— Superintends the excavations — Overseer of felons — Mrs. Jordan at
Shrewsbury — Telford's indifference to music — Telford's support of his
mother — Miscellaneous reading — His politics — Paine's ' Rights of Man '

- Reprints his poem of « Eskdale ' 316-329

CHAPTEE V.

Advantages of mechanical training to an engineer — Erects Montford Bridge —
Erects St. Mary Magdalen church, Bridgenorth — Telford's design —
Architectural tour — Bath — Studies in British Museum — Oxford — Bir-
mingham— Study of architecture — Makes friends — Telford and Pulteney

— Appointed Engineer to the Ellesmere Canal — John Wilkinson, iron-
master — Telford's salary 330-339

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PART VIII.— Continued.

CHAPTER VI.

Course of the Ellesmere Canal — Success of the early canals — The Act obtained
and working survey made — Chirk Aqueduct — Pont-Cysylltau Aqueduct

— Telford's hollow walls — His cast-iron trough at Pont-Cysylltau — The
canal works completed — Revisits Eskdale — Interview with Frank Beattie

— Early impressions corrected — Tour in Wales — Conduct of Ellesmere
Canal navigation — His literary compositions Page 340-354

CHAPTER VII.

Use of Iron in bridge-building — Design of a Lyons architect — First iron
bridge erected at Coalbrookdale — Wear iron bridge, Sundeiiand — Telford's
iron bridge at Build was — His iron lock-gates and turn-bridges — Projects
a one-arched bridge of iron over the Thames — Bewdley stone bridge —
Tongueland Bridge — Extension of Telford's engineering business — Literary
friendships — Thomas Campbell — Miscellaneous reading .. .. 355-373

CHAPTER VIII.

Progress of Scotch agriculture — llomilly's account • — State of the Highlands —
Want of roads — Use of the Cas-chrom — Emigration — Telford's survey
of Scotland — His report — Want of bridges — Lord Cockburn's account of
the difficulties of travelling the North Circuit — State of Caithness and
Sutherland — Parliamentary Commission of Highland Roads and Bridges
appointed — Dunkeld Bridge built — 920 miles of new roads constructed

— Craigellachie Bridge — Travelling promoted — Agriculture improved —
Moral results of Telford's Highland contracts 374-389

CHAPTER IX.

Highland harbours — Wick and Pulteney Town — Columnar pier work —
Peterhead Harbour — Frazerburgh Harbour — Banff Harbour — Old history
of Aberdeen, its witchburning and slave- trading — Improvement of its
harbour — Telford's design carried out — Dundee Harbour . . 390-408

CHAPT ER X.

Canal projected through the Great Glen of the Highlands — Survey by James
Watt — Survey by Telford — Tide-basin at Corpach — Neptune's Stair-
case — Dock at Clachnagarry — The chain of lochs — Construction of the
works — Commercial failure of the canal — Telford's disappointment —
Glasgow and Ardrossan Canal — Weaver Navigation — Gotha Canal,
Sweden — Gloucester and Berkeley, and other canals — Harecastle Tunnel
— Birmingham Canal — Macclesfleld Canal — Birmingham and Liverpool
Junction Canal — Telford's pride in his canals 409-426

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PART Nlll.— Continued.

CHAPTEK XL

Increase of road-traffic — Improvement of the main routes between the prin-
cipal towns — Carlisle and Glasgow road — Telford's principles of road-
construction — Macadam — Cart-land Crags Bridge — Improvement of the
London and Edinburgh post road — Communication with Ireland —
Wretched state of the Welsh roads — Telford's survey of the Shrewsbury
and Holyhead road — Its construction — Koads and railways — London and
Shrewsbury post road — Roads near London — Coast road, North Wales

Page 427-443

CHAPTEE XII.

Bridges projected over the Menai Straits — Telford's designs — Ingenious plan
of suspended centering — Design of a suspension bridge over the Mersey at
Kuncorn — Design of suspension bridge at Menai — The works begun —
The main piers — The suspension chains — Hoisting of the first main-chain
— Progress of the works to completion — The bridge formally opened — Con-
way Suspension Bridge 444-460

CHAPTEE XIII.

Resume of English engineering — General increase in trade and population —
The Thames — St. Katherine's Docks — Tewkesbury Bridge — Gloucester
Bridge — Dean Bridge, Edinburgh — Glasgow Bridge — Telford's works of
drainage in the Fens — The North Level — The Nene Outfall — Effects of
Fen drainage . . 461-472

CHAPTEE XIV.

Tel ford's residence in London — Leaves the Salopian — First President of
Institute of Civil Engineers — Consulted by foreign Governments as to roads
and bridges — His views on railways — Failure of health — Consulted as to
Dover Harbour — Illness and death — His character — His friends —
Integrity — Views on money-making — Benevolence — Patriotism — His
Will — Libraries in Eskdale supported by his bequests . . . . 473-493

INDEX , /<)*

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PORTRAIT OF JOHN SMEATOX
„ JOHN RENNIE

THOMAS TELFORD

PAGE

Banff Bridge . . 2

Map of Smeaton's Native District . . 4
View of Leeds, early in the 18th

century , 6

Whitkirk, near Leeds . - . . . . 9

Map of coast of Devon and Cornwall 15

Winstanley 's Lighthouse (Eddystone) 1 8

Rudyerd's Lighthouse (Eddystone) 22

Smeaton's Lighthouse (Eddystone) 26

Section of Smeaton's Lighthouse . . 34
Progress ot the works to the 15th

course 41

Smeaton on the Hoe 42

Plan of the 46th course 44

Light at the Nore 48

Old London Bridge, before the altera-
tion of 1758 . . 54

Old London Bridge, after the alteration 55

Coldstream Bridge 60

Plan of St. Ives Harbour . . . . 64

View of St. Ives Harbour . . . . 65

Map of Eamsgate and Harbour . . 66

View of Eamsgate Harbour . . . . 67

Plan of Eyemouth Harbour . . . . 70

View of Eyemouth Harbour .. .. 71

Smeaton's House at Austhorpe . . 74

Smeaton's Lathe 77

Monumental Tablet in Whitkirk . . 89

Smeaton's Burial-place, Whitkirk . . 90
Plymouth Breakwater from Mount

Edgcumbe 92

Map of Eennie's Native District . . 93

Houston Mill 107

Portrait of Andrew Meikle .. ..113

Eennie's Birthplace, Phantassie .. 118

Eennie's first Bridge 131

The Albion Mills 138

Locks on the Eochdale Canal . . 146

Lune Aqueduct, Lancaster . . . . 148

Frontispiece.

to face page 91.
„ page 285.

PAGE

i Map of the Lincolnshire Fens before
their Drainage by Eennie .. .. 155

i Plan of Eau Brink Cut 168

Kelso Bridge 173

j Musselburgh Bridge 174

| Boston Bridge , . 176

Section of Waterloo Bridge . . .180
C enteri n g of Waterloo Bridge arching 182
Waterloo Bridge (Skelton's) .. ..186

Southwark Bridge 190

Waterloo Bridge (Leitch's) . . . . 194
Portrait of William Jessop .. ..198

Plan of London Docks 199

I Plan of East and West India Docks 203

I Plan of Holyhead Harbour . . . . 210

I View of Holyhead Harbour . . . . 211

Method of using the Diving Bell . . 221

Section of Bell Eock Lighthouse . . 232

View of Bell Eock Lighthouse . . 233

Plan of proposed Docks at Northfleet 244

Plan of Sheerness Docks 247

Plan of proposed Medway improve-
ment 250

| Map of Plymouth Sound 253

View of Plymouth Breakwater .. 262
Section of the Breakwater . . . . 263
Portrait of Captain Huddart .. .. 205
View of New London Bridge . . . . 272

Section of Bridge 273

View of Glasgow Bridge 286

Map of Telford's Native District . . 288

Telford's Birthplace 293

Cottage at the Crooks 295

Westerkirk Church and School . . 297

Telford's Tool-mark ..302

Valley of Eskdale .. 303-

Valley of the Meggat 307

Shrewsbury Castle 329

Medallion of John Wilkinson . . . 337

XIV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATION'S.

PAGK
St. Mary Magdalen, Bridgcnorth . . 339

Map of Ellesmerc Canal 340

View of Chirk Aqueduct 343

Section of Pier of Chirk Aqueduct . . 344
Iron Trough at Pont-Cysylltau . . 34G

Section of Aqueduct 347

View of Pont-Cysylltau Aqueduct . . 348
First Iron Bridge, Coalbrookdale . . 357
Wear Bridge, Sunderland . . . . 358

Buildwas Bridge 360

Telford's proposed one arch Iron
Bridge over the Thames . . . . 364

Bewdley Bridge 367

Tongueland Bridge , . 368

The Cas-Chrom , . 376

Map of Highland Koads 382

Dunkeld Bridge 384

Craigellachie Bridge 387

Folkestone Harbour 392

View of Peterhead 394

Map of Peterhead Harbour . . . . 395

Map of Banff Harbour 398

Map of Aberdeen Harbour . . . . 404
View of Aberdeen Harbour . . . . 405
Section of Pier-head Work . . . . 405
Plan of Dundee Harbour . . . . 406
View of Dundee Harbour . . . . 407

I Map of Caledonian Canal .. .. 412

Lock, Caledonian Canal 414

Cross Section, Harecastle Tunnel . . 422

Galton Bridge, Birmingham Canal . . 424

! Portrait of J. L. Macadam . . . . 430

I Cartland Crags Bridge 431

j Koad descent to the Lugwy (N.

Wales) 439

I Koad, Nant Ffrancon (N. Wales) . . 440

Map of Menai Strait 444

Telford's proposed Cast Iron Bridge

over the Menai 445

Plan of suspended Centering for ditto 445
Outline of proposed Runcorn Bridge 447
Outline of Menai Suspension Bridge 448

Section of Main Pier 451

Mode of fixing Chains in the Rock 453
State of Suspension Chain before

hoisting 456

View of Menai Bridge 458

View of Conway Bridge 460

Dean Bridge, Edinburgh 466

Section of Polish Road 476

Telford's Burial-place, Westminster

Abbey 481

View in Eskdale . 493

LIVES OF THE ENGINEEES,

LIFE OF JOHN SMEATON.

VOL. 11.

BANFF BRIDGE. [By R. P. I.eitcb ]

LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS.

LIFE OF JOHN SMEA

R A

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

or

CHAPTER i.

SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION.

THE engineer of the Eddystone Lighthouse was Brindley's
junior by only eight years. They frequently met in
consultation upon important engineering undertakings ;
sometimes Smeaton advising that Brindley should be
called in, and Brindley, on his part, recommending
Smeaton. They were, in fact, during their lifetime, the
leading men in their profession ; and at Brindley's
death Smeaton succeeded to much of his business as
consulting engineer in connection with the construction
of canals and of public works generally.

Smeaton had the great advantage over Brindley of a
good education and bringing up. He had not, like the
Macclesfield millwright, to force his way up through the
obstructions of poverty, toil, and parental neglect ; but
was led gently by the hand from his earliest years, and
carefully trained and cultured after the best methods
then known. But Smeaton, not less than Brindley,
was impelled to the professional career on which he
entered by a like innate genius for construction which
displayed itself at a very early age ; and, being per-
mitted to follow his own bent, his force of character and
strong natural ability, diligently cultivated by study and

B 2

4 SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION. PART VI.

experience, eventually carried him to the very highest

eminence as an engineer.

John Smeatoii was born at Austhorpe Lodge, near
Leeds, on the 8th of June, 1724, his father being

SMEATON'S NATIVE DISTRICT [Ordnance Survey.]

a respectable attorney practising in that town. The
house in which the future engineer was born was built
by his grandfather John Smeaton, who is described on.
the tablet to his memory erected in the neighbouring
parish church of Whitkirk, as " late of York." Leeds
was then a place of small importance, compared with
Avhat it now is. The principal streets were those still
known as Briggate, leading to the bridge ; Kirkgate,
leading to the parish church ; and Swinegate, leading to
the old castle. Beyond those streets there lay a wide
extent of open fields. Boar Lane, now nearly the centre
of the town, was a 'kind of airy suburb, in wrhich the
principal merchants resided ; and the back of the houses
in the upper part of Briggate, now the main street,
looked into the country,1 or " the Park," on which Park
Square, Park Row, and Park Lane (now containing the
principal architectural ornament of the place, the new
Town Hall), have since been built. There were also green
fields, with pleasant footpaths, between the parish church

1 Whitaker's Thoresby, ' Loidis and Elmete,' p. 89.

CHAP. I.

SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION.

and the river side, through certain gardens, then, as
now, named " The Calls," but gardens no longer.

The clothing trade of the town was then so small that
the cloth market was held in the open air upon the
bridge, where the cloth was exposed for sale on the
parapets. The homely entertainment of the clothiers
at that day was a " brigend shot," consisting of a
noggin of porridge and a pot of ale, followed by a
twopenny trencher of meat. Down to the year 1730,
the bridge was so narrow that only one cart could pass
over it at a time. But the number of wheeled vehicles
then in use was so small that the inconvenience was
scarcely felt. The whole of the cloth was brought to
market 011 men's and horses' backs.1 Coals were in like
manner carried from the pits on horseback, the stated
weight of a " horse-pack " being eighteen stone, or equal
to two hundredweight and a quarter.2 In the rural
districts of Yorkshire manure was also carried a-field on
horses' backs, and sometimes on women's backs, while
the men sat at home knitting.3 The cloth-packs were
carried by the " bell-horses," or pack-horses ; and this
mode of conveyance continued until towards the end of
last century. Scatcherd says the pack-horses only ceased
to travel about the year 1794.

The Leeds men, it seems, were not considered so
"quick" as those of Bradford, then a much smaller
place and comparatively of the dimensions of a village ;
and it was long before they provided themselves with a

1 This is clear from an allusion
made by Thoresby to an Act passed
in 1714, regulating the manufacture
of broad-cloth, by which the length
was increased from four or six-and-
twenty to sixty and even seventy
yards, " to the great oppression," says
Thoresby, " both of man and beast
in carriage."

2 Smeaton's ' Eeports,' vol. iii., p.
410. Mr. Smeaton says that before
the invention of rail or waggon roads

at Newcastle, " all the coals that were
carried down to the ships must have
been conveyed on horses' backs."
What was called " a bowl of coals,"
was reckoned a horse-load ; and in
Yorkshire (where the first waggon-
way was laid within Smeaton's recol-
lection) the load of coals and the
" horse-pack " were readily substi-
tuted the one for the other.

3 Brockett's 'Glossary of North
Country Words.' Newcastle, 1825.

6 SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION. PART VT.

proper market for their cloth, first on Mill Hill, and
afterwards in the Calls; finally, in 1757, erecting a
large hall for the markets in the Parks, which is now
known as the Coloured Cloth Hall. But even then the
place remained comparatively rural in point of size and
surroundings.

ml

VIEW OF LEEDS, EARLY PART OP 18TH CENTURY. 1
[From Thoresby's ' Ducatus Leodensis.']

Smeaton was greatly favoured in his home and his
family. He received his first education at his mother's
knees, and when not occupied with his lessons he led the
life of a healthy, happy country boy. Austhorpe was
then quite in the country, the only houses in the neigh-
bourhood being those of the little hamlet of Whitkirk,
with the large old mansion of Temple Newsam, sur-
rounded by its noble park and woods, close at hand.
Young Smeaton was not much given to boyish sports,
early displaying a thoughtfulness beyond his years.
Most children are naturally fond of building up minia-
ture fabrics, and perhaps still more so of pulling them
down. But the little Smeaton seemed to have a more
than ordinary love of contrivance, and that mainly for

1 The principal buildings shown in
the above view of Leeds, about the
time when Smeaton was born, are the

Parish Church (described by Thoresby
— " black, but comely "), St. John's

as

Church, and Call Lane Chapel.

CHAP. T.

SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION.

its own sake. He was never so happy as when put in
possession of any cutting-tool, by which he could make
his little imitations of houses, pumps, and windmills.
Even whilst a boy in petticoats he was continually
dividing circles and squares, and the only playthings in
which he seemed to take any real pleasure were his
models of things that would "work." When any car-
penters or masons were employed in the neighbour-
hood of his father's house, the inquisitive boy was sure
to be amongst them, watching the men, observing how
they handled their tools, and frequently asking them
questions. His life-long friend, Mr. Holmes,1 who knew
him in his youth, has related that having one day
observed some millwrights at work, shortly after, to the
great alarm of his family, he was seen fixing some-
thing like a windmill on the top of his father's barn.
On another occasion, when watching some workmen
fixing a pump in the village, he was so lucky as to pro-
cure from them a piece of bored pipe, which he succeeded
in fashioning into a working pump that actually raised
water. His odd cleverness, however, does not seem to
have been appreciated ; and it is told of him that
amongst the other boys he was known as " Fooely
Smeaton ;" for, though forward enough in putting ques-
tions to the workpeople, amongst boys of his own age
he was remarkably shy, and, as they thought, stupid.

At a proper age the boy was sent to school at Leeds.
That town then possessed, as it still does, the great
advantage of an excellent free grammar school, founded
by the benefactions of Catholics in early times, after-
wards greatly augmented by the endowment of one
John Harrison, a native of the town, about the period of

1 An eminent clock and watch-
maker in the Strand, afterwards
Smeaton's partner in the Deptford
Waterworks. His ' Short Narrative
of the Genius, Life, and Works of
the late Mr. John Smeaton, C.E.,

F.R.S.,' published in 1793, contains
the gist of nearly all the notices of
Smeaton's life which have since been
published ; but it is a very meagre
account of only a few pages in length.

8 SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION. PART VT.

the Reformation. At this school Smeaton is supposed
to have received the best part of his school instruction,
and it is said that his progress in geometry and arith-
metic was very decided ; but, as before, the chief part
of his education was conducted at home, amongst his
tools and his model machines. There he was inces-
santly busy whenever he had a spare moment. Indeed,
his mechanical ingenuity sometimes led him to play
tricks which involved him in trouble. Thus, it hap-
pened that some mechanics came into the neighbour-
hood to erect a " fire-engine," as the steam-engine was
then called, for the purpose of pumping water from the
Garforth coal-mines ; and Smeaton made daily visits to
them for the purpose of watching their operations.
Carefully observing their methods, he proceeded to
make a miniature engine at home, provided with
pumps and other apparatus, and he even succeeded
in getting it set to work before the colliery engine
was ready. He first tried its powers upon one of the
fish-ponds in front of the house at Austhorpe, which he
succeeded in very soon pumping completely dry, and so
killed all the fish in it, very much to the surprise as
well as annoyance of his father. But the latter seems,
on the whole, to have been very indulgent, for he
provided the boy with a workshop in an outhouse,
where he hammered, filed, and chiselled away very
much to his heart's content. Working on in this way,
by the time he had arrived at his fifteenth year, young
Smeaton had contrived to make a turning-lathe, on
which he turned wood and ivory, and he delighted in
making presents of little boxes and other articles to his
friends. He also learned to work in metals, which he
fused and forged himself, and by the age of eighteen he
could handle his tools with the expertness of any regular
smith or joiner.

"In the year 1742," says his friend, Mr. Holmes, "I
spent a month at his father's house ; and being intended

CHAP. T.

SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION.

myself for a mechanical employment, and a few years
younger than he was, I could not but view his works
with astonishment. He forged his iron and steel, and
melted his metal. He had tools of every sort for working
in wood, ivory, and metals. He had made a lathe, by
which he cut a perpetual screw in brass, — a thing little
known at that day, and which, I believe, was the inven-
tion of Mr. Henry Hindley, of York, with whom I
served my apprenticeship. Mr. Hindley was a man of
the most communicative disposition, a great lover of
mechanics, and of the most fertile genius. Mr. Smeaton
soon became acquainted with him, and spent many a
night at Mr. Hindley's house till daylight, conversing
on these subjects."

fWHITKIRK, NEAR LEEDS.
[By E. M. Wimperis, after a Sketch by T. Sutcliffe.]

10 SMEATON LEARNS THE TRADE OF PAHT VI.

CHAPTER II.

SMEATON LEARNS THE TRADE OF MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENT

MAKER.

YOUNG SMEATON left school in his sixteenth year, and
from that time he was employed in his father's office,
copying legal documents, and passing through the
necessary preliminary training to fit him to follow the
profession of an attorney. Mr. Smeaton, having a good
connection in his native town, naturally desired that his
only son should succeed him. But the youth took no
pleasure in the law : his heart was in his workshop
amongst his tools ; and though he mechanically travelled
to the office daily, worked assiduously at his desk, and
then travelled back again to Austhorpe, he more and
more felt the irksomeness of his intended vocation.
Partly to wean him from his mechanical pursuits at
home, which often engrossed his attention half the night,
and partly to give him the best legal education which it
was in his power to bestow, Mr. Smeaton sent his son
to London towards the end of the year 1742, and for
a short time he occupied himself, in conformity with his
parent's wishes, in attending the Courts in Westminster
Hall. But at length he could not repress his strong
desire to follow some mechanical occupation, and in a
strong but respectful memorial to his father, he fully set
forth his views as to the calling which he wished to
pursue in preference to that of the law.

The father's heart was touched, and probably also his
good sense was influenced, by the son's earnest appeal ;
and he wrote back, giving his assent, though not with-
out his strong expression of regret as to the course which

CHAP. TT. MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER. 11

his son desired to adopt. No doubt lie thought that by
giving up the position of a member of a learned and
lucrative profession, and descending to the level of a
mechanical workman, his son was performing an act of
great folly, for there was no such thing then as the pro-
fession of a civil engineer. Almost the only mecha-
nical work of importance done at that time was executed
by millwrights and others, at labourers' wages, as we
have already seen in the Life of Brindley. The edu-
cated classes eschewed mechanical callings, which were
neither regarded as honourable nor remunerative ; and
that Smeaton should have felt so strongly impelled to
depart from the usual course and enter upon a line
of occupation, must be attributed entirely to his innate
love of construction, or, as he himself expressed it to his
father, the strong " bent of his genius."

When he received his father's letter, the young man
experienced the joy of a prisoner on hearing of his re-
prieve, and he lost no time in exercising his new-found
liberty. He sought out for himself a philosophical
instrument maker, who could give him instruction in the
business he proposed to follow, and entered into his
service, his father being at the expense of his main-
tenance. In due course of time, however, he was
enabled to earn enough to maintain himself; but his
father continued to assist him liberally on every occa-
sion when money was required either for purposes of
instruction or of business.

Young Smeaton did not live a mere workman's life,
but frequented the society of educated men, and was a
regular attendant of the meetings of the Royal Society.
In 1750, he lodged in Great Turnstile, a passage leading
from the south side of Holborn to the east side of
Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and shortly after, when he com-
menced business as a mathematical instrument maker on
his own account, he lodged in Furnival's Inn Court,
from which his earlier papers read before the Royal

12 SMEATON LEARNS THE TRADE OF PART VI.

Society were dated. The very same year in which
he began business, when he was only twenty-six, he
read a communication before the Royal Society, de-
scriptive of his own and Dr. Go win Knight's improve-
ments in the mariner's compass. In the year following
(1751) we find him engaged in a boat on the Ser-
pentine river, performing experiments with a machine
of his invention, for the purpose of measuring the
way of a ship at sea. With the same object he made
a voyage down the Thames, in a small sailing vessel, to
several leagues beyond the Nore ; and he afterwards
made a short cruise in the Fortune sloop of war, testing
his instruments by the way.

His attention as yet seems to have been confined
chiefly to the improvement of mathematical instruments
used for purposes of navigation or astronomical observa-
tion. In the year 1752, however, he enlarged the range
of his experiments ; for we find him, in April, reading
a paper before the Royal Society, descriptive of some
improvements which he had contrived in the air-pump.
On the llth of June following, he read a second paper,
descriptive of an improvement which he had made in
ship-tackle by a construction of pulleys, by means of
which one man might easily raise a ton weight ; and on
the 9th of November following, he read a third paper,
descriptive of M. De Moura's experiments on Savary's
steam-engine. In the course of the same year he was
busily occupied in performing a series of experiments,
on which his admirable paper, read before the same
Society, was founded — for which he received their Gold
Medal in 1759 — entitled ' An Experimental Inquiry con-
cerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to turn
Mills and other Machines depending on a Circular
Motion.' This paper was very carefully elaborated, and
is justly regarded as the most masterly report that has
ever been published on the subject.

To accomplish all this, and at the same time to carry

CHAP. II. MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER. 13

on his business, necessarily involved great application
and industry. Indeed, Smeaton was throughout life
an indefatigable student, bent, above all things, on
self-improvement. One of his maxims was, that "the
abilities of the individual are a debt due to the common
stock of public happiness ;" and the steadfastness with
which he devoted himself to useful work, in which he at
the same time found his own true happiness, shows that
this maxim was 110 mere lip-utterance on his part, but
formed the very mainspring of his life. From an early
period he carefully laid out his time with a view to
getting the most good out of it : so much for study, so
much for practical experiments, so much for business,
and so much for rest and relaxation.

We infer that Smeaton could never have had a large
business as a philosophical instrument maker from the
large portion of his time that he devoted to study and
experiments. Probably he already felt that, in the
course of the development of English industry, a field
was opening before him of a more important character
than any that was likely to present itself in the mathe-
matical instrument line. He accordingly seems early to
have turned his attention to engineering, and, amongst
other branches of study, he devoted several hours in
every day to the acquisition of French, in order that he
might be enabled to read for himself the works on that
science which were then only to be found in that and the
Italian language. He had, however, a further object in
studying French, which was to enable him to make a
journey which he contemplated into the Low Countries,
for the purpose of inspecting the great canal works of
foreign engineers.

Accordingly, in 1754, he set out for Holland, and
traversed that country and Belgium, travelling mostly
on foot and in treckschuyts, or canal boats, both for the
sake of economy, and that he might more closely inspect
the engineering works of the districts through which he

14 SMBATON LEARNING A TRADE. PAIIT VI.

passed. He found himself in a country which had been,
as it were, raked out of the very sea, — for which Nature
had done so little, and skill and industry so much. From
Eotterdam he went by Delft and the Hague to Amster-
dam, and as far north as Helder, narrowly inspecting
the vast dykes raised around the land to secure it against
the hungry clutches of the sea from which it was origi-
nally won. At Amsterdam he was astonished at the
amount of harbour and dock accommodation, existing at
a time when London as yet possessed no conveniences
of the sort, though indeed it always had its magnificent
Thames. Passing round the country by Utrecht, he
proceeded to the great sea-sluices at Brill and Helveet-
sluys, by means of which the inland waters discharged
themselves, while the sea-waters were securely dammed
out. Seventeen years later, he made use of the expe-
rience which he had acquired in the course of his careful
inspection of these great works, in illustrating and en-
forcing the recommendations contained in his elaborate
report on the best means of improving Dover Harbour.
He made careful memoranda during his journey, to which
he was often accustomed to refer, and they proved of
great practical value to him in the course of his sub-
sequent extensive employment as a canal and harbour
engineer.

Shortly after his return to England in 1755, an oppor-
tunity occurred for the exercise of that genius in
construction which Smeaton had thus so carefully dis-
ciplined and cultivated; and it proved the turning-
point in his fortunes, as well as the great event of his
professional life.

CHAP. HI.

THE EDDYSTONE ROCK.

15

CHAPTER III.

THE EDDYSTONE KOCK — WINSTANLEY'S AND KUDYERD'S
LIGHTHOUSES.

THE Eddy stone forms the crest of an extensive reef of
rocks which rise up in deep water about fourteen miles
S.S.W. of Plymouth Harbour. Being well out at sea,
they are nearly in a line with Lizard Head and Start
Point, and besides being in the way of ships bound for
Plymouth Sound, they lie in the very direction of vessels
coasting up and clown the English Channel. At low

COAST OF DEVON AND CORNWALL.

water, several long low reefs of gneiss are visible, jagged
and black ; but at high water they are almost completely
submerged. Lying in a sloping manner towards the
south-west quarter, from which the heaviest seas come,
the waves in stormy weather come tumbling up the slope
and break over their crest with tremendous violence.
The water boils and eddies amongst the reefs, and hence
the name which they have borne from the earliest times
of the Eddystone Rocks.

16

THE EDDYSTONE HOCK—

TAUT VI.

It may readily be imagined that this reef, whilst
unprotected by any beacon, was a source of much
danger to the mariner. Many a ship coming in from
the Atlantic was dashed to pieces there, almost within
, sight of land, and all that came ashore was only dead
bodies and floating wreck. To avoid this terrible rock,
the navigator was accustomed to give it as wide a berth
as possible, and homeward-bound ships accordingly en-
tered the Channel on a much more southern parallel of
latitude than they now do. In his solicitude to avoid
the one danger, the sailor too often ran foul of another ;
and hence the numerous wrecks which formerly occurred
along the French coast, more particularly upon the
dangerous rocks which surround the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, and Alderney.

We have already described the rude expedients
adopted in early times to light up certain of the more
dangerous parts of the coast, and referred to the privi-
lege granted to private persons who erected lighthouses,
of levying tolls on passing shipping.1 But it was long
before any private adventurer was found ready to under-
take so daring an enterprise as the erection of a light-
house on the Eddystone, where only a little crest of rock
was visible at high water, scarcely capable of affording
foothold for a structure of the very narrowest basis.
At length, however, one Mr. Henry Winstanley (a
mercer and country gentleman), of Littlebury, in the
county of Essex, obtained the necessary powers, in the
year 1696, to erect a lighthouse on the Eddystone. That
gentleman seems to have possessed a curious mechanical
genius, which first displayed itself in devising sundry
practical jokes for the entertainment of his guests.

1 Nearly all the private lights first
erected — amongst which were those on
Dimgeness, the Skerries (off the Tsle
of Anglesey), the Eddystone, Har-
wich, Wintertonness and Orfordness,
Hunstanton Cliff, &c. — have been

purchased by the Trinity House,
some of them at very large sums.
The revenue of the Skerries Light
alone, previous to its purchase by the
Trinity House, amounted to about
20,OOOZ. a year.

CHAP. III. WINSTANLEY'S AND RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSES. 17

Smeaton tells us l that in one room there lay an old
slipper, which, if a kick was given it, immediately raised
a ghost from the floor ; in another, the visitor sat down
upon a chair, which suddenly threw out two arms and
held him a fast prisoner ; whilst, in the garden, if he
sought the shelter of an arbour and sat down upon a
particular seat, he was straightway set afloat into the
middle of the adjoining canal. These tricks must have
rendered the house at Littlebury a somewhat exciting
residence for the uninitiated guest. The amateur inventor
exercised the same genius to a certain extent for the
entertainment of the inhabitants of the metropolis, and
at Hyde Park Corner he erected a variety of jets d'eau,
known by the name of Winstanley's Waterworks, which
he exhibited at stated times at a shilling a-head.2

This whimsical character of the man in some measure
accounts for the oddity of the wooden building after-
wards erected by him for the purpose of a lighthouse on the
Eddy stone rock; and it is a matter of some surprise that it
should have stood the severe weather of the English Chan-
nel for several seasons. The building was begun in the
year 1696, and finished in four years. It must necessarily
have been a work attended with great difficulty as well
as danger, as operations could only be carried on during
fine weather, when the sea was comparatively smooth.
The first summer was wholly spent in making twelve
holes in the rock, and fastening twelve irons in them by
which to hold the superstructure. " Even in summer,"
Winstanley says, " the weather would at times prove so
bad, that for ten or fourteen days together the sea would
be so raging about these rocks, caused by outwinds and
the running of the ground seas coining from the main
ocean, that although the weather should seem and be

' Narrative of the Building and a
Description of the Construction of the
Eddystone Lighthouse with Stone.' By

2 They continued to be exhibited
for some time after Mr. Winstanley's
death. See ' Tatler,' for September,
1709.

John Smeaton, Civil Engineer, F.R.S.
Second Edition. London-, 1813. |

VOL. II. C

18

THE EDDYSTONE KOCK-

PART VI.

most calm in other places, yet here it would mount and
fly more than two hundred feet, as has been so found
since there was lodgment on the place, and therefore all
our works were constantly buried at those times, and
exposed to the mercy of the seas."

The second summer was spent in making a solid pillar,
twelve feet high and fourteen feet in diameter, on which

to set the lighthouse. In the
third year, all the upper work
was erected to the vane, which
was eighty feet above the
foundation. In the midsum-
mer of that year Winstanley
ventured to take up his lodg-
ing with the workmen
in the lighthouse ; but
a ' storm arose, and
eleven days passed
before any boats could
come near them. Dur-
ing that period the sea
washed in upon Win-
stanley and his com-
panions, wetting all
their clothing and
provisions, and carry-
ing off many of their
materials. By
the time the
boats could
land, the party
were reduced almost to their last crust ; but happily the
building stood, apparently firm. Finally, the light was
exhibited on the 14th of November, 1698.

The fourth year was occupied in strengthening the
building round the foundations, making all solid nearly
to a height of twenty feet, and also in raising the upper

WJNSTANLEY-3 LIGHTHOUSE.

CHAP. III. WINSTANLEY'S AND RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSES. 19

part of the lighthouse forty feet, to keep it well out
of the wash of the sea. This timber erection, when
finished, somewhat resembled a Chinese pagoda, with
open galleries and numerous fantastic projections. The
main gallery under the light was so wide and open, that
an old gentleman who remembered both Mr. Winstanley
and his lighthouse, afterwards told Mr. Smeaton, that it
was " possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted up on a
wave, and driven clear through the open gallery into the
sea on the other side." In the perspective print of the
lighthouse, published by the architect after its erection,
he complacently represented himself as fishing out of the
kitchen-window !

When Winstanley had brought his work to completion,
he is said to have expressed himself so satisfied as to its
strength, that he only wished he might be there in the
fiercest storm that ever blew. In this wish he was not
disappointed, though the result was directly the reverse
of its builder's anticipations. In November, 1703, Win-
stanley went off to the lighthouse to superintend some
repairs which had become necessary, and he was still in
the place with the lightkeepers, when, on the night of
the 26th, a storm of unparalleled fury burst along the
coast. As day broke on the morning of the 27th, people
on shore anxiously looked in the direction of the rock to
see if Winstanley 's structure had withstood the fury of
the gale ; but not a vestige of it remained. The light-
house and its builder had been swept completely away.

The building had, in fact, been deficient in every
element of stability, and its form was such as to render
it peculiarly liable to damage from the violence both of
wind and water. " Nevertheless," as Smeaton generously
observes, " it was no small degree of heroic merit in Win-
stanley to undertake a piece of work which had before
been deemed impracticable, and, by the success which
attended his endeavours, to show mankind that the erec-
tion of such a building was not in itself a thing of that

c 2

20 THE EDDYSTONE ROCK— PART VI.

kind." He may indeed be said to have paved the way
for the more successful enterprise of Smeaton himself;
arid his failure was not without its influence in inducing
that great builder to exercise the care which he did in
devising a structure that should withstand the most
violent force of the sea on that coast. Shortly after
Winstanley's lighthouse had been swept away, the Win-
chelsea, a richly-laden homeward-bound Yirginiaman,
was wrecked on the Eddystone rocks, and almost every
soul on board perished ; so that the erection of a light-
house upon the dangerous reef remained as much a
necessity as ever.

A new architect was not long in making his appear-
ance. He did not, however, come from the class of
architects, or builders, or even of mechanics : as for the
class of engineers, it had not yet sprung into existence.
Again the bold projector of a lighthouse for the Eddy-
stone was a London mercer, who kept a silk-shop on
Ludgate Hill. John Rudyerd — for such was his name —
was, however, a man of unquestionable genius, and pos-
sessed of much force of character. He was originally
the son of a Cornish labourer, whom nobody would
employ, his character was so bad ; and the rest of the
family were no better, being looked upon in their neigh-
bourhood as " a worthless set of ragged beggars." John
seems to have been the one sound chick in the whole
brood. He had a naturally clear head and honest
heart, and succeeded in withstanding the bad example of
his family. When his brothers went out a-pilfering, he
refused to accompany them, and hence they regarded
him as sullen and obstinate. They ill-used him, and he
ran away. Fortunately he succeeded in getting into the
service of a gentleman at Plymouth, who saw something
promising in his appearance. The boy conducted himself
so well in the capacity of a servant, that he was permitted
the opportunity of learning reading, writing, and ac-
counts ; and he proved so quick and intelligent, that his

CHAP. III. WINSTANLEY'S AND KUDYEBD'S LIGHTHOUSES. 21

kind master eventually placed him in a situation where
his talents could have better scope for exercise than in
his service, and he thus succeeded in laying the founda-
tions of John Hudyerd's success in life. We are not
informed of the steps by which he worked his way
upward, until we find him called from his silk-mercer's
shop to undertake the rebuilding of the Eddystone
Lighthouse. But it is probable that by this time he
had become known for his mechanical skill in design,
if not in construction, as well as for his thoroughly
practical and reliable character as a man of business ;
and that for these reasons, amongst others, he was
selected to conduct this difficult and responsible under-
taking.

After the lapse of about three years from the destruc-
tion of Winstanley's fabric, the Brethren of the Trinity,
in 1706, obtained an Act of Parliament enabling them
to rebuild the lighthouse, with power to grant a lease
to the undertaker. It was taken by one Captain Lovet
for a period of ninety-nine years, and he it was
that found out and employed Mr. Rudyerd. His
design of the new structure was simple but masterly.
He selected the form that offered the least possible
resistance to the force of the winds and the waves,
avoiding the open galleries and projections of his pre-
decessor. Instead of a polygon he chose a cone for the
outline of his building, and he carried up the eleva-
tion in that form. In the practical execution of the
work he was assisted by two shipwrights from the King's
yard at Woolwich, who worked with him during the
whole time that he was occupied in the erection.

The main defect of the lighthouse consisted in the
faultiness of the material of which it was built ; for,
like Winstanley's, it was of wood. The means em-
ployed to fix the work to its foundation proved
quite efficient; dove-tailed holes were cut out of the
rock, into which strong iron bolts or branches were

22

THE EDDYSTONE ROCK-

PART VI.

keyed,1 and the interstices were afterwards filled with
molten pewter. To these branches were firmly fixed

a crown of squared
oak balks, and across
these a set of shorter
balks, and so on, till a
basement of solid wood
was raised, the whole
being firmly fitted and
tied together with tre-
nails and screw-bolts.
At the same time, to
increase the weight
and vertical pressure
of the building, and
thereby present a
greater resistance to
any disturbing ex-
ternal force, Rudyerd
introduced numerous
courses of Cornish
moorstone, as well
jointed as possible, and
cramped with iron. It is not necessary to follow the
details of the construction further than to state, that
outside the solid timber and stone courses strong upright
timbers were fixed, and carried up as the work proceeded,
binding the whole firmly together.

Within these upright timbers the rooms of the light-
house were formed, the floor of the lowest, the store-
room, being situated twenty-seven feet above the highest

'

RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSE.

1 Mr. Smeaton says that the in-
strument now called the Lewis, though
an invention of old date, was for the
first time made use of by Rudyerd in
fixing his iron branches firmly to the
rock. "Mr. Rudyerd's method," he
says, " of keying and securing, must
be considered as a material accession
to the practical part of engineering,

as it furnishes us with a secure me-
thod of fixing ring-bolts and eye-
bolts, stanchions, &c., not only in
rocks of any known hardness, but
into piers, moles, &c., that have been
already constructed, for the safe moor-
ing of ships, or fixing additional
works, whether of stone or wood." —
Smeaton's ' Narrative,' p. 22.

CHAP. III. WINSTANLEY'S AND RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSES. 23

side of the rock. The upper part of the building com-
prehended four rooms, one above another, chiefly formed
by the upright outside timbers, scarfed — that is, the ends
overlapping, and then they were firmly fastened to-
gether. The whole building was, indeed, an admirable
piece of ship-carpentry, excepting the moorstone, which
was only introduced, as it were, by way of ballast. The
outer timbers were tightly caulked with oakum, like a
ship, and the whole was payed over with pitch. Upon
the roof of the main column Mr. Eudyerd fixed his
lantern, which was lit by candles, seventy feet above
the highest side of the foundation, which was of a slop-
ing form. From its lowest side to the summit of the
ball fixed on the top of the building was ninety-two feet,
the timber-column resting on a base of twenty-three feet
four inches. " The whole building," says Mr. Smeaton,
" consisted of a simple figure, being an elegant frustum
of a cone, unbroken by any projecting ornament, or
anything whereon the violence of the storms could lay
hold." The structure was completely finished in 1709,
though the light was exhibited in the lantern as early
as the 28th of July, 1706.1

That the building erected by Mr. Rudyerd was on the
whole exceedingly well adapted for the purpose for which
it was intended, was proved by the fact that it served as a
lighthouse for vessels navigating the English Channel,
and withstood the fierce storms which rage along that part
of the coastr for a period of nearly fifty years.2 The

1 An anecdote is told of a circum-
stance which occurred during its
erection, so creditable to Louis XIV.,
then King of France, that we repeat
it here. There being war at the
time between France and England,
a French privateer took the oppor-
tunity of one day seizing the men
employed upon the rock, and carry-
ing them off prisoners to France. But
the capture coming to the ears of
the King, he immediately ordered

and sent back to their work with pre-
sents, declaring that, though he was
at war with England, he was not at
war with mankind ; and, moreover,
that the Eddystone Lighthouse was
so situated as to be of equal service to
all nations having occasion to navi-
gate the channel that divided France
from England. — Smeaton 's * Narra-
tive,' p. 28.

2 Mr. Smeaton, in his quaint and
interesting * Narrative,' relates some

that the prisoners should be released ! curious anecdotes of the early light-

THE EDDYSTONE ROCK-

PART VI

chief defect, as we have already observed, consisted in
the material of which it was composed. It was com-
bustible, yet it could only be made useful as a lighthouse
by the constant employment of fire in some shape.
Though the heat of the candles used in the lantern may
not have been very great, still it was sufficient to produce
great dryness and inflammability in the timbers lining
the roof, and these being covered with a crust of soot, must
have proved a constant source of danger. The imme-
diate cause of the accident by which the lighthouse was
destroyed was never ascertained. All that became known
was, that about two o'clock in the morning of the 2nd De-
cember, 1755, the lightkeeper on duty, going into the
lantern to snuff the candles, found it full of smoke.
The lighthouse was on fire ! In a few minutes the
wooden fabric was in a blaze. Water could not be
brought up the tower by the men in sufficient quantities
to be thrown with any effect upon the flames raging
above their heads : the molten lead fell down upon the

keepers. Rudyerd's house was at first
attended by only two men, as the
duty required no more. During the
night they kept watch by turns for
four hours alternately, snuffing and re-
newing the candles. It happened, how-
ever, that one of the keepers took ill
and died, and only one man remained
to do the work. He hoisted the flag
as a signal to those on land to come
off to his assistance ; but the sea was
running so wild at the time that no
boat could live in the vicinity of the
rock ; and the same rough weather
lasted for nearly a month. What
was the surviving man to do with the
dead body of his comrade ? The
thought struck him that if he threw
it into the sea, he might be charged
with murder. He determined, there-
fore, to keep the corpse in the light-
house until the boat could come off
from the shore. One may imagine
the horrors endured by the surviving
lightkeeper during that long, dismal
month. At last the boat came off,
but the weather was still so rough
that a landing was only effected with

the greatest difficulty. By this time
the effluvia rising from the corpse
was most overpowering ; it com-
pletely filled the chambers of the
lighthouse, and it was all that the
men could do to get the body dis-
posed of by throwing it into the sea.
This circumstance induced the pro-
prietors for the future to employ a
third man to supply the place of a
disabled or dead keeper, though the
occupation proved exceedingly healthy
on the whole. There was always a
large number of candidates for any
vacant office, probably of the same
class to which pike-keepers belong.
They must have been naturally mo-
rose, and perhaps slightly misan-
thropic ; for Mr. Smeaton relates that,
some visitors having once landed at
the rock, one of them observed to
the lightkeeper how comfortably they
might live there in a state of retire-
ment : " Yes," replied the man, " very
comfortably, if we could have the use
of our tongues; but it is now a full
month since my partner and I have
spoken to each other !"

UNIVERSITY

v^.
CHAP. III. WINSTANLEY'S AND RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSES. 25

lightkeepers, into their very mouths,1 and they fled from
room to room, the fire following them down towards the
sea. From Cawsand and Eame Head the unusual glare
of light proceeding from the Eddystone was seen in the
early morning, and fishing-boats with men went off to
the rock, though a fresh east wind was blowing. By
the time they reached it, the lightkeepers had not only
been driven from all the rooms, but, to protect themselves
from the molten lead and red-hot bolts and falling tim-
bers, they had been compelled to take shelter under a
ledge of the rock on its eastern side, and, after con-
siderable delay, the poor fellows were taken off, more
dead than alive. And thus was Budyerd's lighthouse
also completely destroyed.

As the necessity for protecting the navigation of the
Channel by a light on the Eddystone was greater than
ever, in consequence of the increasing foreign as well
as coasting trade of the kingdom, it was immediately
determined by the proprietors to take the necessary
steps for rebuilding it ; and it was at this juncture
that Mr. Smeaton was applied to. As on the two pre-
vious occasions, when a mercer and country gentleman,
and next a London silk-mercer, had been called upon to
undertake this difficult work, the person now applied to
was not a builder, nor an architect, nor engineer, but a
mathematical instrument maker. Mr. Smeaton had,
however, by this time gained for himself so general an
estimation amongst scientific men as a painstaking ob-
server, an able mechanic, and one who would patiently
master, and, if possible, overcome difficulties, that he was
at once pointed out as the person of all others the most
capable of satisfactorily rebuilding this important beacon
on the south-eastern coast.

1 It appears that a post-mortem j rence, and a flat oval piece of lead,

examination of one of the light-
keepers, who died from injuries ^re-
ceived during the fire, took place
some thirteen days after its occur-

some seven ounces in weight, was
taken out of his stomach, having
proved the cause of his death,

EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. [By Percival Skelton.]

CHAPTEK IV.

SMEA.TON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE.

CAPTAIN LOVET, the lessee of the- lighthouse, having died
in 1715, his property was sold, and Mr. Eobert Weston,
in company with two others, became the purchasers of the
lease. On the destruction of Eudyerd's timber building,
Mr. Weston applied to the Earl of Macclesfield, Presi-
dent of the Royal Society, for his advice under the cir-
cumstances, and requested him to point out an architect
capable of undertaking the reconstruction of the light-
house in an efficient manner. Mr. Smeaton's account

CHAP. TY. RMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 27

of the reply made by the Earl to Mr. Weston is so
characteristic of him, that we quote his own words.
Lord Macclesfield told him " that there was one of their
body whom he could venture to recommend to the
business ; yet that the most material part of what he
knew of him was, his having within the compass of the
last seven years recommended himself to the Society by
the communication of several mechanical inventions and
improvements ; and that though he had at first made it
his business to execute things in the instrument way
(without having ever been bred to the trade), yet on
account of the merit of his performances he had been
chosen a member of the Society ; and that for about three
years past, having found the business of a philosophical
instrument maker not likely to afford an adequate recom-
pense, he had wholly applied himself to such branches of
mechanics as he (Mr. Weston) had appeared to want ;
that he was then somewhere in Scotland, or in the north
of England, doing business in that line ; that what he
had to say of him further was, his never having known
him undertake anything but what he completed to the
satisfaction of those who employed him, and that Mr.
Weston might rely upon it, when the business was stated
to him, he would not undertake it unless he clearly saw
himself capable of performing it." 1

This description seems to have been enough for Mr.
Weston, who immediately addressed Mr. Smeaton on
the subject. News then travelled so slowly, and the
particulars which had got abroad relating to the accident
at the Eddystone were so meagre, that Smeaton did not
know that the lighthouse had been totally destroyed.
When he at length received Mr. Weston' s letter, more
than a month after the accident, he fancied that it was
only the repair of some of the upper works that was
required of him, and he replied that he had engagements

1 Smeaton's * Narrative,' &c., p. 38.

28 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

on hand that he could not leave upon an uncertainty.
The answer he received was, that the former building
was totally destroyed — that the lighthouse must be re-
built— and the letter concluded with the words, "thou
art the man to do it."

Smeaton then returned to town and proceeded to take
the matter in hand. The subject was wholly new to him ;
but he determined to investigate it thoroughly, and he
lost no time in doing so. One of the earliest conclusions
he arrived at was, that stone was the proper material
with which to rebuild the lighthouse, though the supe-
riority of timber was strongly urged upon him. The
popular impression, which also prevailed amongst the
Brethren of the Trinity House, was, that " nothing but
wood could possibly stand on the Eddystone ;" and many
were the predictions uttered as to the inevitable failure
of a structure composed of any other material. The
first thing which our engineer did in the matter was to
examine carefully the plans and models of the two former
lighthouses ; by which he sought to ascertain their
defects, with a view to their avoidance in the intended
new erection. In the course of this inquiry, he became
more and more convinced that a great defect in the late
building had been its want of Weight, through which it
had rocked about in heavy storms, and would probably
have been washed away before long if it had not been
burnt ; and he came to the conclusion, that if the light-
house was to be contrived so as not to give way to the
sea, it must then be made so strong as that the sea
must be compelled to give way to the building. He
also had regard to durability as an important point in
its re-erection. To quote his own words : "In con-
templating the use and benefit of such a structure as
this, my ideas of what its duration and continued
existence ought to be, were not confined within the
boundary of one Age or two, but extended themselves
to look towards a possible Perpetuity."

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 29

Thus, before Smeaton had proceeded very far, he had
come to the firm conviction that the new lighthouse
must be built of stone. Nevertheless, he resolved to
preserve the conical form of Kudyerd's building, but to
enlarge considerably the diameter of the foundation,
and thus increase the stability of the whole superstruc-
ture. The idea of the bole of a large spreading oak-
tree presented itself to his mind as the natural model
of a column, presenting probably the greatest possible
strength. Another point which he long and carefully
studied, was the best mode of bonding the blocks of
stone to the rock and to each other, in such a way
as that not only every individual piece, but the whole
fabric, should be rendered proof against external force.
Binding the blocks together by iron cramps was con-
sidered, but dismissed as insufficient, as well as im-
practicable. Then the process of dove-tailing occurred
to him — a practice then generally applied to carpentry,
though scarcely as yet known in masonry. Still more
suitable for his purpose was the method which he had
observed adopted in fixing the kerbs along the London
footpaths, by which the long pieces or stretchers were
retained between the two headers or bond-pieces, whose
heads being cut dovetail-wise, adapted themselves to and
bound in the stretchers ; and the tye being as good at the
bottom as at the top, this arrangement, he conceived, was
the very best that could be devised for his purpose.

From these beginnings he was readily led to think
that if the blocks themselves, both inside and out, were
all formed into large dovetails, they might be managed
so as mutually to lock one another together, being pri-
marily engrafted into the rock ; and in the round and
entire courses, along the top of the rock, they might all
proceed from and be locked to one large centre stone.
By thus rooting the foundations into the rock, and also
binding every stone by a similar dovetailing process
to every other stone in each course, upon which the sea

30 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

could only act edgeways, he conceived that he would
be enabled to erect a building of a strength sufficient to
resist the strongest force of winds and waves that was
likely to be brought against it.

Having thus thought out the subject, and deliberately
matured his views — carefully studying, amongst other
works, ' Wren's Parentalia ' and Price's account of the
building of Salisbury Cathedral — he proceeded to design
a lighthouse on the principles we have thus summarily
indicated ; and, with a few modifications rendered neces-
sary by the situation and the various circumstances
which presented themselves in the course of the work,
he proceeded to carry his design into effect in the
building of the third Eddy stone Lighthouse.

All this had been done before Mr. Smeaton had even
paid a visit to the site on which the lighthouse was to
be built. The difficulty of reaching the place was great,
and his time was precious. Besides, he thought it best
to prepare himself for his first visit by completing his
thorough preliminary investigation of the whole case.
It was not until the end of March, 1756, that he set out
from London to Plymouth for the purpose of making
his first inspection of the rock. He was no less than six
days in performing the journey, of which he says, " I had
nothing to regret but the loss of time that I suffered,
which was occasioned chiefly by the badness of the roads."
At Plymouth he met Mr. J osias Jessop, to whom he had
been referred for information as to the previous light-
house. Mr. Jessop was then a foreman of shipwrights,
called a quarterman, in Plymouth Dock — a man of much
modesty, integrity, and ingenuity in mechanical matters.1
Mr. Smeaton also found him to be a competent draughts-
man and an excellent modeller, and he cheerfully ac-
knowledged the great assistance which he obtained from
him during the progress of the work. Smeaton showed

1 His son, William Jessop, the en- I and afterwards rose to great eminence
gineer, became a pupil of Smeaton's, | in the profession.

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 31

Jessop the plan of the stone building which he had
already made. The foreman expressed his great surprise
on first looking at it, having made up his mind that the
lighthouse could only be reconstructed of wood. But he
readily admitted the superiority of a stone structure,
if it could be made to stand in so very exposed and
dangerous a situation.

Mr. Smeaton was anxious to go off to the rock at
once ; but the wind had been blowing fresh for several
days, and there was so heavy a sea in the Channel, that
it was not until the 2nd of April that he could set sail.
On reaching the Eddystone, the sea was breaking upon
the landi'lig-place with such violence, that it was impos-
sible to land. All that Smeaton could do was to view
the cone of bare rock — the mere crest of the mountain
whose base was laid so far down in the sea-deeps beneath
—over which the waves were lashing, and to form a
more adequate idea of the very narrow as well as tur-
bulent site on which he was expected to erect his building.
Three days later he made a second voyage, and he
rejoiced on this occasion to be able to set his foot for
the first time upon the Eddystone. He stayed there for
more than two hours, and thoroughly examined the rock ;
being at length compelled to leave it by the sea, which
began to break over it as the tide rose. The only traces
that he could find of the two former lighthouses were
the iron branches fixed by Rudyerd, and numerous traces
of those fixed by Winstanley. On a third attempt to
make the rock, Mr. Smeaton was foiled by the wind,
which compelled him to re-land without even having got
within sight of it. After five more days — during which
the engineer was occupied in looking out a proper site
for a work-yard,1 and examining the granite in the neigh-
bourhood for the purposes of the building — he made a

1 The work-yard eventually fixed
upon was in a field adjacent to Mill
Bay, situated about midway between

Plymouth and Devonport, behind
Drake's Island.

32 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE, PART VI.

fourth voyage, and although the vessel reached the rock,
the wind was blowing so fresh and the breakers were so
wild, that it was again found impossible to land. He
could only direct the boat to lie off and on, for the pur-
pose of watching the breaking of the sea and its action
upon the reef. A fifth trial, made after the lapse of a
week, proved no more successful. After rowing about
all day with the wind ahead, the party found themselves
at night about four miles from the Eddystone, near
which they anchored until morning ; but wind and rain
coming on, they were forced to return to harbour without
accomplishing their object.

The sixth attempt was successful, and on the 22nd of
April, after the lapse of seventeen days, Mr. Smeaton
was able to effect his second landing at low water. After
a further inspection, the party retreated to their sloop
which lay off until the tide had fallen, when Smeaton
again landed, and the night being perfectly still, he says,
" I went on with my business till nine in the evening,
having worked an hour by candle-light." On the 23rd
he landed again and pursued his operations ; but this
time he was interrupted by the ground swell, which sent
the waves upon the reef, and, the wind rising, the sloop
was forced to put back to Plymouth. Mr. Smeaton had,
however, during this visit, secured some fifteen hours'
occupation on the rock, and taken dimensions of all its
parts, to enable him to construct an accurate model of
the foundation of the proposed building. He succeeded
in obtaining such measurements as he thought would
enable him to carry out his intention ; but to correct
the drawing, which he made to a scale, he deter-
mined upon attempting a seventh and final voyage of
inspection on the 28th of April. But again the sea was
found so turbulent, that a landing was impossible.
Another fortnight passed, the weather still continuing
unfavourable ; but meanwhile the engineer had been
maturing his design, and making all requisite prelimi-

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE.

33

nary arrangements to proceed with the work. A mong the
other facilities required for carrying on the operations,
was the provision of an improved landing-place, which
he regarded as of essential importance. He also drew up
a careful code of regulations for the guidance and govern-
ment of the artificers and others who were to be em-
ployed in constructing the lighthouse. Having done all
this, he arranged to proceed to London, but not until he
had paid three more visits to the rock for the purpose
of correcting his measurements, in one of which he got
thoroughly drenched by the spray.

On his return to town, Mr. Smeaton made his report
to the proprietors, and was fully authorised by them to
carry out the design which he had now matured. He
accordingly proceeded to make a complete model1 of
the lighthouse, as he intended it to be built. His
expertness in handling tools now proved of the greatest
use to him. As every course of stones in it involved
fresh adaptations and the invention of new forms to
give the requisite firmness and stability to the whole, it
is obvious that he secured greater accuracy by executing
the work with his own hands, than if he had entrusted
it to any model-maker to carry out after given dimen-
sions and drawings, however accurately they might

1 He thus states the reasons which
prevailed with him in undertaking
the construction of this model with
his own hands : " Those who are not
in the practice of handling mechanical
tools themselves, but are under the
necessity of applying to the manual
operations of others, will undoubtedly
conclude that I would have saved
much time by employing the hands
of others in this matter; and on the
idea of the design being already fixed,
and fully and accurately as well as
distinctly made out — that is, sup-
posing the thing done that was wanted
to be done — it certainly would have
been so; and had I wanted a dupli-
cate of any part, or of the whole,

VOL. II.

when done, I should certainly have
had recourse to the hands of others.
But such as are in the use of hand-
ling tools for the purpose of con-
trivance and invention, will clearly
see that, provided I could work with
as much facility and despatch as those
I might happen to meet with and
employ, I should save all the time
and difficulty, and often the vexation,
mistakes, and disappointments that
arise from a communication of one's
own ideas to others; and that when
steps of invention are to follow one
another in succession and dependence
on what preceded, under such circum-
stances it is not eligible to make use
of the hands of others."

34 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

have been laid down upon paper. After more than
two months' close work, the model was ready, when it

was submitted to a meet-
ing of the proprietors and
unanimously approved, as
also by the Lords of the
Admiralty, before whom
it was afterwards laid.
The engineer then set out
for Plymouth to enter
upon the necessary ar-
rangements for preparing
the foundations, — arrang-
ing with Mr. Roper, at
Dorchester, on his way,
for a supply of Portland
stone, of which it was
finally determined that
the lighthouse should
principally be built.

Artificers and foremen
were appointed, working
companies arranged, ves-
sels provided for the transport of men and materials,
work-yards hired and prepared, and Mr. Jessop was
appointed the general assistant, or, as it is now termed,
the Resident Engineer, of the building. Mr. Smeaton
himself fixed the centre and laid down the lines on the
afternoon of the 3rd of August, 1756, and from that
time forward the work proceeded, though with many
interruptions, caused by bad weather and heavy seas.
At most, only about six hours' labour could be done at a
time ; and when the weather was favourable, in order
that no opportunity should be lost, the men proceeded
by torchlight. The principal object of the first season
was to get the dovetail recesses cut out of the rock for
the reception of the foundation-stones. To facilitate this

SECTION OF SAIEATG^'S LIGHTHOUSE.

CHAP. IV. SMHATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDY8TONE. 35

process, and avoid the delay and loss of time involved
by frequent voyages between the Eddystone and the
shore, the Neptune buss was employed as a store-
vessel, and rode at anchor, at a convenient distance from
the rock, in about twenty fathoms water. But, as the
season advanced, it became more and more difficult to
carry on the operations. For many days together the
men could not land, and, even if they had been able to
do so, they must have been washed off the rock unless
lashed to it. At such times the provisions in the Nep-
tune occasionally ran short, no boat being able to come
off from Plymouth in consequence of the roughness of
the weather. Towards the end of October, the yawl
riding at the stern of the buss broke loose by stress of
weather, and was thus lost. Mr. Smeaton was most
anxious, however, to finish the boring of the foundation-
holes during that season, so as to commence getting
in the lower courses at the beginning of the next.
The men, therefore, still persevered when the weather
permitted, though sometimes they were only able to
labour for two hours out of the twenty-four. About the
end of November, the whole of the requisite cutting
in the rock had been accomplished without accident,
and the party prepared to return to the yard on shore,
and proceed with the dressing of the stones for the
work of the ensuing year.

The voyage of the buss to port, however, proved a
very dangerous one, and the engineer and his men
narrowly escaped shipwreck. Not being able, in con-
sequence of the gale that was blowing, to make Ply-
mouth Harbour, the Neptune was steered for Fowey,
on the coast of Cornwall. The wind rose higher and
higher, until it blew quite a storm ; and in the night,
Mr. Smeaton, hearing a sudden alarm and clamour
amongst the 'crew overhead, ran upon deck in his shirt
to ascertain the cause. It was raining hard, and quite a
hurricane was raging. " It being very dark," he says,

D 2

36 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

" the first thing I saw was the horrible appearance of
breakers almost surrounding us ; John Bowden, one of
the seamen, crying out, ' For God's sake, heave hard at
that rope if you mean to save your lives ! ' I immedi-
ately laid hold of the rope, at which he himself was
hauling as well as the other seamen, though he was also
managing the helm. I not only hauled with all my
strength, but called to and encouraged the workmen to
do the same thing." The sea was now heard breaking
with tremendous violence and noise upon the rocks. In
this situation the jibsail was blown to pieces, and, to
save the mainsail, it was lowered, when fortunately the
vessel obeyed her helm and she rounded off. The night
was so dark that nothing of the land could be seen, and
the sailors did not know at what part of the coast they
were ; and in this uncertainty the vessel's head was put
round to sea again, the waves occasionally breaking
quite over her. At daybreak they found themselves
out of sight of land, and the vessel driving towards the
Bay of Biscay. Wearing ship, they stood once more
for the coast, and before night they sighted the Land's
End, but could not then make the shore. Another
night and day passed, and, a vessel coming within sight,
signals of distress were exhibited, and from her the
Neptune learned in what direction to steer for the
Scilly Islands. The wind coming round, however, they
bore up for the Land's End again, passed the Lizard,
then Deadman's Point, then Eame Head, and finally,
after having been blown about at sea for four days, they
came to an anchor in Plymouth Sound, greatly to the
joy of their friends, who had begun to despair of their
reappearance.

The winter was fully occupied on shore in dressing
stones for the next summer's work. Mr. Smeaton him-
self laid out all the lines on the workroom floor,1 in

1 Mr. Smeaton had considerable I floor sufficiently large on which to fit
difficulty in finding a room with a | all the moulds together in the order

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 37

order to insure the greatest possible accuracy in size
and fitting. Nearly four hundred and fifty tons of stone
were thus dressed by the time the weather was suffi-
ciently favourable for the commencement of the building.
At the same time he bestowed great pains upon experi-
ments, which he himself conducted, for the purpose of
determining the best kind of cement to be used in laying
the courses of the lighthouse, and eventually fixed upon
equal quantities of the lime called blue lias and that
called terra puzzolano, a sufficient supply of which he
was fortunate enough to procure from a merchant at
Plymouth, who had imported it on adventure, and was
willing to sell it cheap. It was also settled to use the
finest grout for the intervals between the upright or
side joints of the dovetailed part of the work. In the
early part of the spring he made several visits of inspec-
tion to the quarries where the rough stones were being
prepared, in order to satisfy himself as to the progress
made. On one of such occasions a severe storm of
thunder and lightning occurred at Lostwithiel, by which
the church spire was shattered ; and this turned his
attention to the best mode of protecting his lighthouse
against a similar accident. In the mean time he trans-
mitted an account of the storm and the effects of the
lightning on Lostwithiel Church to the Eoyal Society,
amongst whose papers it stands recorded.1 Dr. Franklin
had shortly before published his mode of protecting
lofty buildings by means of conductors, and Mr. Smeaton
eventually determined, for the security of his lighthouse,
to adopt this plan.

The building on the rock was fairly begun in the

in which they were to be permanently
fixed. The engineer applied to the
Mayor of Plymouth for the use of
the Guildhall for the purpose, but
he was refused on the pretence that
the chalk-lines would spoil the floor.
He was also refused the use of the
Assembly-rooms for some similar rea-

son. But at length, by taking down
a partition in the coopers' workshops,
he was eventually enabled to effect
his purpose without exposing himself
to further refusals from the local mag-
nates of Plymouth.

1 * Philosophical Transactions,' vol.
50, p. 198.

38 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART YF.

summer of 1757, sheers having been erected and the
first stone, of two and a quarter tons weight, having
been landed and securely set in its place on the morning
of Sunday the 12th of June. By the evening of the
following day the first course of four stones was safely
laid.1 The work then proceeded from time to time, as
the weather permitted ; and the second course, of thir-
teen pieces, was completed by the 30th of the same
month. The workmen were occasionally interrupted by
ground-swells and heavy seas, which kept them off the
rock for days together. At length, on the sixth course
being laid, it was found that the building had been raised
above the average wash of the sea, and the progress
made after that time was much more rapid. From
thence the rest of the structure was raised in regular
entire courses.

The manner in which the stones were prepared in the
yard, arranged in courses, and brought off in the vessels,
so that they could be landed in their proper order and
fixed in their proper places, was simple and effective.
When the separate pieces of which a course was to con-
sist were hewn, they were all brought together in the
work-yard, fitted upon the platform in the exact sites
they were to occupy in the building, and so marked
and numbered that they could readily be restored to
their proper relative positions. So much preliminary
care having been taken, no difficulty or confusion
occurred in the use of the materials, whilst the pro-
gress of the building was also greatly accelerated.
For the actual details of the manner in which the
masonry was proceeded with, we must refer the pro-
fessional reader to Smeaton's own ' Narrative,' which

1 The sloping form of the rock, to
which the foundation of the building
was adapted, required but this small

creasing until it reached the upper
level of the rock. Thus the second
course consisted of thirteen pieces, the

number of stones for the lower third of twenty-five, and so on.
course ; the diameter of the work in-

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 39

is remarkably minute, and as a whole exceedingly in-
teresting.1

Mr. Smeaton superintended the construction of nearly
the entire building. If there was any post of danger
from which the men shrank back, he immediately
stood forward and took the front place. One morn-
ing in the summer of 1757, when heaving up the
moorings of the buss preparatory to setting sail for the
rock, the links of the buoy-chain came to a considerable
strain upon the davit-roll, which was of cast iron, and
they began to bend upon the convexity of the roll. To
remedy this, Smeaton ordered the carpenter to cut some
trenails into short pieces, and split each length into two,
with the view of applying the portions betwixt the chain
and the roll at the flexure of each link, and so relieve
the strain. But some one said that if the chain should
break anywhere between the roll and the tackle, the
person that applied the pieces of wood would be in
danger of being cut in two by the chain or carried over-
board along with it. On this Smeaton, making it a
rule never to require another to undertake what he was
afraid to do himself, at once stepped forward and took

1 The careful manner in which the
details of the foundation work were
carried on is related by Smeaton at
great length. One of his expedients
is worthy of notice — the method
by which he gave additional firm-
ness to the stones dovetailed into
the rock, by oak-wedges and cement
inserted between each. To receive
the wedges, two grooves were cut
in the waist of each stone, from the
top to the bottom of the course, an
inch in depth and three inches in
width. The carpenters dropped into
each groove two of the oaken wedges,
one upon its head, the other with its
point downwards, so that the two
wedges in each groove lay heads and
joints; on which the one was easily
driven down upon the other. A
couple of wedges were also pitched
at the top of each groove; the dor-

mant wedge, or that with the point
upward, being held in the hand,
while the drift wedge, or that with
its point downward, was driven with
a hammer. The object of this wedg-
ing was to preserve the whole mass
steady together, in opposition to the
violent agitation of the sea. In
addition to this, a couple of holes
being bored through every piece of
stone, one course was further bound
to another by oak trenails, driven
stiffly through, and made so fast that
they could more easily be torn asun-
der than pulled out again. " No
assignable power," says Smeaton,
" less than would by main stress pull
these trenails into two, could lift one
of these stones from their beds when
so fixed, exclusive of their natural
weight, as all agitation was prevented
by the lateral wedges."

40 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

" the post of honour," as he called it, and attended the
getting in of the remainder of the chain, link by link,
until the operation was completed.

Whilst working at the rock on one occasion, an acci-
dent occurred to him which might have been attended
with serious consequences, but in which he displayed his
usual cheerful courage. The men were about to lay
the centre stone of the seventh course on the evening of
the llth of August, when Mr. Smeaton was enjoying
the limited promenade afforded by the level platform of
stone which had with so much difficulty been raised ; but,
making a false step into one of the cavities made for the
joggles, and being unable to recover his balance, he fell
from the brink of the work down among the rocks on the
west side. The tide being low at the time, he speedily
got upon his feet and at first supposed himself little hurt,
but shortly after he found that one of his thumbs had
been put out of joint. He reflected that he was fourteen
miles from land, far from a surgeon, and that uncertain
winds and waves lay between. He therefore determined
to reduce the dislocation at once ; and laying fast hold
of the thumb with his other hand, and giving it a violent
pull, it snapped into its place again, after which he
proceeded to fix the centre stone of the building.

The work now went steadily forward. Occasional
damage was done by the heavy seas washing away
the stones, tools, and materials ; but these losses were
quickly repaired, and by the end of the season the ninth
course of stones had been laid complete. The follow-
ing winter was very tempestuous. The floating light-
vessel, stationed about two miles from the rock, was
driven from its moorings by the force of the sea-, but
eventually got safe into harbour. It was the 12th of
May before another landing could be effected by Smeaton
and his workmen, when he was no less delighted than
surprised to find the entire work as he had left it six
months before. Not a block had been moved. The

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 41

cement was found to have set as hard as the stone itself,
and the whole of the building which had been raised
was one solid mass.

The rock-tackle, with sheers and windlass, having
been again fixed, the erection proceeded with compara-

PROGRESS OF THE WORKS TO THE 15TH COURSE.

tively few interruptions until the 24th of September,
1758, when the twenty-fourth course was finished, which
completed the solid part of the pillar and formed the floor
of the store-room. The building had now been raised
thirty-five feet four inches above its base, or consider-
ably beyond the heavy stroke of the waves. Above this
point were to be formed the requisite apartments for the
lighthouse-keepers. The walls of these were twenty-six
inches thick, constructed in circles of hewn blocks, sixteen
pieces forming each circle, all joggled and cramped, so
as to secure perfect solidity. The stones were further
grooved at the ends, and into the grooves tightly-fitting
pieces (rhombs) of Purbeck marble were fixed solid with
well-tempered mortar, making the whole perfectly firm
and water-tight. At the end of the season the twenty-
ninth course was set, and a temporary house was erected
over the work for its protection during the ensuing
winter.

While living at Plymouth, Smeaton used to come out
upon the Hoe with his telescope, in the early grey of

42 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

the morning, and stand gazing through it in the direc-
tion of the Eock. The Hoe is an elevated promenade,
occupying a high ridge of land extending between Mill
Bay and the entrance to the harbour, the citadel occu-
pying its eastern end. It forms the sea-front of Ply-
mouth, and overlooks the strikingly beautiful scenery of
the Sound. St. Nicholas's Island, strongly fortified, lies
immediately in front of it ; beyond, rising green from
the water's edge, is Mount Edgcumbe Park, with its

SMEATON ON THE IIOE. [By P Skelton. and L. Huard ]

masses of noble woods backed by green hills. The land
juts out in rocky points on either side the bay, some
of which are capped with forts and batteries ; whilst
in the distance now lies the magnificent barricade of the
Breakwater, midway between the bluffs of Redding and
Staddon Points, boldly interposing between the swell of
the Sound and the long ocean waves rolling in from the
Atlantic. From the Hoe the Spanish Armada was first
descried making for the English coast. It was the look-
out of Drake, as it now was of Smeaton, but with a

CHAP. TV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDPYSTONE. 43

far different purpose. After a rough night at sea, lie
had no eye for the picturesque beauties of the Sound :
his sole thought was of his lighthouse ; for though he had
done all that human care, forethought, and skill could do
to root his column firmly upon that perilous rock, he was
not yet altogether free from anxiety as to the security
of the foundation. There were still many who persisted
in asserting that no building erected of stone could pos-
sibly stand upon the Eddystone ; and again and again
the engineer, in the dim grey of the morning, would
come out and peer through his telescope at his deep-sea
lamp-post. Sometimes he had to wait long, until he
could see a tall white pillar of spray shoot up into the
air. Thank God ! it was still safe. Then, as the light
grew, he could discern his building, temporary house
and all, standing firm amidst the waters ; and, thus far
satisfied, he could proceed to his workshops, his mind
relieved for the day.

At the end of the third year's operations the en-
gineer returned to London to proceed with the designs
for the iron rails of the balcony, the cast and wrought
iron and copper works, as well as the glass for the
lantern, all of which were, like the rest of the work,
manufactured under his own eye. The ensuing season
proved so stormy that it was the 5th of July before
the workmen could land upon the rock and recom-
mence their building operations for the year ; but
from this point they proceeded with such rapidity—
the whole of the stones being now in readiness to be
placed — that in thirteen days two entire rooms with
their proper coverings had been erected upon the
column; and by the 1.7th of August the last pieces of
the corona were set, and the forty-six courses of masonry
were finished complete. The column was now erected
to its specified height of seventy feet. The last mason's
work done was the cutting out of the words "LAFS
DEO" upon the last stone set over the door of the Ian-

PLAN OF THE -16TH COURSE. SHOWING THE
METHOD OF DOVETAILING.

44 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

tern. Eound the upper store-room, upon the course
under the ceiling, had been cut, at an earlier period,

" Except the Lord build
the house, they labour
in vain that build it."
The iron work of the
balcony and the lan-
thernwere next erected,
and over all the gilt ball,
the screws of which
Smeaton fixed with his
own hands, " that in
case," he says, " any of
them had not held quite
tight and firm, the cir-
cumstance might not
have been slipped over
without my knowledge." Moreover, this piece of work
was dangerous as well as delicate, being performed
at a height of some hundred and twenty feet above
the sea. Smeaton fixed the screws while standing on
four boards nailed together, resting on the cupola ; his
assistant, Roger Cornthwaite, placing himself on the
opposite side, so as to balance his weight whilst he pro-
ceeded with the operation.

The engineer's work was now so nearly ended, and
his anxiety had become so great, that he could not leave
it, but took up his abode in the lighthouse, putting his
own hands to the finishing of the window-fittings (for
skilled workmen were difficult to be had at the light-
house) and seeing to the minutest details in the execution
of the undertaking. At length the lantern was glazed,
the lightning-conductor fixed, the rooms were fitted up,
and the builder looked upon the work of his hands all
finished and complete. The light was first exhibited on
the night of the 16th of October, 1759, and the column
still stands as firm as on the day on which it was

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 45

erected. About three years after its completion, one
of the most terrible storms ever known raged for
days along the south-west coast ; and though incalcu-
lable ruin was inflicted upon harbours and shipping
by the hurricane, all the damage done to the lighthouse
was repaired by a little gallipot of putty.

The Eddystone Lighthouse has now withstood the
storms of nearly a century, — a solid monument to the
genius of its architect and builder. Sometimes, when
the sea rolls in with more than ordinary fury from the
Atlantic, driven up the Channel by the force of a
south-west wind, the lighthouse is enveloped in spray
and its light is momentarily obscured. But again it is
seen shining clear like a star across the waters, a warning
and a guide to the homeward-bound. Occasionally, when
struck by a strong wave, the central portion shoots up
the perpendicular shaft and leaps quite over the lan-
tern. At other times, a tremendous wave hurls itself
upon the lighthouse, as if to force it from its foundation.
The report of the shock to one within is like that of a
cannon : the windows rattle, the doors slam, and the
building vibrates and trembles to its very base. But
the tremor felt throughout the lighthouse in such a case,
instead of being a sign of weakness, is the strongest
proof of the unity and close connection of the fabric in
all its parts.1

Many a heart has leapt with gladness at the cry of

1 At first the men appointed as
liglitkeepers were much alarmed by
the fury of the waves during storms.
The year after the light was exhi-
bited, the sea raged so furiously that
for twelve days together it dashed
over the lighthouse so that the men
could not open the door of the lan-
tern or any other. In a letter ad-
dressed to Mr. Jessop by the man
who visited the rock after such a
storm, he says : " The house did shake
as if a man had been up in a great
tree. The old men were almost

frightened out of their lives, wishing
they had never seen the place, and
cursing those that first persuaded
them to go there. The fear seized
them in the back, but rubbing them
with oil of turpentine gave them re-
lief." Since then, custom has alto-
gether banished fear from the minds
of the lighthouse-keepers. The men
became so attached to their home,
that Mr. Smeaton mentions the case
of one of them who was even accus-
tomed to give up to his companions
his turn for going on shore !

46 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

" The Eddystone in sight ! " sung out from the maintop.
Homeward-bound ships, from far-off ports, no longer
avoid the dreaded rock, but eagerly run for its light
as the harbinger of safety. It might even seem as if
Providence had placed the reef so far out at sea as the
foundation for a beacon such as this, leaving it to man's
skill and labour to finish His work. On. entering the
English Channel from the west and the south, the cau-
tious navigator feels his way by early soundings on the
great bank which extends from the Channel into the
Atlantic, and these are repeated at fixed intervals until
land is in sight. Every fathom nearer shore increases
a ship's risks, especially in nights when, to use the
seaman's phrase, it is " as dark as a pocket." The men
are on the look-out, peering anxiously into the dark,
straining the eye to catch the glimmer of a light, and
when it is known that " the Eddystone is in sight ! "
a thrill runs through the ship, which can only be
appreciated by those who have felt or witnessed it after
long months of weary voyaging. Its gleam across
the waters has thus been a source of joy and given a
sense of deep relief to thousands ; for the beaming of
a clear light from one known and fixed spot is infallible
in its truthfulness, and a safer guide for the seaman than
the bearings of many hazy and ill-defined headlands.

By means of similar lights, of different arrangements
and of various colours, fixed and revolving, erected upon
rocks, islands, and headlands, the British Channel is
now lit up along its whole extent, and is as safe
to navigate in the darkest night as in the brightest sun-
shine. The chief danger is from fogs, which alike hide
the lights by night and the land by day. Some of the
homeward-bound ships entering the Channel from North
American ports first make the St. Agnes Light, on the
Scilly Isles, revolving once in a minute, at a height of
138 feet above high water. But most Atlantic ships
keep further south, in consequence of the nature of the

CHAP. IV. SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. 47

soundings about the Scilly Isles ; and hence they oftener
make the Lizard Lights first, which are visible about
twenty miles off. These are two in number, standing
on the bold headland forming the most southerly point
of the English coast, against which the sea beats with
tremendous fury in south-westerly gales. From this
point the coast retires, and in the bend lie Falmouth
(with a revolving light on St. Anthony's Point), Fowey,
the Looes, and Plymouth Sound and Harbour ; the
coast-line again trending southward until it juts out
into the sea in the bold craggy bluffs of Bolt Head
and Start Point, on the last of which is another house
with two lights, — one revolving, for the Channel, and
another, fixed, to direct vessels inshore clear of the
Skerries shoal. But between the Lizard and Start
Point, which form the two extremities of this bend
in the land of Cornwall and Devonshire, there lies the
Eddystone Eock and Lighthouse, standing fourteen miles
out from the shore, almost directly in front of Plymouth
Sound and in the line of coasting vessels steaming or
beating up Channel. From this point it gradually con-
tracts, and the way becomes lighted on both sides to the
Downs. On the south are seen the three Casquet Lights
on the Jersey side ; and on the north the two fixed lights
on Portland Bill. The next is St. Catherine's, a brilliant
fixed light on the extreme south point of the Isle of
Wight. Next are the lights exhibited at different
heights on the Nab, and then the single fixed light exhi-
bited on the Owers vessel. Beachy Head, on the same
line, exhibits a powerful revolving light 285 feet above
high water, its interval of greatest brilliancy occurring
every two minutes. Then comes Dungeness, exhibiting
a fixed red light of great power, situated at the extre-
mity of the low point of Dungeness Beach. Next are
seen Folkestone, and then Dover, harbour lights; whilst
011 the south are the flash light, recently stationed on
the Varne Bank ; and, further up Channel, on the French

48 SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE ON THE EDDYSTONE. PART VI.

coast, is seen the brilliant revolving light on Cape
Grisnez. The Channel is passed with the two South
Foreland Lights, one higher than the other, on the left ;
and the Downs are entered with the South Sandhead
floating light on the right ; and when the Gull and the
North Sandhead floating lights have been passed on
the one hand, and the North Foreland on the other,
then the Tongue, the Prince's Channel, and the Grirdler,
are passed. The Nore Light comes next in sight ;
and from thence it is as easy for the navigator to pilot
his ship up the Thames as for a foot-passenger to thread
his way along the streets of London. Such, in a few
words, is the admirable manner in which our coasts are
lighted up for the guidance of the mariner, and such are
among the benefits to navigation which have followed
close upon Smeaton's great enterprise — the building of
the Eddystone Lighthouse.

THE LIGHT AT THE NORE. [By B. P. Leitcb ]

CHAP. V. SMEATON AS A CIVIL ENGINEER, 49

CHAPTER V.

MB. SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT AS A CIVIL ENGINEER.

THE completion of the Eddystone Lighthouse was re-
garded as a matter of much interest, and it excited so
eager a curiosity on the part of the public, that for
some time Mr. Smeatoii's rooms at Gray's Inn were the
resort of numerous visitors, who called there for the
purpose of inspecting the model of his extraordinary
building. This at length so broke in upon his time, that
he found it necessary to depute his wife to attend to these
curious persons and explain to them the details of the
model. But it does not appear that his success led to his
extensive employment on engineering works for several
years, otherwise it is not probable that we should have
found him, in 1764, offering himself a candidate for the
vacant office of receiver for the Derwentwater Estates,
to which he was appointed about the end of that year.
There was as yet, indeed, but small demand for construct-
ive skill. The roads were still in a very bad state, bridges
were much wanted in most districts, and little had been
done to provide harbour accommodation beyond what
nature had effected ; but the country was too poor or too
spiritless to undertake their improvement on any com-
prehensive scale. The industrial enterprise of England
had not yet begun ; and the country was content to jog
along in its old paths, displaying its energies principally
in warfare by land and sea. The victory of Wolfe on
the heights of Abraham occurred in the same year that
Smeaton completed his lighthouse on the Eddystone, and
doubtless excited a far more general interest. It is true
the trade and commerce of the country were making

VOL. II. E

50 SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT PART VI.

progress,1 though they had to labour under heavy imposts
and serious restrictions. The public expenditure was
great, provisions were dear in proportion to wages, and
food-riots were frequent. Under these circumstances
domestic improvements, involving any unusual outlay,
were of a very limited character. When Smeaton was
called upon to examine an undrained district, or a dan-
gerous and inaccessible harbour, or a decaying bridge,
he had little difficulty in advising what was best to be
done ; and his reports were searching, explicit, and almost
exhaustive. But then arose the invariable impediment.
The requisite improvements could not be executed without
money, and money was scarce and could not be raised.
Hence the greater number of his reports, though con-
taining much excellent and carefully-considered advice,
fell dead upon the minds of those to whom they were
addressed ; and no action was taken to carry them into
effect until the country had become richer, and a new race
of capitalists, engineers, and contractors had sprung into
existence.

One of the earliest subjects on which Mr. Smeaton was
consulted, was the opening up of river navigations. In
1760 he reported to the magistrates of Dumfries as to
the improvement of the Nith ; but his advice — to form
a navigable canal rather than deepen and straighten
the river at a much greater cost — was not carried out
for want of funds. He was also consulted as to the
lockage of the Wear, the opening up of the naviga-
tion of the Chelmer to Chelmsford, of the Don above
Doncaster, of the Devon in Clackmannanshire from Mel-
loch Foot to the Forth, of the Tetney Haven navigation
near Louth, arid the improvement of the river Lea,
which has been a fertile source of contention amongst

1 It may, however, be questioned
whether the trade of England did
make progress during the twelve
years ending 1762 ; for we find that,
although the value of the cargoes ex-

ported increased about a million ster-
ling during that period, the quantity
exported was less by 60,000 tons. —
See 'Chalmers's Estimate,' p. 131.

CHAP. V. ON DHA1NAGE WORKS. 51

engineers down even to our own day ; but it does not
appear that any works of importance followed the elabo-
rate advice which he gave on those subjects. The first
large engineering undertaking which he conducted was
in his own county, where he was employed in making
extensive repairs of the dams and locks on the river
Calder in Yorkshire ; and he carried out many important
improvements in that navigation, the planning of which
required much skill and judgment, in consequence of the
rapid floods which swept down in rainy seasons from
Blackstone Edge. At the same time he was consulted
as to the Aire navigation from Leeds to its junction with
the Ouse, which he succeeded in greatly improving.

Another subject on which he was early and often
consulted was the recovery of the flooded lands in the
Lincoln Fens, and in the low-lying lands near Doncaster
and Hull, in Yorkshire. The river Witham, between
Lincoln and Boston, was still a source of constant grief
and loss to the farmers along its banks. It had become
choked up by neglect, so that not only had the naviga-
tion of the river become almost lost, but a large extent
of otherwise valuable land was constantly laid under
water. In reporting on this subject in 1 761 , Mr. Smeaton
was associated with Mr. John Grrundy and Mr. Langley
Edwards ; and the result of their joint examination was
an elaborate report, accompanied by plans, in which
they clearly pointed out the causes of the existing evils
and the best mode of remedying them. For the pur-
pose of improving the outfall, they recommended the
cutting of an entirely new river, about twelve and a half
miles in length, from a place called Chapel Hill to a little
above Boston. They also at the same time recommended
a plan for the drainage of Wildmore and West Fens by
a new cut and sluice in place of the old Anthony's Gout,
with sundry other improvements which they set forth in
detail. But the total estimated cost being upwards of
40,0 OO/., which was then considered a •" mint of money "

E 2

52 SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT TART VI.

for a comparatively poor county to raise, the recom-
mendation of the consulting engineers produced no re-
sult ; and the greater part of the lands remained drowned
until they were effectually cleared of their surplus water
by Mr. Rennie, about half a century later. Mr. Smeaton
was also consulted, in 1762, about the improvement of
the Fossdyke, an old cut joining the Trent and the
Witham, which had been allowed to fall into decay ;
but only a few pottering improvements were made, in
lieu of the thorough measure of general drainage which
he so strongly recommended. After the lapse of twenty
years Mr. Smeaton was again called in, and further
advised the proprietors on the subject ; but although he
then submitted a much more limited scheme, it was still
beyond the capability of the county to undertake it.

At a still later period he was consulted as to the
drainage of the North Level of the Fens, and the im-
proved outfall of the river Nene at Wisbeach. In his
report on this subject, he went at great length into the
probable causes of the flooding of the fens, and from these
he reasoned out the improvements necessary for their
effectual remedy. The principal measure which he pro-
posed was, to build a powerful outfall sluice upon the
mouth of the Nene. In this report he brought the
observations which he had made while on his journey
through the Low Countries to bear upon the case ; and
he argued that, as the outfall channels at Middlesburgh
and Ostend were kept wholly open by sluices, the same
method would equally apply at Wisbeach. But, like his
predecessor Yermuyden, Mr. Smeaton did not seem suffi-
ciently to have taken into account the different circum-
stances of the two tracts of country ; and it is perhaps
fortunate that his plans were not carried out, as subse-
quent experience has shown that, if executed, they would
most probably have proved a failure.

Considerable success, however, attended his operations
in improving the drainage of the Isle of Axholme,

CHAP. V. ON DRAINAGE WORKS. 53

originally executed by Vermuyden. The lower lying*
lands in the district had fallen into a wretched state
through neglect of the river outfalls ; and when Smeaton
was consulted as to a remedy, he advised the diversion
of the old river Torne, which was carried out, and it
was also widened and deepened. The result was on the
whole highly satisfactory ; though, many years after, we
find Mr. Rennie describing the drainage as still very
imperfect, and urgently demanding an effectual remedy.
It would occupy too much space to detail the works of
a similar kind on which Mr. Smeaton was consulted ;
but we may content ourselves with merely mentioning
the more important, which were these : the drainage of
the lands adjacent to the river Went, in Yorkshire ; the
Earl of Kinnoul's lands lying along the Almond and the
Tay, in Perthshire ; the Adling Fleet Level, at the
junction of the Ouse and the Trent ; Hotham Carrs, near
Market Weighton ; the Lewes Laughton Level, in Sussex ;
the Potterick Carr Fen, near Doncaster; the Torksey
Bridge Fen, near Gainsborough ; and the Holderness
Level, near Hull. These works, though of a highly
useful character, possess but small interest in a narrative,
and we therefore proceed to describe the undertakings
of a different character on which our engineer was about
the same time employed.

Having fully proved his mastery of the art of construc-
tion, and his skill in overcoming the difficulties arising
from insecure foundations, by his erection of the Eddy-
stone Lighthouse, he was frequently called upon for advice
as to the repairs of old bridges, as well as the erection
of new ones. Thus, in 1762, we find him consulted as
to the repairs of Bristol Old Bridge ; and in the following
year he was called upon by the Corporation of London to
advise them as to the best means of improving, widening,
and enlarging Old London Bridge. Although con-
siderable alterations and improvements had been made
in it, the structure was in a very rickety state and a source

54

OLD LONDON BRIDGE.

PART VI.

of constantly recurring alarm to the public. When
Labelye's New Westminster Bridge was opened for traffic
in 1749, the defects of the old structure became more
apparent than ever. The Corporation even went so far
as to entertain a project for rebuilding it. The city sur-
veyor, however, after examining the foundations of the
piers in 1754, declared them still to be good, and capable
of lasting for ages ! His report relieved the public
anxiety for a time, and the old patching process went on
as before. The bridge was still overhung with houses
on either side, and the roadway between them was very
narrow and dark. Labelye's opinion was then taken as

OLD LONDON BRIDGE BEFORE THE ALTERATION OF 1768.
[After the Painting by Samuel Scott ]

to the improvement of the structure, and he recommended
the removal of the starlings, which so blocked up the
waterway as to cause a fall of nearly five feet during
the greater part of every tide. He also advised the re-
moval of some of the piers, as had been recommended
by Sir Christopher Wren, and throwing several of the
arches together. The discussions of the Common Council,
however, ended in the proposal to erect a new bridge
at Blackfriars, and the removal at the same time of the
houses from the old bridge, both of which measures

CHAP. V. OLD LONDON BRIDGE. 55

were eventually carried out. The great middle pier was
also removed, and the two adjoining locks were thrown
into one by turning a new arch, which occupied the
whole space.

_

OLD LONDON BRIDGE APTEB THE REMOVAL OF THE HOUSES.
[By E. M. Wimperis]

It was now found, however, that the increased scour
of the water passing under the new archway placed the
adjoining piers in great peril, by washing away the
bed of the river under their foundations. The appre-
hensions of danger were such that but few persons would
pass either over or under the bridge, and the Corporation
becoming alarmed, at this juncture sent in all haste for
Mr. Smeaton. He was then living at his house at Aus-
thorpe, from whence he was summoned by express to
town. On his arrival, he proceeded to survey the bridge
and examine the foundations which were giving way.
His advice to the Corporation was, to buy back imme-
diately the stones of the City gates, which had recently
been taken down and the materials sold, and throw them
into the river outside the starlings, for the purpose of
protecting them against the scour of the river. Another
object of this measure, as explained in Smeaton' s reports,
was to restore the old dam by again raising a barrier
of stones across the water-way, and thus increase the

56 SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT PART VI.

head of the current under the other arches, which was
necessary for the purpose of driving the wheels by means
of which a considerable part of the water required for the
supply of the City was still raised. Mr. Smeaton's recom-
mendations were adopted as the most advisable course
to be pursued under the circumstances ; and horses, carts,
and barges were at once set to work, and the stones
were tumbled into the stream at the base of the tottering
piers. By these means the destruction of the foundations
was temporarily stayed, and the process of patching up
the old bridge went on from time to time for sixty
years more, until it was at length effectually remedied
by the erection of the present structure.

In connection with the works at Old London Bridge,
Mr. Smeaton also furnished a design for a new pumping-
engine, which was placed in the fifth arch, and worked
by the rise and fall of the tide. Before the invention of
the steam-engine, this was an economical though an
irregular method of obtaining motive power. The same
tides that lifted great ships up the river and let them
down again twice in each day, then drove pumping-
engines and even flour-mills — the driving-wheels turning
one way as the tide rose and another as it fell.1 This
power was, however, shortly superseded by the still
more economical power of steam : for the steam-engine,
though involving a considerable expenditure of coal,
proved cheaper in the end, because it was so much
more certain, regular, and expeditious than the natural
power of the tides.

The bridges erected after Mr. Smeaton's original de-
signs, were those of Perth, Coldstream, and Banff; the
only one which he erected in England being at Hex-
ham, in Northumberland, which proved a failure. He
was consulted about the new bridge at Perth as early as
the year 1763, when he visited the place, fixed upon the
best site for the structure, and afterwards furnished the

1 ' Encyclopedia Metropolitana,' vol. vii., p. 139.

CHAP. V. ON BRIDGES IN SCOTLAND, 57

design which was carried into effect. The river Tay
being subject to sudden floods — in one of which a former
bridge had been swept away — it was necessary to take
every precaution with the foundations, which were got
in by means of coffer-dams. That is, a row of piles was
driven into the bed of the river, on which a quantity of
" gravel and even mould earth mixed together " was
thrown in all round the piles, with a view to render the
enclosed space impervious to water. Pumping power
was then, applied, and the bed of the river laid dry
within the coffer-dam thus formed, after which the
gravel or clay was dug out to a proper depth, until a
solid foundation was secured for the piers. Piles were
driven into the earth under the intended foundation-
frame, and the building proceeded upward in the usual
way.1 The bridge is a handsome structure, consisting
of seven principal arches, and is about 900 feet in
length, including the approaches. It was completed
and opened for traffic in 1772, and has proved of great
service to the locality.

Smeaton's employment at Perth on this occasion in-
troduced him to a considerable amount of engineering
business in the North. He was consulted at Edinburgh
respecting the improved supply of water for that city,
and at Glasgow about the security of its old bridge.
But the most important work on which he was employed
in Scotland, about this time, was the designing and con-
struction of the Forth and Clyde Canal for connect-
ing the navigation of the eastern and western seas.
The success of the Duke of Bridge water's Canal had
directed public attention in all parts of the kingdom to
the formation of similar lines of internal communica-
tion ; and the movement had also extended to Scotland.

1 It may be worthy of remark
that John Gwin, the person recom-
mended by Mr. Smeaton to conduct
the trial borings for the foundations,
took with him two experienced men

from England to conduct the works,
stipulating that they should each re-
ceive wages at the rate of 14s. a
week.

58 FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL. PART VL

James Watt, then carrying 011 a small business as a
mathematical instrument maker in Glasgow, had been
employed to survey a " ditch canal," of a very limited
capacity, by a round-about route, through the Perthshire
lochs ; but his genius being as yet unrecognised, the
projectors thought it desirable to call in an engineer of
higher standing, and Smeaton was consulted by them in
1764. He had before been employed to examine the
Grand Trunk line, as surveyed by Brindley, and his
report on the subject was regarded as a very able one.
Brindley was also advised with respecting the Forth and
Clyde scheme, but his time was so much occupied by the
projects which he was engaged in carrying out in the
western counties of England, that he could not under-
take the working survey ; and it was accordingly placed
in the hands of Mr. Smeaton. As early as the year
1764, we find him reporting upon the several schemes
which had been proposed for connecting the Forth with
the Clyde, and advocating the plan which in his judg-
ment was the best calculated to carry out the intentions
of the projectors. He declared himself strongly in
favour of forming the most direct line across the country
between the two Friths, of such a capacity as to accom-
modate vessels of large burden. Lord Duiidas, the
leading promoter of the scheme, adopting the view put
forward by Mr. Smeaton, took the requisite steps to
obtain an Act authorizing the construction of the Forth
and Clyde Canal, which passed accordingly, and the
works were commenced in 1768. The canal runs almost
parallel with the line of the wall of Antoninus, built by
the Eomans to restrain the incursions of the Caledonian
tribes, some vestiges of which are said to be still trace-
able near Port Dundas, the point at which the main
canal joins the Clyde, a few miles below Glasgow. It
is about 38 miles in length, and includes 39 locks, with
a rise of 156 feet from the sea to the summit level. It
was one of the most difficult works of the kind which

CHAP.V. COLDSTREAM BRIDGE. 59

had, up to that time, been constructed in the kingdom ;
the engineer having to encounter rocks and quicksands ;
the canal in some places passing over deep rivers, in others
along embankments more than twenty feet high. It
crosses many roads and rivulets, and two rivers, the
Luggie and the Kelvin, — the bridge over the latter being
275 feet in length and 68 feet in height. The depth of
the canal was 8 feet, and vessels of 1 9 feet beam and
68 feet keel were capable of easily passing along the
navigation between the east and west coasts. Although
the total cost of the undertaking was estimated at only
about 150,000^., and the important uses of the navigation
were unquestionable, the greatest difficulty was experi-
enced in raising the requisite funds ; and long before the
canal could be opened to the Clyde, the works came to a
complete stand-still. Twenty years passed before the
money could be raised to finish them, and this was only
effected by the aid of a public grant. At length the
canal was opened in 1790, having been finished by Mr.
Whitworth (one of Brindley's pupils), and the opening
of the communication between the eastern and western
seas was celebrated with great rejoicings, — the Chairman
of the Canal Committee symbolically performing the feat
by launching a hogshead of water brought from the
Forth into the Clyde.

Mr. Smeaton was next employed to build a bridge
across the Tweed at Coldstream. He furnished several
designs, and that eventually selected by the trustees was
executed under his superintendence. It consisted of five
principal arches of the segment of a circle, the centre one
being 60 feet 8 inches from pier to pier ; the two next,
60 feet 5 inches ; and the two land or side arches, 58 feet.
The design presents no features worthy of special notice,
nor was any unusual difficulty experienced in getting in
the foundations. The piers were founded on piles driven
deep into the bottom of the river ; and the building,
where beneath the level of the stream, was carried on, as

60

CARRON WORKS.

PART VI.

at Perth, within coffer-dams. To give additional pro-
tection to the piers during winter time, when heavy
floods sweep down the valley of the Tweed, they were
surrounded by strong sheet-piling,1 as well as by rubble
slopes pointing up stream. The bridge was finished at
a total cost of about 6000/., and was opened for carriage
traffic in October, 1766, having been rather more than
three years in building.

k

COLD3TREAM BRIDGE. [By E. M. Wimpcris, after a drawing by J. S. Smiles.]

Whilst engaged on his engineering business in Scot-
land, Mr. Smeaton formed the acquaintance of Dr. Roe-
buck, the enterprising but eventually unfortunate pro-
jector of the Carron Iron Works near Falkirk. That
gentleman was one of the first who attempted to develope
the iron trade of Scotland, since become so important.
He was then engaged in the double task of carrying on

1 Sheet-piling consists of a row of
timbers driven firmly side by side
into the earth, and is used for the
protection of foundation-walls or piers

from the effects of water. Cast-iron
is now employed in many cases for
the same purpose, instead of timber.

CHAP. V.

BANFF BRIDGE.

61

iron works at Carron and working coal mines at Borrow-
stonness. Dr. Roebuck was a man full of expedients, and
possessed an uncommon knowledge of mechanics for his
time. Smeaton was a kindred spirit, whom he very
early sought out and invited to his house at Kinneil,
near Borrowstonness, for the purpose of consulting him
as to the pumping machinery of his mines, and the vari-
ous arrangements of his iron manufactory at Carron.
Dr. Roebuck was one of the first to employ coal in
iron-smelting on a large scale, and for that purpose he
required the aid of the most powerful blowing apparatus
that could be procured. Mr. Smeaton succeeded in con-
triving and fixing for him, about the year 1768, a highly
effective machine of this kind, driven by a water-wheel.1
He also supplied the same Company with a design for a
double-boring mill for cylinders and guns, — the manu-
facture of carronades, or " smashers," having been a very
early branch of the business at the Carron Works. At
the same time he pointed out how the water power of
the little river Carron might be so concentrated and
increased by damming, as to work the apparatus he
contrived with the greatest possible effect. Smeaton
was afterwards repeatedly consulted by the Carron Com-
pany as to the several manufactures carried on at the
works — such as the making of shot-moulds, the best form
of slide-carriages for guns, the construction of furnaces,
and such like matters, of which the plans and descriptive
details are to be found in his published reports.2

Another fine bridge, of which Smeaton furnished the
design in the year 1772, was that subsequently erected
over the river Deveron, near the town of Banff in Scot-
land. It is of seven arches, segments of circles, and is of
the total length of 410 feet between the abutments, with

1 The author endeavoured to ob-
tain an inspection of this long-disused
apparatus, for the purposes of this
work, in the autumn of 1858 ; but
the reply of the manager was, " Na,

na, it canna be allooed — we canna be
fashed wi' straingers here."

2 ' Eeports of the late John Smea-
ton, F.R.S.' In 3 vols. London,
1812. Vol. i., pp. 359-412.

G2 HEXHAM BRIDGE. PART VI.

a roadway twenty feet wide over all. The design is
similar in most respects to those of the bridges previously
erected by the same engineer at Perth and Coldstream ;
and the beauty of its situation, in the immediate vicinity
of Duff House, the mansion of the Earl of Fife, and its
noble surrounding grounds, renders it an object of even
greater pictorial interest.1

The only peculiarity to be noted in the designs of
Smeaton's bridges, is the circular perforations left in the
spandrels of the arches, somewhat after the method
adopted by Edwards at Pont-y-Pridd, and in several
Continental bridges. This had the effect of lightening
the weight which pressed upon the piers and their
foundations, and was doubtless an advantage. He also
invariably adopted segmental or elliptical in preference
to semi-circular arches, probably because of the less cost
of bridges after the former design. Much ability was
displayed by our engineer in the designing of his centres,
which have been much admired for their strength as
well as economy of material.

Smeaton was much less successful in the construction
of his only English bridge than he was with his Scotch
ones. He was called upon to furnish the design for a
structure across the Tyne at Hexham, in 1777, and a
very handsome bridge of nine arches was erected after it
under the superintendence of Mr. Pickernell, the resi-
dent engineer. It had scarcely been finished ere a sub-
sidence in the foundations of one of the piers took place,
which was attempted to be remedied by sheet-piling
and filling up the cavities in the river's bed with rough
rubble-stones. But it appeared that the foundations
had been imperfectly laid from the beginning. In
the spring of 1782 a violent spate or flood swept
down the Tyne, and in the course of a few hours
Smeaton's beautiful Hexham Bridge lay a wreck in the

See engraving at p. 2.

CHAP. V. SMEATON'S HARBOURS. 63

bottom of the river. Writing to Pickernell, he said, —
" All our honours are now in the dust ! It cannot now
be said that in the course of thirty years' practice, and
engaged in some of the most difficult enterprises, not
one of Smeaton's works has failed ! Hexham Bridge is
a melancholy instance to the contrary." Thus the same
engineer who had founded a lighthouse far out at sea, so
firmly as to bid defiance to the utmost fury of the waves,
was baffled by an inland stream. " The news came to
me," he says, "like a thunderbolt, as it was a stroke I
least expected, and even yet can scarcely form a prac-
tical belief as to its reality. There is, however, one
consolation that attends this great misfortune, and that
is, that I cannot see that anybody is really to blame, or
that anybody is blamed ; as we all did our best, according
to what appeared ; and all the experience I have gained
is, not to attempt to build a bridge upon a gravel bottom
in a river subject to such violent rapidity." The fault
committed seems to have been, that Smeaton was satis-
fied with setting his piers upon a crust of gravel slightly
beneath the bottom level of the river ; and that the
increased scour of the stream under the arches, caused
by the contraction of the water-way, had washed away
the bottom, and thus undermined the work. But the
founding of piers in deep rivers was as yet very imper-
fectly understood ; and the art was not brought to its
perfection until the time of Eennie, who went down
through the bed of the river, far beneath all possible
scour, until he had reached a solid foundation, which he
also piled, and on that secure basis he planted the strong
masonry of his piers.

Among his various works, Smeaton was also employed
in the designing of harbours. With the exception, how-
ever, of Ramsgate, these were for the most part confined
to the improvement of the existing accommodation. At
St. Ives, in Cornwall, where he formed his first harbour,
in 1766, nature had provided a convenient haven

SMEATON'S HARBOURS.

TART VI.

PJLAN OF ST. IVES HARBOUR.

enclosed in a bay between two headlands, one of which
was formed by " the Island," and the other by Penolver
Point, as shown in the annexed plan. It was thus well

protected from
the north, west,
and south, and
from the preva-
lent storms along
that coast, which
mostly blow from
a south-westerly
direction. All
that was wanted
to give shelter for
shipping from the
remaining quar-
ters, the east and
north-east, was the provision of a pier running nearly
south from Castle Point. The works were carried out
after Smeaton's design ; and as the port is the seat of
considerable trade, arising from the pilchard fishery and
the mining operations of the country inland, the faci-
lities thereby provided for shipping, and the protection
to navigation along that coast, proved of great advantage
to the district.

Our engineer was also consulted respecting numerous
other harbours : Whitehaven, Workington, and Bristol,
on the west coast; Christchurch, Rye, and Dover, on
the south ; and Yarmouth, Lynn, Scarborough, and Sun-
derland, on the east ; but in nearly every case want of
money prevented the improvements suggested by him
from being fully carried out. This was pre-eminently
the case at Bristol, where the merchants gave him an
unanimous " vote of thanks " for his report and plan for
keeping the ships at the quay constantly afloat by dock-
ing the river, and also for enlarging the harbour by a
new canal through Cannon's Marsh. But nothing was

ST. IVES HARBOUR. [By E. M. Wimperis.]

done ; the Bristol vessels continued to lie upon the mud
and get " hogged," and a considerable time elapsed be-
fore the commercial interest became alive to the neces-
sity of improving the conveniences of the harbour. This
was eventually accomplished by William Jessop, a pupil
of Smeaton's ; but not until Liverpool had taken the
lead of Bristol among the western ports, in respect of
the convenient accommodation which it provided for
shipping, as well as its more ready connection with the
best markets.

The principal harbour works actually executed by
Mr. Smeaton were those of Ramsgate. The proximity
of this harbour to the Downs and the mouth of the
Thames rendered it of considerable importance ; and its
improvement for purposes of trade, as well as for the
shelter of distressed vessels in stormy weather, was long
regarded as a matter of almost national importance.
The neighbourhood of Sandwich was first proposed for
a harbour of refuge as early as the reign of Queen

VOL. IT. F

6(5

RAMSGATE HARBOUR.

PART VI.

Elizabeth, and the subject was revived in succeeding
reigns. In 1737, Labelye, the architect of Westminster
Bridge, was called upon to investigate the subject ; and
ten years later, a- committee of the House of Commons,
after taking full evidence and obtaining every informa-
tion, reported that " a safe and commodious harbour may
be made into the Downs near Sandown Castle, fit for
the reception and security of large merchantmen and
ships of war, which would also be of great advantage to

•;' / , :.x* •,

MAP OF RAMSGATE AND HARBOUR. [Ordnance Survey.]

the naval power of Great Britain." The estimated cost
of the proposed harbour was, however, considered too
formidable, although it was under half a million ; and
the project lay dormant until a violent storm occurred
in the Downs in 1748, by which a great number of
ships were forced from their anchors and driven on
shore. Several vessels, however, found safety in the
little haven at Eamsgate, which was then only used by
fishermen, the whole extent of its harbour accommoda-
tion consisting merely of a rough rubble pier. This
circumstance seems to have had the effect of directing
attention to Ramsgate as the proper place for a liar-

RAMSGATE HARBOUR.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original drawing.]

bour of refuge for vessels in distress from bad weather
in the Downs. The Legislature was petitioned on the
subject, and an Act was passed in 1749, enabling a
harbour to be constructed at Ramsgate. A large number
of plans were sent in, from which the Trustees made
selections, adopting the east stone pier of one amateur,
and the west wooden one of another. The plan of
the east pier was made by one of the trustees, and that
of the west pier by a captain resident at Margate.
Whilst the works were in progress, the Harbour Trustees
proposed to reduce its area, and consequently the extent

F 2

68 RAMSGATE HARBOUR. PART VI.

of accommodation for shipping. On this decision becom-
ing known, the shipping interest memorialised Parlia-
ment on the subject, in 1755, and an inspection of the
works was ordered, during which they were entirely sus-
pended, and remained in that state during the next six
years. Differences arose between the officers appointed
by the Government and the Harbour Trustees as to the
plan most proper to be carried out. At length the
trustees gave way, and that part of the works which
had been executed with a view to the contraction of
the harbour was taken up, and the piers proceeded in
the direction originally intended. It was, however, a
matter of great vexation to observe that even while
the construction of the piers was in progress, and espe-
cially when they were carried out so far as to bend
towards each other, with the object of affording the
requisite protection to the shipping within them, large
quantities of sand and silt began to collect in the har-
bour, threatening to choke it up altogether. This accu-
mulation of silt went on notwithstanding every effort
made to remove it.

At this juncture, in 1774, Mr. Smeaton was called
upon to advise the Harbour Board as to the steps most
proper to be taken in the matter. After a careful
examination, he ascertained that no less than 268,700
cubic yards of sand and mud had already silted up,
every tide bringing in a fresh quantity and depositing
it in the still water of the harbour, which was without
any natural scour to carry it away. He accordingly
recommended a plan for accomplishing this object by
means of sluices, supplied by an artificial backwater.
He pointed out that Ramsgate Harbour, having a sound
bottom of chalk, was well adapted for the execution of
this scheme, and that provided the silt could be thus
scoured out, the tide, running cross-ways upon the har-
bour's mouth, would easily carry it away. Mr. Smeaton
accordingly accompanied his report with a plan showing

CHAP. V. RAMSGATE HARBOUR. 69

the details of his design. He proposed to enclose two
spaces of four acres each, and to provide them with
nine draw-gates : four upon the westernmost, and five
upon the easternmost basin, the whole being pointed in
three different directions : two towards the curve of the
western pier, four towards the harbour's mouth, and three
towards the curve in the eastern pier. To give the sluices
all possible effect, he proposed to construct a caisson,
shaped something like the pier of a bridge, which, being
floated to its place, and then sunk, might be used to
direct the current to the right hand or the left accord-
ing to circumstances. Several experiments having
been made with a lighter filled with water and scuttled
when the tide was out, the efficacy of the scouring
process was thus ascertained. It was finally resolved
to adopt the general features of Mr. Smeaton's plan,
though it was riot carried out in the exact manner
designed by him. But it was shortly found that the
process of sluicing endangered the foundations of the
piers. Our engineer was accordingly again called in,
when he , recommended further improvements, including
a new dock, the first stone of which was laid in July,
1784. In the course of the excavations numerous springs
were tapped, which broke through the pavement with
which the dock had been laid, and Portland blocks
were then substituted ; but this not proving effectual,
the engineer was again sent for, and from that time for-
ward the execution of the further works in connection
with the harbour was placed entirely in his hands.
The dock was rebuilt, a timber floor laid in the most
complete manner throughout, and an additional thick-
ness given to the walls ; the east pier was rebuilt of
stone, and carried out into deep water to a further extent
of 350 feet. In carrying out the elongated pier, Smeaton
first employed the diving-bell in building the founda-
tions, making use of a square iron chest weighing about
half a ton. It was 4 feet 6 inches in height arid length,

70

SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT

PART VI.

and 3 feet wide, affording room for two men to work in
it ; and they were provided with a constant supply of
fresh air by means of a forcing pump placed in a
boat which floated above them. The works, when
finished, were found to answer remarkably well. The
harbour included an area of forty-two acres, the piers
extending 1310 feet into the sea, the opening between
the pier-heads being 200 feet in width. The inner basin
is used as a wet dock, and also contains a dry dock
for the repair of ships. With its many defects, and
its limited depth, the harbour is nevertheless the best
upon that coast, and in stormy weather affords a refuge
to vessels of considerable draught of water that run for
protection there at tide time.

SCALE OF

PLAN OF EYEMOOTH HARBOUR

Besides the harbours constructed or improved by
him at different points of the English coast, Smeaton
was frequently employed during his Scotch journeys in
inspecting the northern harbours and advising the local
authorities as to means of increasing their security
and accommodation. Thus the harbour at Aberdeen
was altered after his plans in 1770, and a greater
depth of water was secured over the bar and in the

CHAP. V.

ON SCOTCH HARBOURS.

71

channel of the river Dee, by the erection of the old
North Pier, and other additions which served their
purpose until the enlarged trade of the town required
the more ample accommodation hereafter to be de-
scribed in the Life of Telford. He also inspected and
reported on the harbours of Dundee and Dunbar, then
of very limited capacity, and several improvements
of a minor character were carried out by his advice.
The small harbours of Portpatrick on the west, and

EYEMOUTH HARBOUR. [By R. P. Leitcb.j

Eyemouth on the east coast, were constructed after
his plans ; and in his report on Scarborough Pier,
dated August, 1781, he states that they had "given
entire satisfaction." Both of these harbours were in a
great measure formed by nature, and the improvement
of them demanded comparatively small skill on the part
of the engineer. He had merely to follow the direction
of the rocks, which provided a natural foundation for
his piers at both places. Of his little harbour at Eye-
mouth he was somewhat proud, as it was one of the

72 SMEATON'S EXTENSIVE EMPLOYMENT PART VI.

first he constructed, and very effectually answered its
purpose at a comparatively small outlay of money. It
lies at the corner of a bay, opposite St. Abb's Head, on
the coast of Berwickshire, and is almost landlocked,
excepting from the north. Smeaton accordingly carried
his north pier into deep water for the purpose of pro-
tecting the harbour's mouth from that quarter, as well
as enlarging the accommodation of the haven. The
harbour was thus rendered perfectly safe in all winds,
and proved of great convenience and safety to the
fishing-craft by which it is chiefly frequented.

It would occupy too much space to refer in detail to
the various other public works on which Mr. Smeaton
was employed in the course of his professional career.
There was scarcely a crazy old bridge in the kingdom
on which he was not called upon to report. He was
consulted respecting canal projects almost until the close
of his life : amongst others, on the improvement of the
Birmingham Canal, the Ure Canal, the Dublin Grand
Canal, and various other schemes of the same sort. He
was the principal authority on lighthouses, and, amongst
others, he erected two on Spurn Point, at the entrance
to the Humber, between the years 1771-6, which were
lighted by coal-fires down to a comparatively recent
period. The Government consulted him respecting their
dockyards at Plymouth and Portsmouth. Water com-
panies consulted him as to water supply, and landowners
and coalowners as to the best method of draining their
lands or working their mines. He was called upon to
design many weirs, sluices, and dams, and his dam on
the Coquet, north of Newcastle, was considered one of
the most complete works of its kind.

He was ready to supply a design of any new ma-
chine, from a ship's pump or a fire-bucket to a turning-
lathe or a steam-engine. His machinery was neatly
designed, and he was very particular as to its careful
execution and finish. The water-pumping engine which
he erected for Lord Irwin, at Temple Newsam, near his

CHAP. V. AS A CIVIL ENGINEER. 73

own house at Austhorpe, to pump the water for the
supply of the mansion, is an admirable piece of work-
manship, and continues at this day in good working
condition. His advice was especially sought on subjects
connected with mill-work, water-pumping, and engineer-
ing of every description — flour-mills and powder-mills,
wind-mills and water-mills, fulling-mills and flint-mills,
blade-mills and forge hammer-mills. From a list left
by him in his own handwriting, it appears that he
designed and erected forty-three water-mills of various
kinds, besides numerous wind-mills. Water-power was
then used for nearly all purposes for which steam is now
applied : such as grinding flour, sawing wood, boring
and hammering iron, fulling cloth, rolling copper, and
driving all kinds of machinery. Smeaton also bestowed
much patient study 011 the development of the infant
powers of the steam-engine. In order to investigate
the subject by experiment, he expressly erected a model
engine, after Newcomen's principle, near his house at
Austhorpe ; and by improving it in all its arrangements
he succeeded in rendering it as complete as it was
possible to make it ; his Chace water engine of 150-horse
power being regarded as the finest and most powerful
of its kind which had until then been erected. In this
field of invention, however, he found himself distanced
by Watt, the superior merit of whose condensing-engine
—notwithstanding the time and labour Smeaton had
bestowed on the improvement of Newcomen's — he gene-
rously acknowledged, frankly admitting, after he had
inspected Watt's invention-, that " the old engine, even
when made to do its best, was now driven from every
place where fuel could be considered of any value." The
fame of Smeaton, therefore, does not rest upon his im-
provements in this machine, though what he accom-
plished in bringing out the full powers of Newcomen's
engine cannot fail to elicit the admiration of the prac-
tical mechanic.

SMEATON'S HOUSE AT AUSTHORPE.
[By Percival Skelton, after an original Drawing by T. Suteliffe, Leeds.]

CHAPTER VI.

SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE — DEATH AND CHARACTER.

WHILST Mr. Smeaton was thus extensively employed as
an engineer throughout the three kingdoms, his home
continued to be at Austhorpe, near Leeds, where he had
been born. The mechanical experiments of his boyhood
had been conducted there, as were also those of his
maturer years. His father had allowed him the privi-
lege of a workshop in an outhouse, which he long con-
tinued to enjoy ; after which, when the house had
become his settled home, he erected a shop, study, and
observatory, all in one, for his own special use. The
building was in the form of a square tower, four stories
high, standing apart from his dwelling, on the opposite

CHAP. VI.

SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFK.

75

side of the yard, as represented in the above engraving.
The ground floor contained his forge ; the first floor his
lathe ; the second his models ; the third was his drawing-
room and study ; and the fourth was a sort of lumber-
room and attic. From the little turreted staircase on
the top, a door opened on to the leads. A vane was
fixed on the summit, which worked the hands of a dial
upon the ceiling of his drawing-room, so that by raising
his head he could at any moment ascertain precisely
which way the wind blew.

AY lien he entered his sanctum, strict orders were given
that he was not to be disturbed on any account. No
one was permitted to ascend the circular staircase that
led to his study. When he heard a footstep below, he
would call out and inquire what was wanted. His black-
smith, Waddington, was not allowed even to announce
himself, but was ordered on such occasions to wait in the
lower apartment until Mr. Smeaton came down ; and
as the smith was equally paid for his time, whether he
was sitting there or blowing his forge, it was much the
same to him.

When not engaged in drawing plans or writing
reports, much of the engineer's time was occupied with
astronomical studies and observations. Even in the
height of his professional career, and when fully em-
ployed, he continued to indulge in this solitary pleasure,
an dx for many years was a regular contributor of papers
on astronomical subjects to the Royal Society, of which
he was a Fellow.1 The instruments with which he

1 The following are the papers read
by him before the Royal Society, in
addition to those previously men-
tioned : — ' Discourse concerning the
Menstrual Parallax, arising from the
mutual gravitation of the earth and
moon, its influence on the observation
of the sun and planets, with a me-
thod of observing it ;' read before the
Royal Society May 12th, 1768.—' De-
scription of a new method of observ-

ing the heavenly bodies out of the
meridian ;' read May 16th, 1768. —
' Observation of a Solar Eclipse, made
at the Observatory at Austhorpe ;'
read June 4th, 1769. — ' A description
of a new hygrometer, by Mr. J.
Smeaton, F.R.S. ;' read March 21st,
1771. — 'An experimental examina-
tion of the quantity and proportion of
mechanic power necessary to be em-
ployed in giving different degrees of

76

SMEATON'S P1UVATE LIFE-

PART VI.

was accustomed to illustrate his papers were of the most
beautiful workmanship, all made by his own hands,
which had by no means lost their cunning. Indeed, he
was nowhere so happy as in his workshop amongst his
tools, except, it might be, at his own fireside, where he
was all but worshipped.

His contrivances of tools were endless, and he was
perpetually inventing and making new ones. There
are large quantities of these interesting relics still in
existence in the possession of the son of his blacksmith,
who lives in the neighbourhood. When the author
lately made inquiry after them, they were found laid in
a heap in an open shed, covered with dirt and rust.
One article, after having been well scrubbed with a
broom, at length displayed the form of a jack-plane, the
tool with which Smeaton himself had worked. Picked
out from the heap were also found his drill, the bow
formed of a thick piece of cane ; his trace, his T square,
his augers, his gouges, and his engraving tools. There
was no end of curiously arranged dividers ; pulleys in
large numbers, and of various sizes ; cog-wheels ; brass
hemispheres; and all manner of measured, drilled,
framed, and jointed brass-work. His lathe is still in the
possession of Mr. Mathers, engineer, Hunslet ;] but many

velocity to heavy bodies from a state
of rest;' read April 25th, 1776.—
'New fundamental experiments on
the collision of bodies;' read April
18th, 1782. — 'Observations on the
graduation of astronomical instru-
ments;' read November 17th, 1785. —
' Account of an observation of the
right ascension and declination of
Mercury out of the meridian, near his
greatest elongation, September, 1786,
made by Mr. John Smeaton, with an
equatorial micrometer of his own in-
vention and workmanship, accom-
panied with an investigation of a me-
thod of allowing for retraction in such
kind of observations ;' read June 27th,
1787. — ' Description of an improve-

ment in the application of the quad-
rant of altitude to a celestial globe,
for the resolution of problems de-
pendent on azimuth and altitude ;'
read November 20th, 1788.— ' De-
scription of a new hygrometer ;' read
before the same Society.

1 The lathe stands on three legs,
which are fastened together in such a
way that they, as well as the rest of
the framework, are still as firm as if
they had been only just made, and
yet the machine has been in use ever
since Smeaton made it. The fly-
wheel is of dark walnut-wood, and
slightly inclines from the perpen-
dicular, by which the driving-cord is
allowed to be crossed and to play

CHAP. VI.

DEATH AND CHARACTER.

77

SMEATON'S LATHE.

of the other interesting remains of the great engineer
are equally worthy of preservation. To mechanics, there
is a meaning in every one of
them. They do not resemble
existing tools, but you can see
at once that each was made
for a reason ; and one can
almost detect what the con-
triver was thinking about
when he made them so diffe-
rent from those we are accus-
tomed to see. Even in the most
trifling matters, such as the
kind of wood or metal used,
the direction of the fibre of the
wood, and such like, each de-
tail has been carefully studied.
Much even of the household furniture seems to have
been employed in their fabrication, possibly to the occa-
sional amazement of the ladies in Smeaton's house over
the way. We are informed that so much " rubbish,"
as it was termed, was found in that square tower at
his death, that a fire was kindled in the yard, and a vast
quantity of papers, letters, books, plans, tools, and scraps
of all kinds, were remorselessly burnt.

We have said that Smeaton was a born mechanic ;
and a mechanic he remained to the last. He contrived
and constructed for the pure love of it. Among the
traditions which survive about him at Whitkirk, is
this, that when new gates were erected at the entrances
to Temple Newsam Park, near his house at Austhorpe,
he volunteered to supply the designs, and they were
made and hung after his plans. The people of the
neighbourhood, however, think his most wonderful work

with a greater amount of friction on
the other wheels. The metal-work
is of brass, iron, and steel, all nicely

finished ; and the whole is very com-
pact, curious, and thoroughly Smea-
ton-like.

78 SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE— TART VI.

is the ingenious hydraulic ram, by means of which the
water is still raised in the grounds of Temple Newsam.
His pursuits in his workshop, and at his desk, were
varied by visits to his blacksmith's shop. One of his
principal objects, on such occasions, was to experiment
upon a boiler, — the lower part copper and the upper
part lead, — which he had fitted up in an adjoining build-
ing, for the purpose of ascertaining the evaporative
power of different kinds of fuel, and other points con-
nected with the then little understood question of steam
power. He was on very familiar terms with the smith,
and if he thought him not very handy about a piece of
work he was engaged upon, he would take the tools him-
self and point out how it should be done. One of the
maxims which he frequently quoted to his smith was,
" Never let a file come where a hammer can go."

When getting work done in other parts of the country,
if a workman appeared to him unhandy, or at a loss how
to proceed, he would pass him on one side, take up the
tools, and finish the piece of work himself. " You know,
Sir," observed the son of Smeaton's blacksmith, still
living, "workmen didn't know much about drawings
at that time a-day, and so when Mr. Smeaton wanted
any queer-fangled thing making, he'd cut one piece out
o' wood, and say to my father, 4 Now, lad, go make me
this.' And so on for ever so many pieces ; and then
he'd stick all those pieces o' wood together, and say,
4 Now, lad, thou knows how thou made each part, go
mak it now all in a piece.' And I've heard my father
say, 'at he's often been cap't to know how he could tell
so soon when owt ailed it, for before ever he set his foot
at t' bottom of his twisting steps, or before my father
could get sight of his face, if t' iron had been wrong,
thear'd been an angry word o' some sort, but t' varry
next words were, 4 Why, my lad, thou s'ud a' made it so
and so : now go mak another.' '

Mr. Smeaton's professional engagements necessarily

CHAP. VI.

DEATH AND CHARACTER.

79

called him frequently to London, where he spent part of
every year, occupying chambers in Gray's Inn. He
had joined his friend Mr. Holmes, in 1771, in the pro-
prietorship of the works for supplying Deptford and
Greenwich with water, which also required his presence
in town, and he devoted considerable attention to the
requisite mechanical arrangements. On the occasion of
his visits to London, it was a source of great pleasure
to him to attend the meetings of the Royal Society,
as well as to cultivate a friendship with the distin-
guished members of the Royal Society Club.1 He
was also a frequent witness before committees of both
Houses of Parliament 2 in support of bills for authorising
the construction of bridges, canals, and water- works ;
and was accustomed on such occasions to give his evi-
dence in a modest, simple, and straightforward manner,
which is calculated to win confidence and respect far
more than that glib and unscrupulous style which has
since become the fashion. Moreover, he was known to
be a most conscientious man, and that he would not ex-
press an opinion on any subject until he had thoroughly
mastered it.

During the time spent by Mr. Smeaton in town, he
was accustomed to meet once a week, on Friday even-
ings, in a sort of club, a few friends of the same call-
ing,— canal-makers, bridge-builders, and others of the

1 James Watt writes : " When I
was in London in 1785, 1 was received
very kindly by Mr. Cavendish and
Dr. Blagden, and my old friend
Smeaton, who has recovered his
health, and seems hearty. I dined
at a turtle feast with them, and the
select Club of the Royal Society ; and
never was turtle eaten with greater
sobriety and temperance, or more good
fellowship." — 'Rise and Progress of
the Royal Society Club.' 1860.

2 It is stated in a recent work,
edited by the learned Recorder of Bir-
mingham, M. D. Hill, Esq., entitled

' Our Exemplars,' that " Smeaton was
for several years an active member of
Parliament, and many useful bills

are the result of his exertions

His speeches were always heard with
attention, and carried conviction to
the minds of his auditors." This
must, however, be a mistake, as
Smeaton was never in Parliament,
except for the purpose of giving en-
gineering evidence before committees ;
and, instead of being eloquent, Mr.
Playfair says he was very embar-
rassed even in his ordinary conversa-
tion.

80 SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE— PAET VI.

class then beginning to be known by the generic term
of Engineers. The place of meeting was the Queen's
Head Tavern in Holborn ; and after they had come
together a few times, the members declared themselves
a Society, and kept a register of membership, — free
social conversation on matters relating to their business
being the object of their meetings. Some personal dis-
agreement, however, occurring, through the offensive
behaviour of one of the members, Mr. Smeaton withdrew
from the club, which came to an end in 1792. Mr.
Holmes says of him, that though of a very kindly and
genial nature, he was occasionally abrupt, and, to those
who did not know him, apparently harsh in his manner ;
and that he would sometimes break out hastily when
anything was said that did not tally with his ideas, not
being disposed to yield upon any point on which he
argued until his mind was convinced by sound rea-
soning.1

Mr. Smeaton earned a fair income by the practice of
his profession ; but he was no worshipper of money.
Though he had an insatiable appetite for work, and was
occupied in useful pursuits from youth to old age, his
pecuniary wants were most moderate. Those were not
the days when great fortunes were to be made by en-
gineering ; and Mr. Smeaton was satisfied to be paid
two guineas for a full day's work. Moreover, he refused
new engagements rather than imperfectly perform what
he had already undertaken. He also limited his profes-
sional employment, that he might be enabled to devote
a certain portion of his time to self-improvement and
scientific investigation. The maxim which governed his
life was, that " the abilities of the individual were a debt
due to the common stock of public well-being." This
high-minded principle, on which he faithfully acted,
kept him free from sordid self-aggrandisement, and he

1 Mr. Holmes's « Short Narrative,' p. 15.

CHAP. VI. DEATH AND CHARACTER. 81

had 110 difficulty in resisting the most tempting offers
which were made to attract him from his own settled
course. When pressed 011 one occasion to undertake
some new business, and the prospect of a lucrative
recompense was held out to him, he called in the old
woman who took charge of his chambers at Gray's Inn,
and pointing to her said, " Her attendance suffices for all
my wants." If urgently called by duty, he was ready
with his help ; but he would not be bought. When the
Princess Dashkoff urged him to go to Bussia and enter
the service of the Empress, she held out to him very
tempting promises of reward. But he refused : no
money would induce him to leave his home, his friends,
and his pursuits in England ; and, though not rich, he
had enough and to spare. " Sir," exclaimed the Prin-
cess, unable to withhold her admiration, " I honour you !
You may have your equal in abilities perhaps ; but in
character you stand alone. The English minister, Sir
Kobert Walpole, was mistaken, and my Sovereign has
the misfortune to find one Man who has not his price."

Influenced by the same spirit, Mr. Smeaton, towards
the close of his life, believing that he should be rendering
a service to his country by publishing an account of the
various works in which he had been engaged as an
engineer, endeavoured to avoid as much business as he
consistently could to devote himself to that work, and
eventually determined to retire altogether from the profes-
sion ;2 but the only portion that he lived to complete was

1 Letter written by Mrs. Dixon,
daughter of the engineer, to the Com-
mittee of Civil Engineers, dated 30th
October, 1797, relative to the life and
character of her deceased father. —

of Years to the business of a Civil Engineer,
his wishes are now to dedicate the chief
part of his remaining Time to the Descrip-
tion of the several Works performed under
his Direction. The Account he lately pub-
lished of the Building of Eddystone Light-
house of Stone has been so favourably re-

Smeaton formally took leave of the

profession in the following circular :— greater" Sense of his Gratitude, than to

" Mr. Smeaton begs leave to inform his ; continue to employ himself in the way now

Friends and the Public in general, that : specified. He therefore flatters himself,

having applied himself for a great number that in not yielding to the many applica-

VOL. II. G

Smeaton's ' Reports,' vol. i., p. 28.

2 A year before his death, Mr. ceived> that he is persuaded he cannot be

of more service to the Public, or show a

82 SMEATON'S P1UVATE LIFE— PART VI.

his Narrative of the construction of the Edclystone Light-
house. Indeed, he states that he found the task of de-
scribing this work even more difficult than that of erecting
it, and he consequently seems to have become inordinately
impressed with a sense of the importance of literary com-
position. He very naively observes in the Preface : " I
am convinced that to write a book tolerably well is not a
light or an easy matter ; for, as I have proceeded in this
work, I have been less and less satisfied with the execu-
tion. In truth, I have found much more difficulty in
writing than I did in building, as well as a greater length
of time and application of mind to be employed. I am
indeed now older by thirty-five years than I was when I
first entered on that enterprise, and therefore my faculties
are less active and vigorous ; but when I consider that I
have been employed full seven years, at every opportu-
nity, in forwarding this book, having all the original
draughts and materials to go upon, and that the produc-
tion of these original materials as well as the building
itself were despatched in half that time, I am almost
tempted to subscribe to the sentiment adopted by Mr.
Pope, that ' Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.'
It is true that I have not been bred to literature, but it is
equally true that I was no more bred to mechanics : we
must therefore conclude that the same mind has in reality
a much greater facility in some subjects than in others."
Smeaton's story of the Eddystone Lighthouse is, how-
ever, told in a very effective manner. It possesses an
interest almost dramatic, exhibiting a contest between a
strong, skilled, and determined man, and the most tre-
mendous forces of nature. It is truly observed by the
late Lord Ellesmere, in his ' Essays on Engineering,' that
bloody battles have been won, and campaigns conducted
to a successful issue, with less of personal exposure to

tions made to him lately for further Under-
takings, but confining himself in future to
the Objects above mentioned, and to such
occasional Consultations as will not take up

much Time, he shall not incur the Dis-
approbation of his Friends.

" Gray's Inn, 6th October, 1791."

CHAP. VI. DEATH AND OHABACTEB. 83

physical danger on the part of the commander-in-chief
than was constantly encountered by Smeaton during the
greater part of those years in which the lighthouse was
in course of erection. In all works of danger he himself
led the way — was the first to spring upon the rock and
the last to leave it ; and by his own example he inspired
with courage the humble workmen engaged in carrying
out his plans, who, like himself, were unaccustomed to
the special terrors of the scene.

The portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good
representation of Mr. Smeaton' s countenance, the ex-
pression of which was gentle, yet shrewd. In person
he was of a middle stature, broad and strong made, and
possessed originally of a vigorous constitution. In his
manners he was simple, plain, and unassuming. He
had the bluntness and straightforwardness of speech
which usually mark the north-countryman, and never
acquired that suavity and polish which are more com-
mon amongst educated men in our southern districts.
He spoke in the dialect of his native county, and
was not ashamed to admit it.1 Yet he mixed in good
society when in town, though his diffidence, as well as
his reluctance to bestow too much time on social enjoy-
ment, caused him to contract his circle as his professional
engagements increased. His daughter has related the
anecdote of his meeting on one occasion with the Duke
and Duchess of Queensberry, which led to a pleasant
intercourse with that family. Mr. Smeaton was walking
with his wife in Ranelagh Gardens — the fashionable
place of resort at that time — when he observed an
elderly lady and gentleman fix their marked attention
upon him. At length they came up, and the lady, who
proved to be the eccentric Duchess of Queensberry, said

1 In the Preface to Iris Eddystone to my friends in the country for

Narrative he says : " As I speak and perusing and abundantly correcting

write a provincial language, and was j my manuscript."

not bred to letters, I am greatly obliged j

84 SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE— PART VI.

to Mr. Smeaton, " Sir, I do not know who you are or
what you are ; but so strongly do you resemble my poor
dear Gray (the poet), that we must be acquainted. You
shall go home and sup with us ; and if the minds of the
two men accord, as do the countenances, you will find
two cheerful old folks, who can love you well ; and I
think (or you are a hypocrite) you can as well deserve
it." Mr. Smeaton and his wife accepted the invitation,
and it proved the commencement of one of his most
pleasant London friendships. It happened that the
Duke and Duchess had a great love of card-playing,
which Smeaton detested. But his good-nature would
not permit him to hold aloof when asked to take a hand.
He played, however, like a boy, his attention never
following the game. On one occasion, when it was
Pope Joan, and the stake in "Pope" had accumulated
to a considerable sum, it became Mr. Smeaton's turn by
the deal to double it. Regardless of his cards, he took
up a scrap of paper, made some calculations on it, and
laid it on the table. The Duchess eagerly asked what
it was. He replied, " Your Grace will recollect that the
field in which my house at Austhorpe stands may be
about five acres, three roods, and seven perches, which,
at thirty years' purchase, will be just my stake ; and if
your Grace will make a Duke of me, I presume the
winner will not dislike my mortgage." The hint thus
given in a joke was kindly taken, and from that time
they never played but for the merest trifle.

In his own home he was beloved and revered. His
wife died in 1784, after which his two daughters kept
house for him until his own death. The eldest has left
on record a charming picture of his domestic character,
which we cannot do better than transcribe : — " Though
communicative on most subjects," she says, " and stored
with ample and liberal observations on others, of himself
he never spoke. In nothing does he seem to have stood
more single than in being devoid of that egotism which

CHAP. VI. DEATH AND CHARACTER. 85

more or less affects the world. It required some address,
even in his family, to draw him into conversation directly
relating to himself, his pursuits, or his success. Self-
opinion, self-interest, and self-indulgence, seemed alike
tempered in him by a modesty inseparable from merit—
a moderation in pecuniary ambition, a habit of intense
application, and a temperance strict beyond the common

standard Devoted to his family with an

affection so lively, a manner at once so cheerful and
serene, that it is impossible to say whether the charm of
conversation, the simplicity of instruction, or the gentle-
ness with which it was conveyed, most endeared his
home — a home in which from infancy we cannot recollect
to have seen a trace of dissatisfaction or a word of asperity
to any one. Yet with all this he was absolute ! And
it is for casuistry, or education, or rule, to explain his
authority ; it was an authority as impossible to dispute
as to define."

Mrs. Dixon illustrates the benevolence of her father's
character by referring to a painful and trying event
in his life. Mr. Smeaton had befriended a young
man whom he had formerly employed as a clerk, and
successfully exerted himself to procure for him a situa-
tion of trust and responsibility, further becoming bound,
jointly with another gentleman, in a considerable sum.
The young man fell into bad habits : his expenses
outran his income ; he committed a forgery to meet the
deficiency, and he was detected, apprehended, and given
up to justice. The same post brought Mr. Smeaton the
intelligence of the young man's ruin, the claim for the
amount of the forfeited bond, and the refusal of the other
person to pay the moiety. Mrs. Smeaton's health being
delicate at the time, her husband suppressed all appear-
ance of emotion ; nor, until all was put in train for settle-
ment, did a word or look betray the exquisite distress
which these painful circumstances had caused him. He
even exerted himself to save the prisoner's life, in which

86

SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE-

PART VI.

he eventually succeeded, and he did all that he afterwards
could to soothe the remorse of the wretched youth who
had betrayed him.1

Of Mr. Smeaton's intellectual powers it would be
difficult to speak too highly. James Watt always men-
tioned him in terms of sincere admiration, speaking
of him as " father Smeaton." Writing to Sir Joseph
Banks, he said : " In justice to him we should observe
that he lived before Rennie, and before there were one-
tenth of the artists there are now. Suum cuique; his
example and precepts have made us all engineers." Even
after the great works of the railway era, and the variety
of practical ability which they called forth and fostered,
Robert Stephenson pronounced Smeaton to be the en-
gineer of the highest intellectual eminence that had yet
appeared in England. Speaking of him to the author
in 1858, he observed, "Smeaton is the greatest philo-
sopher in our profession this country has yet produced.
He was indeed a great man, possessing a truly Baconian
mind, for he was an incessant experimenter.2 The prin-
ciples of mechanics were never so clearly exhibited as in
his writings, more especially with respect to resistance,
gravity, the power of water and wind to turn mills, and
so on. His mind was as clear as crystal, and his demon-
strations will be found mathematically conclusive. To

1 The engineer's daughter, who has
related these beautiful features in his
character, became the wife of Jere-
miah Dixon, Esq., at one time mayor
of Leeds, afterwards of Fell Foot,
Windermere, and an active county
magistrate. She possessed much of
the force of character and benevolence
of disposition which distinguished her
father ; and was regarded as a woman
of great practical ability. She sur-
vived her husband many years, and
during her lifetime built and endowed
a free-school for girls at Staveley,
about a mile from her residence, which
is now, and has been ever since its
establishment, of very great benefit
to the population of the neighbour-

hood. Mrs. Dixon was also an artist
of some merit, and painted in oils ;
the altar-piece and decorated Ten
Commandments now in Staveley
church being of her execution.

2 One of Smeaton's rules was, never
to trust to deductions drawn from
theory in any case where one could
have an opportunity for actual experi-
ment. "In my own practice," he
said, "almost every successive case
would have required an independent
theory of its own. In my intercourse
with mankind I have always found
those who would thrust theory into
practical matters to be, at bottom, men
of no judgment, and pure quacks."

CHAP. VI. DEATH AND CHARACTER. 87

this day there are no writings so valuable as his in the
highest walks of scientific engineering ; and when young
men ask me, as they frequently do, what they should
read, I invariably say, Go to Smeaton's philosophical
papers ; read them, master them thoroughly, and nothing
will be of greater service to you. Smeaton was indeed
a very great man."

From what we have said, it will be obvious that
Smeaton was, throughout his whole career, a most in-
dustrious man, — indeed, industry was the necessity and
habit of his life. His daughter describes him as having
been incessantly occupied from six years old to sixty.
He was a great economist of time, and laid it out in
such a way as to obtain from its use the greatest amount
of valuable result. When at home, his forenoons were
devoted to writing reports, and the various business
arising out of his professional engagements ; and his
afternoons were occupied by the pursuits in which he
took most pleasure, — working at his forge or in his
workshop, making mechanical experiments, or pre-
paring his papers on scientific subjects for the Eoyal
Society. Though naturally possessed of an excellent
constitution, and capable of enduring much fatigue, it is
to be feared that he taxed his brain too much, and " o'er
informed his tenement of clay," by continuous and
intense application to study during his long periods
of seclusion at Austhorpe. His robust frame became
fragile, and his strength was further impaired by the
abstinence which he was subsequently compelled to adopt.
Moreover, it appears that brain disease was hereditary
in his family, and he long apprehended the stroke which
eventually terminated his life. This only made him the
more eager to employ to the greatest advantage the time
which it might yet be permitted him to live : and he
dreaded above all things the blight of his mental powers
—to use his own words, " lingering over the dregs after
the spirit had evaporated " —chiefly as depriving him of

88 SMEATON'S PRIVATE LIFE— PART YT.

the means of doing further good. The last public mea-
sure on which he was professionally engaged in London,
was the passing of the Bill through Parliament for the
construction of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal.
It was very strongly opposed, and its support in
Committee cost him much application, thought, and
anxiety. His friends saw him visibly breaking down,
and apprehended that the powers of his vigorous mind
were beginning to fail. The bill passed by a small
majority, and Mr. Smeaton went down to his home at
Austhorpe for repose. But shortly after, when walking
in his garden, he was struck with palsy. Happily his
faculties returned to him, and he expressed his thank-
fulness to the Almighty that his intellect had been
spared. He was very resigned and cheerful, and took
pleasure in seeing the usual social occupation of the
family going on about him. He would, however, com-
plain of his growing slowness of apprehension, and
excuse it with a smile, saying, " It could not be other-
wise : the shadow must lengthen as the sun goes
down." Some phenomena relating to the moon formed
the subject of conversation one evening, when it shone
very bright full into his room. Fixing his eyes upon
it, he said, "How often have I looked up to it with
inquiry and wonder, and thought of the period when I
shall have the vast and privileged views of an hereafter,
and all will be comprehension and pleasure ! " He even
continued to dictate letters to his friends ; and in one of
these, addressed to Mr. Holmes, after describing his
health and feelings, he said : "In consequence of the
foregoing, I conclude myself nine-tenths dead, and the
greatest favour the Almighty can do me (as I think)
will be to complete the other part ; but as it is likely to
be a lingering illness, it is only in His power to say
when that is likely to happen." His suffering, however,
did not last long ; and after the lapse of about a month
from the writing of this letter, the engineer's spirit found

CHAP. VI. DEATH AND CHARACTER. 89

repose. He died on the 28th of October, 1792, in the
()8th year of his age ; and was buried with his fore-
fathers in the old parish church of Whitkirk, where a
tablet with the following inscription was erected to his
memory :—

SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF JOHN SMEATON, F.K.S.

A Man whom God had endowed with the most extraordinary abilities, which
he indefatigably exerted for the benefit of Mankind in works of science

And Philosophical research :

More especially as an Engineer and Mechanic. His principal work, the
Edystone Lighthouse, erected on a rock in the open sea, (where one had been
washed away by the violence of a storm, and another had been consumed by
the rage of fire,) secure in its own stability and the wise precautions for its
saiety, seems not unlikely to convey to distant ages, as it does to every Nation
of the Globe, the Name of its constructor.

He was born at Austhorpe, June 8, 1724.
And departed this Life October 28, 1792.

Also Sacred to the Memory of

ANN, the Wife of the said JOHN SMEATON, F.R.S.,

who died January 17th, 1784.

Their two surviving Daughters,

Duly imprest with sentiments of Love and Eespect

For the kindest and tenderest of Parents,

Pay this tribute to their Memory.

SMEATON'S BURIAL-PLACE IN WHITKIRK CHDRCH.
[By C. Cattermole, after an original Sketch by T. Sutcliffe, Leeds ]

bv W.Holl, aj~te>- tire j:'orbi~aJJt. vti; Crayons
by ArotvWalii S /'arvtnq .

Ty JcTm-Murray, ATbenuirle -Street, 18 Bl .

LIFE OF JOHN RENNIE

VIEW OF THE BREAKWATER FROM MOUNT EDGCDMBI
[By Fi-rcival Skeiton. after his original Drawing.]

LIFE OF JOHN EENNIE.

CHAPTEE I.

SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY.

JOHN RENNIE, the architect of the three great London
bridges, the engineer of the Plymouth Breakwater, of the
London and East India Docks, and various other works
of national importance, was born at the farm-steading of
Phantassie, in East Lothian, on the 7th of June, 1761.
His father was the owner of the small estate of the above

RENNIE'S NATIVE DISTRICT. [Ordnance Survey.]

name, situated about midway between Haddington and
Dunbar, at the foot of the gently-sloping hills which
rise from it towards the south, the village of East Linton
lying close at hand on the further bank of the little river
Tyne. The property had been in the family for gene-
rations, and Mr. Kennie had the reputation of being one
of the best farmers in the neighbourhood. But the art
of agriculture, like every thing else in Scotland, was in

94 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII.

an incredibly backward state, compared with either
England or even Ireland, at the time when our en-
gineer was born.

The traveller through the Lothians — which now ex-
hibit perhaps the finest agriculture in the world, where
every inch of ground is turned to profitable account,
and the fields are cultivated to the very hedge-roots—
will scarcely believe that less than a century ago these
districts were not much removed from the state in which
nature had left them. In the interior there was little
to be seen but bleak moors and quaking bogs. The
chief part of each farm consisted of " out-field " or un-
enclosed land, no better than moorland, from which
even the hardy black cattle could scarcely gather herbage
enough to keep them from starving in winter time. The
" in-field " was an enclosed patch of ill-cultivated ground,
on which oats and " bear" or barley were grown ; but the
principal crop was weeds.

Of the small quantity of corn raised in the country
nine-tenths were grown within five miles of the coast ;*
and of wheat very little was raised — not a blade north
of the Lothians. When the first crop of that grain was
to be seen on a field near Edinburgh, people flocked to
look upon it as a wonder. Clover, turnips, and potatoes
had not yet been introduced, and no cattle were fat-
tened : it was with difficulty they could be kept alive.
Mr. Eennie, the engineer's father, was one of the first to
introduce turnips as a regular farmer's crop. All loads
were as yet carried on horseback ; but where the farm
was too small, or the crofter too poor, to keep a horse,
his own or his wife's back bore the load. The horse
brought peats from the bog and coals from the pit, and
carried the crops to market. Sacks filled with manure
were also sent a-field on horseback ; but the uses of
manure were so little understood, that if a stream was

Professor Forbes'a ' Considerations on the Present State of Scotland,' p. 14.

CHAP. I. SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. 95

near, it was thrown in and floated away, and in summer
it was burnt.1

The towns were for the most part collections of
thatched mud cottages,2 giving scant shelter to a
miserable population. The whole country was poor,
desponding, gaunt, and almost haggard. The common
people were badly fed and wretchedly clothed ; those in
the country living in despicable huts with their cattle.3
The poor crofters were barely able to exist. Lord
Kaimes says of the Scotch tenantry of the early part
of last century, that they were so benumbed by op-
pression and poverty 4 that the most able instructors
in husbandry could have made nothing of them. A
writer in the Scotch ' Farmer's Magazine ' sums up his
account of the country at that time in these words :
" Except in a few instances, it was little better than a
barren waste." 5

What will scarcely be credited, now that the in-
dustry of Scotland has become thoroughly educated
by a century's discipline of work, was the inconceiv-
able listlessness and laziness of the people at that

1 ' Farmer's Magazine,' No. xxxiv.,
p. 200.

2 It is stated in MacDiarmid's
* Picture of Dumfries ' that at the
middle of the century no lime was
used in building, "except a little
shell-lime, made of cockle-shells, which
was burned at Col vend, and brought
to Dumfries in bags." And, " in 1740,
when Provost Bell (the chief magis-
trate or mayor of that town) built
his house, the under storey was built
of clay, and the upper storeys with
lime brought from Whitehaven in
dry- ware casks."

3 The Rev. Dr. Playfair in ' Statis-
tical Account of Scotland.' First edi-
tion. Vol. I., p. 513.

4 Bad although the condition of
Scotland was at the beginning of last
century, there were many who be-
lieved that it would be made wwse
by the carrying of the Act of Union.

The Earl of Wigton was one of these.
Possessing large estates in the county
of Stirling, and desirous of taking
every precaution against the impend-
ing ruin, he disposed to his tenants,
on condition that they continued to
pay him their then rents, low though
they were, his extensive estates in the
parishes of Denny, Kirkintulloch, and
Cumbernauld, retaining only a few
fields round the family mansion.1
Fletcher of Saltoun equally feared
the ruinous results of the Union,
though he was less precipitate than
the Earl of Wigton. We need scarcely
say how completely all those appre-
hensions were falsified by the actual
results.

5 ' Farmer's Magazine,' 1803. No.
xiii., p. 101.

Farmer's Magazine, 1808, No. xxxiv., p. 193.

96 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII.

period.1 They left the bog unreclaimed and the swamp
undrained. They would not even be at the trouble to
enclose lands easily capable of cultivation. There was
no class possessed of any enterprise or wealth. A
middle rank could scarcely be said to exist, or any
condition between that of the starving peasantry and
the impoverished proprietary, whose available means
were principally expended on hard drinking.2 Mr.
Brown, an East Lothian farmer, said of the latter
class, that they were still too proud, and perhaps
too ignorant, to interest themselves about the amelio-
ration of their own domains.3 The educated class —
strictly so called — was as yet extremely small, and dis-
played a general indiiferentism on all subjects of social,
political, or religious interest, which some regarded as
philosophic, but which was only an exhibition in another
form of the prevalent national indolence. An idea of
the general poverty may be formed from the fact that
about the middle of the century the whole circulating
medium of the Edinburgh banks was only 200,000/.,
which was found amply sufficient for the requirements
of trade and commerce, which had scarcely yet sprung
into existence.4 Even in East Lothian, which was pro-
bably in advance of the other Scotch counties, the
ordinary wage of a day labourer was only h'vepence in

1 Miss Craik, in describing the
difficulties which her father (William
Craik, of Arbigland) had to contend
against in introducing agricultural
improvements in the county of Kirk-
cudbright, about the middle of last
century, says : " For many years the
indolent obstinacy of the lower class
of people was almost unconquerable.
Amongst other instances of their lazi-
ness, I have heard him say that, upon
his first introduction of the mode of
dressing the grain at night which had
been thrashed during the day, all the
servants in the neighbourhood refused
to adopt the measure, and even
threatened to destroy the houses of

their employers by fire if they con-
tinued to insist upon the business.
My father speedily perceived that a
forcible remedy was required for the
evil. He gave them their choice of
removing the thrashed grain in the
evening, or becoming inhabitants of
Kirkcudbright jail; they preferred
the former alternative, and open mur-
murings were no longer heard. "-
* Farmer's Magazine,' No. xlvi. (June,
1811), p. 155. Art. : ' Account of
William Craik, Esq., of Arbigland.'

2 See the 'Autobiography of Dr.
Alexander Carlyle,' passim.

3 Brown on 'Rural Affairs,' Vol. I.,
p. 58. 4 Ibid.

CHAP. I. SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY, 97

winter and sixpence in summer.1 The food of the
working class was almost wholly vegetable, and even
that was insufficient in quantity. The little butcher's
meat consumed by the better class was salted beef and
mutton, which was stored up at Ladner Time, betwixt
Michaelmas and Martinmas, for the year's consumption.
Mr. Buchan Hepburn says the sheriff of the county of
East Lothian informed him that he remembered when
not a single bullock was slaughtered in the butcher-
market at Haddington for a whole year, except at the
above period ; and when Sir David Kinloch, of Gril-
rnerton, sold ten wedders to an Edinburgh butcher, he
stipulated for three several terms to take them away, to
prevent the Edinburgh market from being overstocked
with fresh butcher's meat ! 2

The rest of Scotland was in no better state : in some
parts it was even worse. The now rich and fertile
county of Ayr, which glories in the name of " the garden
of Scotland," was for the most part a wild and dreary
common, with here and there a poor, bare, homely hut,
where the farmer and his family were lodged.3 There
were no enclosures of land, except one or two about a
gentleman's seat, and black cattle roamed at large over
the face of the country.4 More deplorable still was the

1 G. Buchan Hepburn's * General
View of the Agriculture and Economy
of East Lothian.' Edinburgh, 1794.
P. 95.

2 Ibid., p. 55.

3 The Rev. Mr. Eobertson, in the
' Statistical Account of Scotland.'

4 When it was attempted, in 1723,
to form enclosures in the adjoining
county of Kirkcudbright, for the pur-
pose of preventing the black cattle
from straying, the poor people, who
had squatted or were small tenants
on the land, were turned out, and
mobs assembled at different points
and levelled the enclosures. "It is
not pleasant," says a Kirkcudbright
chronicler, " to represent the wretched

VOL. II.

state of individuals as times then
went in Scotland. The tenants in
general lived veiy meanly, on kail,
groats, milk, graddon ground in
querns turned by the hand, the grain
being dried in a pot, together with a
crock ewe now and then about Mar-
tinmas. They were clothed very
plainly, and their habitations were
most uncomfortable. Their general
wear was of cloth, made of waulked
plaiding, black and white wool mixed,
very coarse, and the cloth rarely dyed.
Their hose (when they wore them)
were made of white plaiding cloth,
sewed together ; with single-soled
shoes, and a black or blue bonnet —
none having hats but the lairds, who

H

98 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII.

condition of those counties which immediately bordered
the wild Highland districts, the inhabitants of which
regarded the Lowlands as their lawful prey. The only
method by which security of a certain sort could be ob-
tained for their property was by the payment of black-
mail to some of the principal caterans ; though this
was not sufficient to protect them against the lesser ma-
rauders. Regular contracts were drawn up between
proprietors in the counties of Perth, Stirling, and Dum-
barton, and the Macgregors, in which it was stipulated
that if less than seven cattle were stolen — which pecca-
dillo was styled picking — no redress should be required ;
but if the number stolen exceeded seven — such amount
of theft being termed lifting — then the Macgregors be-
came bound to recover. This blackmail was regularly
levied as far south as Campsie — then within six miles
of Glasgow, but now almost forming part of it — down
to within a few months of the outbreak of the rebellion
of 1745.1 Under such circumstances agricultural im-
provement was impossible. Another evil was, that the
lawless habits of their neighbours tended to make the
Lowland farmers almost as ferocious as the Highlanders
themselves. Feuds were of constant occurrence between
neighbouring baronies, and even contiguous parishes ;
and the county fairs, which were tacitly recognised as
the occasions for settling quarrels, were the scenes of as

thought themselves very well dressed
for going to church on Sunday with a
black kelt-coat of their wife's making.
The distresses and poverty felt in the
country continued till about the year
1735. During these times, when
potatoes were not generally raised
(having been only introduced into
the stewartry in 1725), there was,
for the most part, a great scarcity of
food, bordering on famine ; for, in the
whole of Kirkcudbright and Dum-
fries, there was not as much victual
produced as was necessary for the
supply of the inhabitants ; and the
chief part of what was required for

that purpose was brought from the
Sandbeds of Esk, in tumbling cars,
to Dumfries; and when the waters
were high by reason of spates, and
there being no bridges so that these
cars could not come with the meal, I
have seen the tradesmen's wives in
the streets of Dumfries crying, be-
cause there was none to be got." —
Letter of John Maxwell, in Appendix
to MacDiarmid's ' Picture of Dum-
fries.' Edinburgh, 1832.

1 ' Farmer's Magazine :' ' Account
of the Husbandry of Stirlingshire,'
No. xxxiv., p. 198.

CHAP. I. SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. 99

bloody fights as were ever known in Ireland, even in its
worst days.

The country was as yet almost without roads, so that
communication between one town and another was ex-
ceedingly difficult, especially in winter. The old track
between Haddington and Edinburgh still exists as it
was left when the new system of turnpike roads was
introduced in Scotland. It is now used only by fox-
hunters riding to cover, but it continues to bear out the
description of a local writer : " Nothing," he says, " can
be a greater contrast with the roads of modern times. In
some places, where there was space for taking room, it
was not spared. There might be seen four or five or
more tracks, all collateral to one another, as each in its
turn had been abandoned and another chosen, and all
at last equally impassable. In wet weather they became
mere sloughs, in which the carts or carriages had to
plumper through in a half-swimming state, whilst in
time of drought it was a continued jolting out of one
hole into another." l

Such being the state of the highways, it will be
evident that very little traffic could be conducted in
vehicles of any sort. Single horse traffickers, called
cadgers, plied between country towns and villages, sup-
plying the inhabitants with salt, fish, earthenware, and
articles of clothing, which they carried in sacks or creels
hung across the horse's back. Even the trade between
Edinburgh and Glasgow was carried on in the same
primitive way. So limited was the consumption of the
comparatively small population of Glasgow about the
middle of last century, that most of the butter, cheese,
and poultry raised within six miles of that city was
carried by cadgers to Edinburgh in panniers on horse-
back. On one occasion, a load of ducks, brought from
Campsie to Edinburgh for sale in the Grassmarket,

1 George Robertson's ' Rural Recollections,' p. 38.

H 2

100 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII.

finding themselves at liberty, rose upon wing and flew
westward. Some of them were afterwards found at Lin-
lithgow, and others succeeded in reaching their native
" dub " at Campsie, some forty-five miles distant.1

It was long before travelling by coach was introduced
in Scotland. When Smollett went from Glasgow to
Edinburgh in 1739, on his way to London, there was
neither coach, cart, nor waggon on the road. He ac-
cordingly accompanied the carriers as far as Newcastle,
" sitting upon a pack-saddle between two baskets, one of
which," he says, " contained my goods in a knapsack."
The first vehicle which plied between the two chief
cities of Scotland was not started until 1749. It was
called " The Edinburgh and Glasgow Caravan," and per-
formed the journey of forty-four miles in two days ; but
the packhorse continued to be the principal means of
communication between the two places. Ten years later
another vehicle was started, which was named "The
Fly," because of its extraordinary speed, and it contrived
to make the journey in rather less than a day and a
half.2 When a coach with four horses was put on
between Haddington and Edinburgh, it took a full
winter's day to perform the journey of sixteen miles.
The effort was to reach Musselburgh in time for dinner,
and go into town in the evening.3

In some parts of the country - — as in Spain to this day
— the beds of rivers served the double purpose of a river
in wet, and a road in dry weather. When a common
carrier began to ply between Selkirk and Edinburgh, a
distance of only thirty-eight miles, he occupied a fort-
night in performing the double journey. Part of the
road lay along Gala Water, and in summer the carrier
drove his rude cart along the bed of the stream ; in
winter the route was of course altogether impassable.

1 ' Farmer's Magazine,' No. xxxiv., ! 3 G. Buchan Hepburn's ' Account
P. 200. ! of East Lothian.' 1794.

2 Robertson's ' Rural Recollections.'

CHAP. I. SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTUKY. 101

The townsmen of this adventurous individual, on the
morning of his way-going, were accustomed to turn out
and take leave of him, wishing him a safe return from
his perilous journey.

The great post-road between London and Edinburgh
passed close in front of the house at Phantassie in
which John Eennie was born ; but even that was little
better than the tracks we have already described. It
passed westward over Pencrake, and followed the ridge
of the Garleton Hills towards Edinburgh. The old
travellers had no aversion to hill tops, rather preferring
them because the ground was firmer to tread on, and
they could see better about them. This line of high
road avoided the county town, which, lying in a hollow,
was unapproachable across the low grounds in wet
weather ; and, of all things, swamps and quagmires were
then most dreaded. A portion of this old post-road
was visible until within the last few years, upon the
high ground about a mile to the north of Hadding-
ton. In some places it was very narrow and deep, not
unlike an old broad ditch, much waterworn, and strewn
with loose stones. Along this line of way Sir John
Cope passed with his army, in 1745, to protect Edin-
burgh against the Highland rebels ; and it is related that,
on marching northward to intercept them; he was com-
pelled to halt for several days, waiting for a hundred horse-
loads of bread required for the victualling of his army.

In 1750, a project was set on foot for improving the
high road through East Lothian, and a Turnpike Act
was obtained for the purpose — the first Act of the kind
obtained north of the Tweed.1 The inhabitants of the
town of Haddiiigton complained loudly of the oppres-
sion practised on them, by making them pay toll for
every bit of coal they burned ; though before the road
was made it was a good day's work for a man and

G. Buchan Hepburn's 'Account,' p. 151.

102 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII

horse to fetch a load of " divot " from (lladsmuir, or
of coal from the nearest colliery, only some four miles
distant. By the year 1763 this post-road must have
been made practicable for wheeled vehicles ; for in that
year the one stage-coach, which for a time formed the
sole communication of the kind between London and all
Scotland, began to run; and John Rennie, when a bov,
was familiar with the sight of the uncouth vehicle lum-
bering along the road past his door. It " set out " from
Edinburgh only once a month, the journey to London
occupying from twelve to eighteen days, according to
the state of the roads.

Such, however, had not always been the miserable
condition of Scotland. The tine old bridges which exist-
in different parts of the country alone serve to show that
at some early period a degree of civilization and pros-
perity had prevailed, from which it had gradually fallen .
Professor limes has clearly pointed this out in a recent
work :l " When we consider," he says, " the long and
united efforts required in the early state of the arts for
throwing a bridge over any considerable river, the early
occurrence of bridges may well be admitted as one of
the best tests of civilization and national prosperity."
As in England itself, the original reclamation of lands,
the improvement of agriculture, the making of roads,
and the building of bridges throughout the Lowlands of
Scotland, were for the most part due to the old church-
men ; and when their ecclesiastical organization was
destroyed the country again relapsed into the state from
which they had raised it, and it lay in ruins almost until
our own day, when it has again been rescued from bar-
renness, even more effectually than before, by the com-
bined influences of education and industry.

The same " Brothers of the Bridge," who erected so
many fine old bridges across the rivers of England, were

Cosmo Tnnes's ' Sketches of Early Scottish History.' 1861.

CHAP. I. SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. 103

equally busy beyond the Tweed, providing those essen-
tial means of intercourse for the community. Thus we
find bridges early erected across most of the rapid rivers
in the Lowlands, especially in those places where the
ecclesiastical foundations were the richest ; and to this
day the magnificent old abbey or cathedral of the neigh-
bourhood— in some corner of which the Presbyterian
Church holds its worship — serves to remind one of the
contemporaneous origin of both classes of structures.
Thus, as early as the thirteenth century, there was a
bridge over the Tay at Perth; bridges over the Esk at
Brechin and Marykirk ; one over the Dee at Kincardine
O'Neil ; one at Aberdeen ; and one at the mouth of
Glenmuick. The fine old bridge over the Dee, at Aber-
deen, is still standing : it consists of seven arches, and,
as usual, the name of a bishop — Gawin Dunbar — is con-
nected with its erection. There is another old bridge
over the Don near the same city, said to have been built
by Bishop Cheyne in the time of Robert the Bruce — the
famous " Brig of Balgonie," celebrated in Lord Byron's
stanzas as " Balgownie Brig's black wa'." It consists
of a spacious Gothic arch, resting upon the rock on
either side. There was even an old bridge over the
rapid Spey at Orkhill. Then at Glasgow there was a
fine bridge over the Clyde, which used, in old times, to
be called " the Great Bridge of Glasgow," said to have
been built by Bishop Rae in 1345. Though the bridge
was only twelve feet wide, it consisted of eight arches ;
somewhat similar to the ancient fabric which still spans
the Forth under the guns of Stirling Castle. This last-
mentioned bridge was, until recent times, a structure of
great importance, affording almost the only access into
the northern parts of Scotland for wheeled carriages.

But the art of bridge-building in Scotland, as in Eng-
land, seems for a long time to have been almost entirely
lost ; and until Smeaton was employed to erect the
bridges of Coldstream, Perth, and Banff, next to nothing

104 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII.

was done to improve this essential part of the communi-
cations of the country. Where attempts were made by
local builders to erect such structures, they very rarely
stood the force of a winter's, or even a summer's, flood.
" I remember," says John Maxwell, " the falling of the
Bridge of Buittle, which was built by John Frew in
1722, and fell in the succeeding summer, while I was in
Buittle garden seeing my father's servants gathering
nettles." l A similar fate befell the few attempts that were
made about the same time to maintain the lines of com-
munication by replacing the old bridges where they had
gone to ruin, or substituting new ones in place of fords.

The mechanical arts had indeed fallen into the very
lowest state. All kinds of tools were of the most im-
perfect description. The implements used in agriculture
were extremely rude. They were mostly made by the
farmer himself, in the roughest possible style, without
the assistance of any mechanic. But a plough, which
was regarded as a complicated machine, was reserved for
the blacksmith. It was made of young birch trees, and,
if the tradesman was expert, it was completed in the
course of a winter's evening.2 This rude implement
scratched, without difficulty, the surface of old crofts,
but made sorry work in out-fields, where the sward was
tough and stones were large and numerous. Lord
Kaimes said of the harrows used in his time, that they
were more fitted to raise laughter than to raise mould.
Machinery of an improved kind had not yet been intro-
duced in any department of labour. Its first applica-
tion, as might be expected, was in agriculture, then the
leading, and indeed almost the only, branch of industry
in Scotland ; and its introduction will be found to be
both curious and interesting in its bearing upon the
subject of our present memoir.

1 Appendix to 'Picture of Dum-
fries.' By John MacDiarmid. Edin-
burgh, 1832.

2 * Farmer's Magazine,' No. xxxiv.,
p. 199.

CHAP. II.

RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE.

105

CHAPTER II.

KENNIE'S MASTER — ANDREW MEIKLE.

ANDREW FLETCHER, of Saltoun, fled into Holland during
the political troubles in the reign of Charles II., arid
during his residence there he was particularly struck by
the expert methods employed by the Dutch in winnow-
ing corn and shealing barley. The chaff was then ordi-
narily separated from the corn by means of wind upon
a knoll, or a draught of air blowing through the barn-
door ; and barley was shealed by pounding the grains
with water in the hollow of a stone, until by that means
the husks were rubbed off. Fletcher saw that there was
a great waste of labour in these processes, and during
his residence abroad he determined to introduce the
Dutch methods into his own country. Writing home to
his brother, he desired him to send out to Holland one
James Meikle, an ingenious country wright of Wester
Keith,1 for the purpose of learning the above arts and
importing the requisite machinery into Scotland. After
a stay of about two months in that country, Meikle re-
turned home, bringing with him a winnowing-machine,
commonly called a pair of fanners, and the ironwork re-
quisite for a barley-mill. These were safely transported
to Leith, and afterwards conveyed to Saltoun, where the
barley-mill was erected and set to work ; and for many
years it was the only machine of the kind in the British
dominions, so slow were people in those days to copy the

1 It would seem that the ancestors
of Meikle were held in esteem as in-
genious workmen for generations ; the
Scots Parliament having, in 1686,
passed a special Act for the encourage-

ment of John Meikle, founder, who,
it appears, was the first person to in-
troduce the art of iron-founding into
Scotland.

106 KENNIE'S MASTERr-ANDREW MEIKLE. I'AKT VII.

improvements of their neighbours. " Saltoun barley "
was the name by which dressed pot-barley then became
known, and it continued to preserve the name long
after barley-mills had come into general use. James
Meikle was equally successful in setting liffi fanners to
work ; but they had a good deal of superstitious preju-
dice to encounter, the country people looking upon the
grain cleaned by them with suspicion, as procured by
" artificially-created wind." The clergy even argued
that " winds were raised by God alone, and it was irre-
ligious in man to attempt to raise wind for himself, and
by efforts of his own ;" and one clergyman even refused
the holy communion to those of his parishioners who
thus irreverently raised " Devil's wind." The readers of
i Old Mortality ' will remember Mause Headrigg's indig-
nation when it was proposed that her " son Cuddie should
work in the barn wi' a new-fangled machine for dightin'
the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will
of Divine Providence by raising wind for your leddy-
ship's ain particular use by human art, instead of soliciting
it by prayer, or waiting patiently for whatever dispensa-
tion of wind Providence was pleased to send upon the
shealing-hill." Scott, however, was obviously guilty of
an anachronism in this passage, for the first pair of
fanners was not set up at Saltoun until the year 1720 —
long after the period of Cuddie Headrigg's supposed
trial — and it was not until seventeen years later that
another winnowing-machine was set up in the neigh-
bouring shire of Roxburgh, and employed as an ordinary
agency in farming operations.

Andrew Meikle was the only surviving son of
Fletcher's millwright, and like him was an ingenious
mechanic. He had married and settled at Houston Mill,
on Mr. Rennie's Phantassie estate, where he combined
the occupations of small farmer, miller, and millwright.
He had himself fitted up the machinery of the mill, of
which he was the tenant ; and adjoining it was his mill-

CHAP.

RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW METKLE.

107

HOUSTON MILL.
[By E. M. Wimperis. after a Drawing by J. S. Smiles.]

wright's shop, where he carried on his small business
in connection with mill-work — the demands of the district
being as yet of an extremely limited character. But
the march of social improvement had by this time
fairly begun in East Lothian. The public spirit dis-
played by Fletcher of Saltoun was imitated by his
neighbours. But probably the gentleman who gave the
greatest impulse to agricultural progress in the county,
which shortly after extended itself over Scotland, was
Mr. Cockburn of Ormiston, to whom belongs the honour
of adopting the system of long leases. He early became
convinced that the surest way of stimulating the industry
of the farmer was to give him a substantial interest in
the improvement of the land which he farmed. One
of his tenants having enclosed his fields with hedges
and ditches at his own cost — the first farmer in Scot-

108 RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. PART VII.

land who adopted the practice ] — his landlord, to en-
courage his spirit of improvement, granted him a lease
of his farm for nineteen years, renewable at the expiry
of that term for a like period.

The results were found so satisfactory, that Mr. Cock-
burn was induced to extend the practice, and before long
it became generally adopted throughout the county. From
this point, then, agriculture advanced with extraordinary
rapidity. The more thriving farmers sent their sons into
England — a practice long since reversed — to learn the
best methods of farming : they employed better imple-
ments and improved methods of culture ; their landlords,
further to encourage them, built more commodious stead-
ings and farmhouses ; and they were greatly helped in this
course by the unusual facilities for obtaining credit which
persons of standing and property possessed, on the general
extension, from about the middle of last century, of what
is called the Scotch system of banking.2 These measures
very shortly put an entirely new face upon the country.
The distinction of "in-field" and "out-field" altogether
ceased. Farms became completely enclosed, and sheep
and black cattle were no longer allowed to roam at
large. Fields were thrown together, and small holdings
consolidated into large ones. The moorland and the bog
were reclaimed and converted into fruitful farms. A
single instance, of some historical interest, may be given.
When the Eoyal army lay upon the field of Prestonpans
in 1745, their front was "protected by a deep bog,"
across which Robert Anderson, a young gentleman
of the county, who knew every foot of the ground, con-
trived to lead the Pretender's army by a path known
only to himself. That bog, like so many others, has long
since been reclaimed by drainage and cultivation, and
now forms part of one of the most fertile farms in the
Lothians.

1 Brown on ' Rural Affairs.'

2 See Adam Smith's ' Wealth of Nations,' Book II., Chap. 2.

CHAP. II. RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE.

109

Such was the improving state of affairs in East Lothian
when Andrew Meikle began business at Houston Mill.
There were as yet very few mills in the district ; but his
reputation as a mechanic and his skill in millwork were
such, that he was usually employed on any new erection
of the sort, travelling also into the adjoining counties of
Edinburgh and Berwick to repair or fit up mills. Being
an ingenious and thoughtful man, he eagerly turned his
attention to the improvement of agricultural machinery,
more especially of that connected with the thrashing, win-
nowing, dressing, and grinding of grain. Thus, as early
as the year 1768, we find him taking out a patent — one
of the very first taken out by any Scotch mechanic—
for a new machine contrived by him for dressing and
cleansing corn.1 It was a combination of the riddle
and fanners ; and though of no great novelty, it showed
the direction in which his inventive faculties were thus
early at work. But Meikle' s most important invention
was made at a considerably later period of his life ; and
in the interval he devoted himself to the ordinary busi-
ness of his humble calling as a country miller and mill-
wright.

Nothing caused so much loss and vexation to the
farmer in former times as the operation of separating the
corn from the straw. In some countries it was trodden
out by cattle, as in the old Scriptural times ; hence the
proverb, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth
out the corn." Sledges or trail-carts were also used
for the same purpose ; but the most common instrument
employed was the flail. By either of these methods,
however, the process of thrashing was slowly performed,
whilst a considerable portion of the grain was damaged
or lost. Many attempts had been made before Meikle' s

1 Patent No. 896. The name of
Robert Mackell (employed with James
Watt in the survey of the " ditch
canal " through Perthshire— see Life

of Smeaton) was associated with that
of Meikle in this patent ; Mackell pro-
bably finding the money, and Meikle
the brains.

110 RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. PART VII.

time to invent a machine which should satisfactorily
perform this operation; but without effect. An East
Lothian gentleman, named Michael Menzies, contrived
one upon the principle of the flail, arranging a number
of flails so as to be worked by a water-wheel ; but they
were soon broken to pieces by the force with which
they went. Another experiment was made in 1758 by
a Stirlingshire farmer, named Leckie, who invented a
machine on the principle of the horizontal flax-mill. It
consisted of a vertical shaft, with four cross-arms fixed
in a box, and when set in motion the arms beat off the
grain from the straw when let down upon them by hand.
Though this machine succeeded very well in thrashing
oats, it cut off the heads of every other kind of corn
presented to it. Similar attempts were made about the
same time by farmers in the south, more especially
by Mr. Ilderton at Alnwick, Mr. Smart at Wark, and
Mr. Oxley at Flodden, about 1.772-3. The machine
employed by these gentlemen was composed of a large
drum, about six feet in diameter, resembling a sugar
hogshead, round which were placed a number of fluted
rollers, which pressed inwards upon the drum by means
of springs. The corn, in passing the cylinder and
rollers, was no doubt rubbed out ; but a large proportion
of it being bruised and damaged by the operation, this
plan too was eventually abandoned. Mr. Oxley is said
to have afterwards tried the plan of stripping the corn
from the straw by means of a scutcher ; but the machine
constructed with this object did not answer, and it was
also laid aside.

Mr. Kinloch,1 of Grilmerton in East Lothian, had how-
ever seen the last-mentioned machine at work, and he
conceived the idea of improving it. He accordingly
had a model made, in which he contrived that the drum,
mounted with four pieces of fluted wood, should work

Afterwards Sir Francis Kinloch.

CHAP. II. RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. Ill

upon springs, pressing with less force upon the corn in
the process of rubbing it out. This model was shown
to Meikle, with whom Mr. Kinloch had many conversa-
tions on the subject ; and at the millwright's suggestion
several improvements were made in it, one of which was
the substitution of smooth feeding rollers for fluted ones.
When the model had been completed, Mr. Kinloch sent
it to Houston Mill to be tried by the power of Meikle's
water-wheel. On being set to work, however, it was
driven in pieces in a few minutes ; and the same fate
befell a larger machine after the same model, which Mr.
Kinloch got made for one of his tenants a few years
later.

The best result of Mr. Kinloch' s experiments was, that
they had the effect of directing the inventive mind of
Andrew Meikle to the subject. After several years'
thinking and planning, about the year 1776 he con-
structed a thrashing-machine, consisting of a number of
flails fixed in a strong beam moved by a crank, which
beat out the corn on two platforms, one on each side of
the beam. Although the performance of this machine
before some East Lothian farmers who went to see it
at work was on the whole satisfactory, it did not come
up to Meikle's expectations ; and on one of the gen-
tlemen observing that the flails and platforms probably
would not bear the force of the stroke, the inventor
replied, that in case the machine did not answer, he
intended to try a method of beating out the corn by
means of fixed scutchers or beaters.1 Accordingly he
proceeded to work out this idea in practice, and after a
few years he succeeded in perfecting his invention on
this principle, which was entirely new. These scutchers,
shod with iron, were fixed upon a strong beam or cylinder,
which revolved with great velocity, and in the process

' A Reply to an Address to the I Ireland, on the subject of the Thrash-
Public, but more particularly to the ing Machine.' By John ShirrerY.
Landed Interest of Great Britain and | Edinburgh, 1811.

112 RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. PART VII.

of so revolving beat off the corn instead of rubbing
it off by pressure, as had been attempted by former
contrivers. By dint of study and perseverance, he suc-
ceeded at length in perfecting his machine ; to which
he added solid fluted feeding rollers, and afterwards a
machine for shaking the straw, fanners for winnowing
the corn, and other improvements. Meikle is said to
have been superintending a mill job at Leith at the time
he was engaged in working out the contrivance in his
mind. He was accustomed to walk there and back within
the same day while the job was in hand, or a distance of
about forty miles. He studied the subject during his
journey, and would occasionally stop while travelling to
draw a rapid diagram upon the road with his walking-
stick. It is related of him that on one occasion, whilst
very much engrossed with the subject of his thrashing-
mill, he had, absorbed by his calculations, wandered
considerably from the right path. He stopped short
suddenly, and hastily sketching his plan on the road,
exclaimed, " I have got it ! I have got it ! " Archi-
medes himself, when he cried " Eureka," could not have
been more delighted than our millwright was at the
happy upshot of his deliberations.

The first machine erected on Meikle' s new principle
was put up in 1787 for Mr. Stein of Kilbeggie, in
Clackmannanshire, who had great difficulty in procuring
a sufficient number of barnsmen for thrashing straw to
litter the large stock of cattle he had on hand ; but the
novelty of the experiment, and the doubt entertained
by Mr. Stein as to the efficacy of the proposed machine,
induced him to require, as a condition, that if it did not
answer the intended purpose, Meikle was not to receive
any payment for it. The result, however, proved quite
satisfactory, and the thrashing-machine at Kilbeggie,
which was driven by water-power, long continued in
good working order. The next he erected was for Mr.
George Eennie, at Phantassie, in the same year ; and by

CHAP. II.

RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE.

113

this time he had so perfected his machine as to enable
it to be driven by water, wind, or horses. That at Phan-
tassie was worked by the latter power. In 1788 Meikle
took out a patent for his invention, describing himself
in the specification as " engineer and machinist." l

ANDREW METKLE. [By T. D. Scott, after Ruddock.]

The thrashing-machine proved to be one of the greatest
boons ever conferred upon the husbandman, effecting an
immense saving of labour as well as of corn. By its
means from seventy to eighty bushels of oats, and from
thirty to fifty bushels of wheat, might be thrashed and
cleaned in an hour ; and it is calculated to have effected
a saving, as compared with the flail, of one-hundredth
part of the whole corn thrashed, or equal to a value of
not less than two millions sterling in Great Britain alone.

1 Patent No. 1645 : " Machine for separating Corn from Straw."
VOL. IT. I

114 RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. PART VII.

In the course of twenty years from the date of the
patent, about three hundred and fifty thrashing-mills
were erected in East Lothian alone, at an estimated outlay
of nearly forty thousand pounds ; and, shortly after, it
became generally adopted in England, and indeed all
over the civilized world. We regret, however, to add,
that Meikle did not reap those pecuniary advantages from
his invention which a less modest and more pushing man
would have done. Pirates fell upon him on all sides and
deprived him of the fruits of his ingenuity, even denying
him any originality whatever. When growing old and
infirm, Sir John Sinclair bestirred himself to raise a sub-
scription in his behalf; and a sum of 1500/. was collected,
which was invested for his benefit. Mr. Dempster, M.P.,
wrote to Sir John, when on his charitable mission in
1809, " Should your tour in East Lothian procure a
suitable reward to the inventor of the thrashing-machine,
it will redound much to your and the country's honour :
our heathen ancestors would have assigned a place in
heaven to Meikle." Mr. Smeaton knew Meikle inti-
mately, and frequently met him in consultation respecting
the arrangements of the Dairy Mills, near Edinburgh,
and other works ; and he was accustomed to say of him,
that if he had possessed but one-half the address of other
people, he would have rivalled all his contemporaries,
and stood forth as one of the first mechanical engineers
in the kingdom.

Among the various improvements which this ingenious
mechanic introduced in mill-work, were those in the sails
of windmills. Before his time, these machines were
liable to serious accidents on the occurrence of a sudden
gale, or a shift in the direction of the wind. By Meikle's
contrivance, the machinery was so arranged that the
whole sails might be taken in or let out in half a minute,
according as the wind required, by a person merely

1 ' Memoirs of Sir John Sinclair,' vol. ii., p. 90.

CHAP. II. RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. 115

pulling a rope within the mill. The machinery was at
the same time kept in more uniform motion, and all
danger from sudden squalls completely avoided. His
improvements in water-wheels were also important, and
on one occasion proved effectual in carrying out an
improvement of a remarkable character in the county of
Perth. This was neither more nor less than washing away
into the river Forth some two thousand acres of peat
moss, and thus laying bare an equivalent surface of arable
land, now amongst the most valuable in the Carse of
Stirling. The Kincardine Moss was situated between
the rivers Teith and Forth. It was seven feet in depth,
laid upon a bottom of rich clay. In 1766 Lord Kaimes,
who had entered into possession of the Blair Drum-
mond estate, to which it belonged, determined if possible
to improve the tract ; and it occurred to him that the
easiest plan would be to wash the moss entirely away.
But how was this to be done ? The river Teith, which
was the only available stream at hand, was employed to
drive a corn-mill. But Lord Kaimes saw that it would
answer his intended purpose if he could get possession
of it. He accordingly made an arrangement by which
he became owner of the mill, which he pulled down,
and then turned the mill-stream in upon the moss.
Labourers were set to work to cut away the stuff, which
was thrown into the current, and much of it thus washed
away. But the process was slow ; and the clearing of
the land had not advanced very far by the year 1783,
when Lord Kaimes' s son, Mr. Home Drummond, entered
into possession of the estate. A thousand acres still
remained, which he determined to get rid of, if pos-
sible, in a more summary manner than his predecessor
had done. He consulted several engineers — amongst
others Mr. Whitworth, a pupil of Brindley's — who re-
commended one plan ; but George Meikle, a millwright
at Alloa, the son of Andrew, proposed another, the
invention of his father ; and Mr. Whitworth, with much

I 2

116 RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE. TART VII.

candour and liberality, at once acknowledging its supe-
riority to his own, urged Mr. Drummond to adopt it.
The invention consisted of a newly-contrived wheel,
28 feet in diameter and 10 feet broad, for raising
water in a simple, economical, and powerful manner, at
the rate of from 40 to 60 hogsheads a minute ; and it
was necessary so to raise it about 17 feet, in order to
reach the higher parts of the land. The machinery
on being erected was set to work, and with such good
results, that in the course of a very few years the four
miles of barren moss was completely washed away, and
the district was shortly after covered with thriving farm-
steads, as it remains to this day.

Meikle was a thorough mechanical inventor, and,
wherever he could, he endeavoured to save labour
by means of machinery. Stories are still told in the
neighbourhood in which he lived of the contrivances
he adopted with this object in his own household, some
of which were of an amusing character. One day a
woman came to the mill to get some barley ground, and
was desired to sit down in the cottage hard by until
it was ready. With the first sound of the mill-wheels
the cradle and churn at her side began to rock and to
churn, as if influenced by some supernatural agency. No
one was in the house besides herself at the time, and she
rushed from it frightened almost out of her wits. Such
incidents as these brought an ill name on Andrew, and
the neighbours declared of him that he was " no canny."
He was often sent for to great distances for the purpose
of repairing pumps or setting mills to rights. On one
occasion, when he undertook to supply a gentleman's
house with water, so many country mechanics had tried
it before and failed, that the butler would not believe
Meikle when he told him he would send in the water
next day. Meikle, however, told him to get every-
thing ready. " It will be time enough to get ready,"
said the incredulous butler, "when we see the water."

CHAP. II.

RENNIE'S MASTER— ANDREW MEIKLE.

117

Meikle quietly pocketed the affront, but set his machinery
to work early next morning ; and when the butler got
out of bed, he found himself up to his knees in water,
so successfully had the engineer performed his promise.

Meikle lived to an extreme old age, and was cheerful
to the last. He was a capital player on the Northumbrian
bagpipes. The instrument he played on was made by
himself, the chanter being formed out of a deer's shank-
"bone. When ninety years old, at the family gatherings
on " Auld Hansel Monday," his six sons and their
numerous families danced about him to his music. He
died in 1811, in his ninety-second year, and was buried
in Prestonkirk churchyard, close by Houston Mill, where
a simple monument is erected to his memory.1

Such was the master who first trained and disciplined
the skill of John Rermie, and implanted in his mind an
enthusiasm for mechanical excellence. Another of his
apprentices was a man who exercised almost as great
an influence on the progress of mechanics, through the
number of first-rate workmen whom he trained, as did
Rennie himself in the art of engineering. We allude to
Peter Nicholson, an admirable mechanic and draughts-
man, the author of numerous works on carpentry and
architecture, which to this day are amongst the best
of their kind. We now pursue the career of Andrew
Meikle's most distinguished pupil.

1 It is remarkable that Scotch bio-
graphy should be altogether silent re-
specting this ingenious and useful
workman. In the most elaborate of
the Scotch biographical collections —
that of Robert Chambers, in four large
volumes — not a word occurs relating
to Meikle. An article is devoted to
Mickle, the translator of another
man's invention in the shape of a*

poem, the ' Lusiad ;' but the name of
the inventor of the thrashing-machine
is not even mentioned ; affording a
singular illustration of the neglect
which this department of biography
has heretofore experienced, though it
has been by men such as Meikle that
this countiy has in a great measure
been made what it is.

118

YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL,

TAUT VII.

(JHAPTEK III.

YOUNG KENNIE AT SCHOOL, WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE.

FARMER RENNIE died in the old house at Phantassie
in the year 1766, leaving a family of nine children, four
of whom were sons and five daughters. George, the
eldest, was then seventeen years old. He was discreet,
intelligent, and shrewd beyond his years, and from that

RENNIE'3 BIRTHPLACE, PHANTASSTE.

[By E. M. Wimperis, after a Drawing by J. S. Smiles.]
l •

time forward he managed the farm and acted as the
head of the family. The year before his father's death
he had made a tour through Berwickshire, for the pur-
pose of observing the improved methods of farming
introduced by some of the leading gentry of that county,

CHAP. III.

WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE.

119

and he returned to Phantassie full of valuable practical
information. The agricultural improvements which he
was shortly afterwards instrumental in introducing into
East Lothian were of a highly important character ; his
farm came to be regarded as a model, and his reputation
as a skilled agriculturist extended far beyond the bounds
of his own country, insomuch that he was resorted to for
advice as to farming matters by distinguished visitors
from all parts of Europe.1

Of the other sons, William, the second, went to sea :
he was taken prisoner during the first American war,
and was sent to Boston, where he died. The third,
James, studied medicine at Edinburgh, and entered the
army as an assistant-surgeon. The regiment to which
he belonged was shortly after sent to India : he served
in the celebrated campaign of General Harris against
Tippoo Saib, and was killed whilst dressing the wound
of his commanding-officer when under fire at the siege
of Seringapatam. John, the future engineer, was the
youngest son, and he was only five years old at the death
of his father. He was accordingly brought up mainly
under the direction of his mother, a woman possessed of
many excellent practical qualities, amongst which her
strong common sense was not the least valuable.

The boy early displayed his strong inclination for
mechanical pursuits. When about six years old, his best
loved toys were his knife, hammer, chisel, and saw, by
means of which he indulged his love of construction.
He preferred this kind of work to all other amusements,
taking but small pleasure in the ordinary sports of boys
of his own age. His greatest delight was in frequenting
the smith's and carpenter's shops in the neighbouring
village of Linton, watching the men use their tools, and

1 Amongst Mr. Rennie's other illus-
trious visitors in his later years was
the Grand Duke Nicholas (afterwards
Emperor) of Russia, who stayed

several nights at Phantassie, and du-
ring the time was present at the cele-
bration of a "hind's wedding."

120 YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VII.

trying his own hand when they would let him. But
his favourite resort was Andrew Meikle's millwright's
shop, down by the river Tyne, only a few fields off.
When he began to go to the parish school, then at
Prestonkirk, he had to pass Meikle's shop daily, going
and coming ; and he either crossed the river by the
planks fixed a little below the mill, or by the miller's
boat when the waters were high. But the temptations
of the millwright's workshop while passing to school in
the mornings not unfrequently proved too great for him
to resist, and he played truant ; the delinquency being
only discovered by the state of his fingers and clothes
on his return home, when an interdict was laid against
his " idling " away his time at Andrew Meikle's shop.

The millwright, on his part, had taken a strong liking
for the boy, whose tastes were so congenial to his own.
Besides, he was somewhat proud of his landlady's son
frequenting his house, and was not disposed to discourage
his visits. On the contrary, he let him have the run
of his workshop, and allowed him to make his minia-
ture water-mills and windmills with tools of his own.
The river which flowed in front of Houston Mill was
often swollen by spates or floods, which descended from
the Lammermoors with great force ; and on such occa-
sions young Rennie took pleasure in watching the flow
of the waters, and following the floating stacks, field-
gates, and other farm wreck along the stream, down to
where the Tyne joined the sea at Tyningham, about
four miles below. Amongst his earliest pieces of work-
manship was a fleet of miniature ships. But not finding
tools to suit his purposes, he contrived, by working at
the forge, to make them for himself; then he con-
structed his fleet, and launched his ships, to the admi-
ration and astonishment of his playfellows. This was
when he was about ten years old. Shortly after, by
the advice and assistance of his friend Meikle, who took
as much pride in his performances as if they had been

CHAP. III.

WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE.

121

his own, Rennie made a model of a windmill, another of
a fire-engine (or steam-engine), and a third of Yellore's
pile-engine, displaying upon them a considerable amount
of manual dexterity ; some of these early efforts of the
boy's genius being still preserved.

Though young Rennie thus employed so much of his
time on this amateur work in the millwright's shop, he
was not permitted to neglect his ordinary education at
the parish school. That of Prestonkirk was kept by a
Mr. Richardson, who seems to have well taught his pupil
in the ordinary branches of education ; but by the time
he had reached twelve years of age he seems almost to
have exhausted his master's store of knowledge, and his
mother then thought the time had arrived to remove him
to a seminary of a higher order.1 He was accordingly

1 Though a poor country, as we
have seen, Scotland was already rich
in parish and burgh schools ; the
steady action of which upon the rising
generation was probably the chief
cause of that extraordinary improve-
ment in all its branches of industry
to which we have above alluded.
John Knox — himself a native of East
Lothian — explicitly set forth in his
first ' Book of Discipline' — " That every
several kirke have ane schoolmaister
appointed," "able to teach grammar
and the Latin tongue, if the town be
of any reputation ;" and if an upland
town, then a reader was to be ap-
pointed, or the minister himself must
attend to the instruction of the chil-
dren and youth of the parish. It
was also enjoined that " provision be
made for the attendance of those that
be poore, and not able by themselves
nor their friends to be sustained at
letters;" "for this," it was added,
" must be carefully provided, that no
father, of what estate or condition
that ever he may be, use his children
at his own fantasie, especially in their
youthliead ; but all must be compelled
to bring up their children in learning
and virtue." During the troubles in
which Scotland was involved, almost
down to the Revolution of 1688,

although attempts were made to esta-
blish a school in every parish, they
seem to have been attended with
comparatively small results ; but at
length, in 1696, the Scottish Parlia-
ment was enabled, with the concur-
rence of William of Orange, to put in
force the Act of that year, which is
regarded as the charter of the" parish-
school system in Scotland. It is there
ordained " that there be a school set-
tled and established, and a school-
master appointed in every parish not
already provided, by advice of the
heritors and minister of the parish."
The consequence was, that the parish
schools of Scotland, working steadily
upon the rising generation, all of
whom passed under the hands of the
parish teachers during the preceding
half-century, had been training a
population whose intelligence was
greatly in advance of their material
condition as a people ; and it is in
this circumstance, we apprehend, that
the true explanation is to be found of
the rapid start forward which the
whole country now took, dating more
particularly from the year 1745.
Agriculture was naturally the first
branch of industry to exhibit signs of
decided improvement ; to be speedily
followed by like advances in manufac-

122

YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL,

PART VII.

taken from the parish school at that age, but his friends
had not made up their minds as to the steps they were
to adopt with reference to his further education. The
boy, however, found abundant employment for himself
with his tools, and went on model-making ; but feeling
that he was only playing at work, he became restless
and impatient, and entreated his mother that he might
be allowed to go to Andrew Meikle's to learn to be a
millwright. This was agreed to, and he was sent to
Meikle's accordingly, where he worked for two years,
during wrhich period he learnt one of the most valu-
able parts of education — the use of his hands. He
seemed to overflow with energy, and was ready to work
at anything — at smith's work, carpenter's work, or
millwork ; taking most pleasure in the latter, in which
he shortly acquired considerable expertness. Having
the advantage of books — limited though the literature
of mechanism was in those days — he studied the theory
as well as the practice of mechanics, and the powers of
his mind became steadily strengthened and developed
with application and self-culture.

At the end of two years his friends determined to
send him to the burgh school of Dunbar, one of that
valuable class of seminaries directed and maintained by
the magistracy, which have been established for the last
hundred years and more in nearly every town of any
importance in Scotland.1 Dunbar High School was

tures, commerce, and shipping. In-
deed, from that time, the country never
looked back, but her progress went on
at a constantly accelerating rate, issu-
ing in results as marvellous as they
have probably been unequalled.

1 The origin of what are technically
termed " Grammar Schools " in Scot-
land, is involved in considerable ob-
scurity. They are, for the most part,
of ancient foundation, and are sup-
posed to have been endowed by gener-
ous individuals, who vested in some
public body, usually the borough cor-

poration, sums of money for the pur-
pose of educating the youth of the
towns in which they are established.
The money or property so devised
was legally termed a " mortification."
Many of such bequests were made in
the remote times when Scotland was a
Catholic nation. John Knox himself
was educated at the Grammar School
of Haddington, near to which town
he was bom and brought up, and
there he says he leamt the elements
of the Latin language.

CHAP. III.

WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE.

123

then a seminary of considerable celebrity. Mr. Gibson,
the mathematical master, was an excellent teacher, full
of love and enthusiasm for his profession ; and it was
principally for the benefit of his discipline and instruc-
tion that young Rennie was placed under his charge.
The youth, on entering this school, possessed the advan-
tage of being fully impressed with a sense of the practical
value of intellectual culture. His two years' service in
Meikle's workshop, while it trained his physical powers
had also sharpened his appetite for knowledge, and
he entered upon his second course of instruction at
Diuibar with the disciplined powers almost of a grown
man. He had also this advantage, that he prosecuted
his studies there with a definite aim and purpose, and
with a determinate desire to master certain special
branches of education required for the successful pur-
suit of his intended business. Accordingly, we are not
surprised to find that in the course of a few months he
outstripped all his schoolfellows and took the first place
in the school. A curious record of his proficiency as a
scholar is to be found in a work by one Mr. David Loch,
Inspector-General of Fisheries, published in 1779. It
was his duty to hold a court of the herring skippers of
Dunbar, then the principal fishing-station on the east
coast ; and it appears that at one of his visits to the
town he attended an examination of the burgh schools,
and was so much pleased with the proficiency of the
pupils that he makes special mention of it in his book.1

1 After speaking of the teachers of
Latin, English, and arithmetic, he
goes on to say : " But Mr. Gibson,
teacher of mathematics, afforded a
more conspicuous proof of his abili-
ties, by the precision and clearness of
his manner in stating the questions
which he put to the scholars; and
their correct and spirited answers to
his propositions, and their clear de-
monstrations of his problems, afforded
the highest satisfaction to a numerous
audience. And here I must notice

in a particular manner the singular
proficiency of a young man of the
name of Kennie : he was intended for
a millwright, and was breeding to
that busine'ss under the famous Mr.
Meikle, at Linton, East Lothian ; he
had not then attended Mr. Gibson for
the mathematics, &c., much more
than six months, but on his examina-
tion he discovered such amazing
power of genius, that one would have
imagined him a second Newton. No
problem was too hard for him to de-

124

YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL,

PART VII.

Rennie remained with Mr. Gibson for about two
years. During that period he went as far in mathematics
and natural philosophy as his teacher could carry him,
after which he again proposed to return to Meikle's
workshop. But at this time the mathematical master
was promoted to a higher charge — the rectorship of the
High School of Perth — and a question arose as to the
appointment of his successor. The loss to the town was
felt to be great, and Mr. Gibson was pressed by the
magistrates to point out some person whom he thought
suitable for the office. The only one he could think
of was his favourite pupil ; and though not yet quite
seventeen years old, he strongly recommended John
Rennie to accept the appointment. The young man, how-
ever, already beginning to be conscious of his powers,
had formed more extensive views of life, and could not
entertain the idea of settling down as the " dominie " of
a burgh school, respectable and responsible though that
office must be held to be. He accordingly declined the
honour which the magistrates proposed to confer upon
him, but agreed to take charge of the mathematical
classes until Mr. Gibson's successor could be appointed.
He continued to carry on the classes for about six weeks,
and conducted them so satisfactorily that it was matter
of much regret when he left the school and returned to
his family at Phantassie for the purpose of prosecuting
his intended profession.

At home he pursued the study of his favourite
branches of instruction, more particularly mathematics,
mechanics, and natural philosophy, frequenting the work-
shop of his friend Meikle, assisting him with his plans,

monstrate. With a clear head, a de-
cent address, and a distinct delivery,
his master could not propose a ques-
tion, either in natural or experimental
philosophy, to which he gave not a
clear and ready solution, and also the
reasons of the connection between
causes and effects, the power of gravi-

tation, &c., in a masterly and con-
vincing manner, so that eveiy person
present admired such an uncommon
stock of knowledge amassed at his
time of life. If this young man is
spared, and continues to prosecute his
studies, he will do great honour to
his country."

CHAP. III. WOEKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 125

and taking an especial interest in the invention of the
thrashing-machine, which Meikle was at that time em-
ployed in bringing to completion. He was also entrusted
to superintend the repairs of corn-mills in cases where
Meikle could not attend to them himself; and he was
sent, on several occasions, to erect machinery at a
considerable distance from Prestonkirk. Rennie thus
gained much valuable experience, at the same time that
he acquired confidence in his own powers ; and before
the end of a year he began to undertake millwork on
his own account. His brother George was already well
known as a clever farmer, and this connection helped
the young millwright to as much employment in his
own neighbourhood as he desired. Meikle was also
ready to recommend him in cases where he could not
accept the engagements offered in distant counties ;
and hence, as early as 1780, when Rennie was only
nineteen years of age, we find him employed in fitting
up the new mills at Invergowrie, near Dundee. He
designed the machinery as well as the buildings for its
reception, and superintended them to their completion.
His next work was to prepare an estimate and design
for the repairs of Mr. Aitcheson's flour-mills at Bon-
nington, near Edinburgh. Here he employed cast iron
pinions, instead of the wooden trundles formerly used :
one of the first attempts made to introduce iron into
this portion of the machinery of mills.

These, his first essays in design, were considered very
successful, and they brought him both fame and emolu-
ment. Business flowed in upon him, and before the end
of his nineteenth year he had as much employment
as he could comfortably get through. But he had no
intention of confining himself to the business of a country
millwright, however extensive, aiming at a higher
professional position and a still wider field of work.
Desirous, therefore, of advancing himself in scientific
culture and prosecuting the studies in mechanical philo-

126 YOUNG KENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VIT.

sophy which he had begun at Phantassie and pursued
in the burgh school at D unbar, he determined to place
himself at the University of Edinburgh, then a semi-
nary of rising celebrity. In taking this step he formed
the resolution — >by no means unusual amongst young
men of his country inspired by a laudable desire for
self-improvement — of supporting himself at college en-
tirely by his own labour. He was persuaded that by
diligence and assiduity he would be enabled to earn
enough during the summer months to pay for his
winter's instruction and maintenance ; and his habits
being frugal, and his style of living very plain, he was
enabled) to prosecute his design without difficulty.

He accordingly matriculated at Edinburgh in No-
vember, 1780, and entered the classes of Dr. Robison,
Professor of Natural Philosophy, and of Dr. Black,
Professor of Chemistry ; both men of the highest dis-
tinction in their respective walks. Robison was an
eminently prepossessing person, frank and lively in
manner, full of fancy and humour, and, though versa-
tile in talent, a profound and vigorous thinker. His
varied experience of life, and the thorough knowledge
which he had acquired of the principles as well as the
practice of the mechanical arts, proved of great use to
him as an instructor of youth. The state pf physical
science was then at a very low ebb in this country, and
the labours of Continental philosophers were but little
known even to those who occupied the chairs in our
universities ; the results of their elaborate researches
lying concealed in foreign languages, or being known, at
most, to a few inquirers more active and ardent than
their fellows ; whilst the general student, mechanic, and
artisan were left to draw their principal information
from the ancient but ordinary springs of observation and
daily experience.

Under Dr. Robison the study of natural philosophy be-
came invested with unusual significance and importance.

CHAP. III. WOEKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 127

The range of his knowledge was most extensive : he was
familiar with the whole circle of the accurate sciences,
arid in imparting information his understanding seemed
to work with extraordinary energy and rapidity. The
labours of others rose in value under his hands, and new
views and ingenious suggestions never failed to enliven
his prelections on mechanics, hydrodynamics, astronomy,
optics, electricity, and magnetism, the principles of which
he unfolded to his pupils in language at once fluent,
elegant, and precise. Lord Cockburn remembers him as
somewhat remarkable for the humour in which he in-
dulged in the article of dress. " A pigtail so long and
thin that it curled far down his back, and a pair of huge
blue worsted hose, without soles, and covering the limbs
from the heel to the top of the thigh, in which he both
walked and lectured, seemed rather to improve his wise
elephantine head and majestic person." He delighted
in holding familiar intercourse with his pupils, whom he
charmed and elevated by his brilliant conversation and
his large and lofty views of life and philosophy. Rennie
was admitted freely to his delightful social influence,
and to the close of his career he was accustomed to look
back upon the period which he spent at Edinburgh as
amongst the most profitable and instructive in his life.

During his college career Rennie carefully read the
works of Emerson, Switzer, Maclaurin, Belidor, and
Grravesande, allowing neither pleasure nor society to
divert him from his line of study. As a relief from
graver topics, he set himself to learn the French and
German languages, and was shortly enabled to read both
with ease. His recreation was mostly of a solitary cha-
racter, and, having a little taste for music, he employed
some of his leisure time in learning to play upon various
instruments. He acquired considerable proficiency on
the flute and the violin, and he even went so far as to
buy a pair of bagpipes and learn to play upon them,
though the selection of such an instrument probably

128 YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VII.

does not say much for his musical taste. When he had
left Edinburgh, however, and entered seriously upon the
business of life, the extensive nature of his engagements
so completely occupied his time that in a few years, flute,
fiddle, and bagpipes were laid aside altogether.

During the three years that he attended college, our
student was busily occupied in the summer vacation-
extending from the beginning of May to the end of
October in each year — in executing millwork in various
parts of the country. Amongst the undertakings on
which he was thus employed, may be mentioned the
repair or construction of the Kirkaldy and Bonnington
Flour Mills, Proctor's Mill at Grlammis, and the Carron
Foundry Mills. When not engaged on distant works,
his brother George's house at Phantassie was his head-
quarters, where he prepared his designs and specifications.
He had the use of the workshop at Houston Mill for
making such machinery as was intended for erection in
the neighbourhood; but when he was employed at some
distant point, the work was executed in the most con-
venient places he could find for the purpose. There
were as yet no large manufactories in Scotland where
machinery of an important character could be turned out
as a whole ; the millwright being under the necessity of
sending one portion to the blacksmith, another to the
founder, another to the brass-smith, and another to the
carpenter, — a state of things involving a great deal of
trouble and often risk of failure, but which was eminently
calculated to familiarize our young engineer with the
details of every description of work required in the
practice of his profession.

His college training having ended in 1783, and being
desirous of acquiring some knowledge of English en-
gineering practice, Eennie set out upon a tour in the
manufacturing districts. Brindley's reputation attracted
him first towards Lancashire for the purpose of inspecting
the works of the Bridge water Canal. There being no

CHAP. III. WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 129

stage coaches convenient for his purpose, he travelled on
horseback, and in this way was enabled readily to
diverge from his route for the purpose of visiting any
structure more interesting than ordinary. At Lancaster
he inspected the handsome bridge across the Lune, then in
course of construction by Mr. Harrison, afterwards more
celebrated for his fine work of Chester Gaol. At Man-
chester he examined the works of the Bridge water Canal ;
and at Liverpool he visited the docks there in progress.

Proceeding by easy stages to Birmingham, then the
centre of the mechanical industry of England, and dis-
tinguished for the ingenuity of its workmen and the
importance of its manufactures in metal, he took the
opportunity of visiting the illustrious Boulton and Watt
at Soho. His friend, Dr. Eobison, had furnished him
with a letter of introduction to James Watt, who received
the young engineer kindly and showed him every atten-
tion ; and a friendship then began which lasted until the
close of Watt's life.

The condensing engine had by this time been brought
into an efficient working state, and was found capable
not only of pumping water — almost the only purpose to
which it had formerly been applied — but of driving ma-
chinery, though whether with advantageous results was
still a matter of doubt. Thus, in November, 1.782, Watt
wrote to his partner Boulton, " There is now no doubt
but that fire-engines will drive mills, but I entertain
some doubts whether anything is to be got by them." l
About the beginning of March, 1783, however, a com-
pany was formed in London for the purpose of erecting
a large corn-mill, to be driven by one of Boulton and
Watt's steam-engines, and the work was in progress at
the time Rennie visited Soho. Watt had much con-
versation with his visitor on the subject of corn-mill
machinery, and was gratified to learn the extent and

1 Muirhead's 'Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James
Watt,' vol. ii., p. 165.

VOL. II. K

130 YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VII .

accuracy of his information. He seems to have been
provoked beyond measure by the incompetency of his
own workmen. " Our millwrights," he wrote to his
partner, " have kept working, working, at the corn-mill
ever since you went away, and it is not yet finished ;
but my patience being exhausted, I have told them that
it must be at an end to-morrow, done or undone. There
is no end of millwrights once you give them leave to set
about what they call machinery ; here they have multi-
plied wheels upon wheels until it has now almost as
many as an orrery." l

Watt himself had bat little knowledge of millwork,
and stood greatly in need of some able and intelligent
millwright to take charge of the fitting up of the Albion
Mills. Young Kennie seemed to him at the time to be
a very likely person ; but, with characteristic caution,
he said nothing of his intentions, but determined to
write privately to his friend Robison upon the subject,
requesting particularly to know his opinion as to the
young man's qualifications for taking the superintend-
ence of such important works. Dr. Robison' s answer
was most decided ; his opinion of Rennie's character and
ability was so favourable, and expressed in so confident
a tone, that Watt no longer hesitated ; and he shortly
after wrote to the young engineer, when he had returned
home, inviting him to undertake the supervision of the
proposed mills, so far as concerned the planning and
erection of the requisite machinery.

Watt's invitation found Rennie in full employment
again. He was engaged in designing and erecting
mills and machinery of various kinds. Amongst his
earlier works, we also find him, in 1784, when only
in his twenty-third year, occupied in superintending
the building of his first bridge — the humble forerunner
of a series of structures which have not been surpassed

1 Muirhcad, vol. ii., p. 177.

CHAP. III. WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 131

in any age or country. His earliest building of this
kind was erected for the trustees of the county of
Mid-Lothian, across the Water of Leith, near Steven-
house Mill, about two miles west of Edinburgh. It is
the first bridge on the Edinburgh and Glasgow turnpike
road.

^

RENNIE'S FIRST BRIDGE.
[By R. P. Leitch, after a Sketch by J. S. Smiles ]

Notwithstanding the extent of his engagements and
the prospect of remunerative employment which was
opening up before him, Rennie regarded the invitation
of Watt as too favourable an opportunity for enlarging
his experience to be neglected, and, after due delibera-
tion, he wrote back accepting the appointment. He
proceeded, however, to finish the works he had in hand ;
after which, taking leave of his friends and home at
Phantassie, he set out for Birmingham on the 19th
of September, 1784. He remained there two months,
during which he enjoyed the closest personal inter-
course with Watt and Boulton, and was freely admitted
to their works at Soho, which had already become the
most important of their kind in the kingdom. Birming-
ham was then the centre of the mechanical industry of
England. For many centuries, working in metals had
been the staple trade of the place. Swords were made

K 2

132 YOUNG KENNIE AT SCHOOL, PART VIT.

there in the time of the ancient Britons. In the reign
of Henry YIII., Leland found " many smythes in the
town that use to make knives and all manner of cutting
tools, and many loriners that make bittes, and a great
many nailers ; so that a great part of the town is main-
tained by smythes who have their iron and sea-coal out
of Staffordshire."

The artisans of the place thus had the advantage of
the training of many generations ; aptitude for handi-
craft, like every other characteristic of a people, de-
scending from father to son like an inheritance. There
was then no town in England where mechanics were to
be found so capable of satisfactorily executing original
and unaccustomed work, nor has the skill yet departed
from them. Though there are now many districts in
which far more machinery is manufactured than in
Birmingham, the workmen of that place are still supe-
rior to most others in executing machinery requiring
manipulative skill and dexterity out of the common
track, and especially in carrying out new designs. The
occupation of the people gave them an air of quickness
and intelligence which was quite new to strangers accus-
tomed to the quieter aspects of rural life. When Hutton
entered Birmingham, he was especially struck by the
vivacity of the persons he met in the streets. " I had,"
he says, " been among dreamers, but now I was among
men awake. Their very step showed alacrity. Every
man seemed to know and prosecute his own affairs."
He also adds, that men whose former disposition was
idleness no sooner breathed the air of Birmingham than
diligence became their characteristic.

Rennie did not stand in need of this infection being
communicated to him, yet he was all the better for his
contact with the population of the town. He made him-
self familiar with their processes of handicraft, and,
being able to work at the anvil himself, he could fully
appreciate the skill of the Birmingham artisans. The

. III. WOKKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 133

manufacture of steam-engines at Soho chiefly attracted
Ins notice and his study. He had already made himself
acquainted with the principles as well as the mechanical
details of the steam-engine, and was ready to suggest
improvements, in a very modest way, even to Watt
himself, who was still engaged in perfecting his won-
derful machine. The partners thought that they saw
in him a possible future competitor in their trade ;
and in the agreement which they entered into with him
as to the erection of the Albion Mills, they sought to
bind him, in express terms, not only to abstain from
interfering in any way with the construction and work-
ing of the steam-engines required for the mills, but to
prohibit him from executing such work upon his own
account at any future period. Though ready to give
his word of honour that he would not in any way inter-
fere with Watt's patents, he firmly refused to bind himself
to such conditions ; being resolved in his own mind not
to be debarred from making such improvements in the
steam-engine as experience might prove to be desirable.
And on this honourable understanding the agreement
was concluded ; nor did Eennie ever in any way violate
it, but retained to the last the friendship and esteem of
both Watt and Boulton.

On the 24th of November following, after making
himself fully acquainted with the arrangements of the
engines by means of which his machinery was to be
driven, our engineer set out for London to proceed with
the designing of the millwork. It was also necessary
that the plans of the building — which had been prepared
by Mr. Samuel Wyatt, an architect of reputation in his
day — should undergo revision ; and, after careful con-
sideration, Rennie made an elaborate report on the
subject, recommending various alterations, which were
approved by Boulton and Watt, and forthwith ordered
to be carried into effect.

134 THE ALBJON MILLS. PART VII.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ALBION MILLS — MR. KENNIE EXTENSIVELY EMPLOYED AS
AN ENGINEER.

Rennie arrived in London in 1785, the country
was in a state of serious depression in consequence of the
unsuccessful termination of the American War. Parlia-
ment was engaged in defraying the heavy cost of the
recent struggle with the revolted colonies. The people
were ill at ease, and grumbled at the increase of the
debt and taxes. The unruly population of the capital
could with difficulty be kept in order. The police and
local government were most inefficient. Only a few
years before, London had, during the Gordon riots, been
for several days in the hands of the mob, and blackened
ruins in different parts of the city still marked the track
of the rioters. Though the largest city in Europe, the
population was scarcely more than a third of what it is
now ; yet it was thought that it had become so vast as to
be unmanageable. Its northern threshold was at Hicks' s
Hall, in Olerkenwell. Somers Town, Camden Town,
and Tyburnia wrere as yet green fields ; and Kensington,
Chelsea, Marylebone, and Bermondsey were outlying
villages. Fields and hedgerows led to the hills of High-
gate and Hampstead. The' West End of London was
a thinly-inhabited suburb, Fitzroy Square having only
been commenced in 1793. The westernmost building
in Westminster was Millbank, a wide tract of marshy
ground extending opposite Lambeth. Executions were
conducted in Tyburn fields, long since covered with hand-
some buildings, down to 1783. Oxford Street, from
Princes Street eastward as far as High Street, St. Giles's,

CHAP. IV,

LONDON IN 1785.

135

had only a few houses on the north side. " I remember it,"
says Pennant, " a deep hollow road and full of sloughs,
with here and there a ragged house, the lurking-place of
cut-throats ; insomuch that I was never taken that way
by night, in my hackney-coach, to a worthy uncle's who
gave me lodgings at his house in George Street, but I
went in dread the whole way." Paddington was " in
the country," and the communication with it was kept
up by means of a daily stage — a lumbering vehicle,
driven by its proprietor — which was heavily dragged
into the city in the morning, down Gray's Inn Lane,
with a rest at the Blue Posts, Holborn Bars, to give
passengers an opportunity of doing their shopping. The
morning journey was performed in two hours and a half,
" quick time," and the return journey in the evening in
about three hours.

Heavy coaches still lumbered along the country roads
at little more than four miles an hour. A new state of
things had, however, been recently inaugurated by the
starting of the first mail-coach on Palmer's plan, which
began running between London and Bristol on the
24th of August, 1784, and the system was shortly ex-
tended to other places. Numerous Acts were passed by
Parliament authorising the formation of turnpike-roads
and the erection of bridges.1 The general commerce
of the country was also making progress. The appli-
cation of recent inventions in manufacturing industry
gave a stimulus to the general improvement, and this
was further helped by a succession of favourable harvests.
The India Bill had just been renewed by Pitt, and trade
with India was brisk. Besides, a commercial treaty with
France was on foot, from which great things were ex-

1 In the interval between 1784 and
1792, not fewer than 302 Acts were
passed authorising the construction of
new roads and bridges, 64 autho-
rising the formation of canals and
harbours, and still more numerous

Acts for carrying out measures of
drainage, enclosure, paving, and other
local improvements — a sufficient indi-
cation of the industrial activity of the
nation at the time.

136 THE ALBION MILLS. PART VII.

pected ; although the outbreak of the Revolution, which
shortly after took place, put an end for a time to those
hopes of fraternity and peaceful trade in which it had
originated. The Government boldly interposed to check
smuggling, and Pitt sent a regiment of soldiers to burn
the smugglers' boats laid up on Deal beach by the severity
of the winter, so that the honest traders might have the
full benefit of the treaty with France which Pitt had
secured. Increased trade flowed into the Thames, and
ministers and monarch indulged in drawing glowing
pictures of prosperity. When Pennant visited London
in 1790, he found the river covered with shipping, pre-
senting a double forest of masts, with a narrow avenue
in mid-channel. The smaller vessels discharged directly
at the warehouses along the banks of the river, whilst
the India ships of large burden mostly lay down the
river as far as Blackwall, and discharged into lighters,
which floated up their cargoes to the city wharves.
London as yet possessed no public docks, — only a few
private ones of very limited extent, — although Pennant
speaks of Mr. Perry's dock and ship-yard at Black-
wall, on the eastern side of the Isle of Dogs, as " the
greatest private dock in all Europe ! " Another was St.
Saviour's, denominated by Pennant " the port of South-
wark," though it was only thirty feet wide, and used for
discharging barges of coal, corn, and other commodities.
There was also Execution Dock at Wapping, which wit-
nessed the occasional despatch of seagoing criminals, who
were hanged on a gallows at low-water mark, and left
there until the tide flowed over their dead bodies.

Among the commercial enterprises to which the in-
creasing speculation of the times gave birth, was the
erection of the Albion Mills. For the more convenient
transit of corn and flour, as well as to secure a plentiful
supply of water for engine purposes, it was determined
to erect the new mills on the banks of the Thames, near
the south-east end of Blackfriars Bridge. Hand-mills,

CHAP. IV. THE ALBION MILLS. 137

which had in the first place been used for pounding wheat
into flour, had long since been displaced by water-mills
and windmills ; and now a new agency was about to be
employed, of greater power than either — the agency
of steam. Fire-engines had heretofore been employed
almost exclusively in pumping water out of mines ; but the
possibility of adapting them to the driving of machinery
1 laving been suggested to the inventive mind of James
Watt, he set himself at once to the solution of the
problem, and the result was the engines for the Albion
Mills — the most complete and powerful which he had
until then turned out of the Soho manufactory. They
consisted of two double-acting engines, of the power of
50 horses each, with a pressure of steam of five pounds
to the superficial inch — the two engines, when acting
together, working with the power of 150 horses. They
drove twenty pairs of millstones, each four feet six inches
in diameter, twelve of which were usually worked to-
gether, each pair grinding ten bushels of wheat per hour,
by day and night if necessary. The two engines working
together were capable of grinding, dressing, &c., com-
plete, 150 bushels an hour — by far the greatest perform-
ance achieved by any mill at that time, and probably not
since surpassed, if equalled. But the engine power was
also applied to a diversity of other purposes, then alto-
gether novel — such as hoisting and lowering the corn
and flour, loading and unloading the barges, and in the
processes of fanning, sifting, and dressing — so that the
Albion Mills came to be regarded as among the greatest
mechanical wonders of the day. The details of these
various ingenious arrangements were entirely worked
out by Mr. Rennie himself, and they occupied him nearly
four years in all, having been commenced in 1784, and
set to work in 1788. Mr. Watt was so much satisfied
with the result of his employment of Rennie, that he
wrote to Dr. Robison, thanking him for his recommenda-
tion of his young friend, and speaking in the highest

138

THE ALBION MILLS.

PART VII.

terms of the ability with which he had designed and
executed the mill work and set the whole in operation.

*

THE ALBION MILLS.

Amongst those who visited- the new mills and carefully
inspected them was Mr. Smeaton, the engineer, who pro-
nounced them to be the most complete, in their arrange-
ment and execution, which had yet been erected in
any country ; and though naturally an undemonstrative
person, he cordially congratulated Mr. Eennie on his
success. The completion of the Albion Mills, indeed,
marked an important stage in the history of mechanical
improvements ; and they may be said to have effected
an entire revolution in millwork generally. Until then,
machinery had been constructed almost entirely of
wood, and it was consequently exceedingly clumsy, in-
volving great friction and much waste of power. Mr.
Smeaton had introduced an iron wheel at Carron in
1754, and afterwards in a mill at Belper, in Derbyshire
• — mere rough castings, imperfectly executed, and neither
chipped nor filed to any particular form ; and Mr. Mur-
dock (James Watt's ingenious assistant) had also em-
ployed cast iron work to a limited extent in a mill erected
by him in Ayrshire ; but these were very inferior speci-

CHAP. IV.

THE ALBION MILLS.

139

mens of iron work, and exercised no general influence
on mechanical improvement. Mr. Rennie's adoption of
wrought and cast iron wheels, after a system, was of
much greater importance, and was soon adopted generally
in all large machinery. The whole of the wheels and
shafts of the Albion Mills were of these materials, with the
exception of the cogs in some cases, which were of hard
wood, working into others of cast iron ; and where the
pinions were very small, they were of wrought iron. The
teeth, both wooden and iron, were accurately formed by
chipping and filing to the form of epicycloids. The
shafts and axles were of iron and the bearings of brass,
all accurately fitted and adjusted, so that the power em-
ployed worked to the greatest advantage and at the least
possible loss by friction. The machinery of the Albion
Mills, as a whole, was regarded as the finest that had
been executed to that date, forming a model for future
engineers to work by ; and although Mr. Eennie exe-
cuted many splendid specimens in his after career,1 he

1 Shortly after the completion of
these mills, Mr. Eennie was largely
consulted on the subject of machinery
of all kinds. The Corporations of
London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth,
and other places, took his advice as to
flour-mills. Agriculturists consulted
him about thrashing-mills, millers
about grinding-mills, and manufac-
turers and distillers respecting the
better arrangement of their works. He
supplied plans for a steel lead-rolling-
mill for Messrs. Locke and Co., at
Newcastle-on-Tyne ; he was called in
to remedy the defective boiler-arrange-
ments at Meux and Co.'s brewery;
he advised the Government as to the
power for working their small-arms
manufactory at Enfield, and the Navy
Board respecting the apparatus for
blowing the forge at Portsmouth. In
1792 he invented the depressing
sluice for water-mills, which a Go-
vernment engineer, a Mr. Lloyd, after-
wards brought out (in 1807) as his
own invention. The Don Navigation

Company's mills at Doncaster were
entirely rebuilt after his designs ; he
sent plans of large flour-mills to one
Don Diego at Lisbon, and of the ex-
tensive saw-mills erected at Arch-
angel in Russia. In July, 1798, he
was called upon to examine the ma-
chinery and arrangements at the
Royal Mint on Tower Hill. The re-
sult was, the construction of an entire
new mint, worked by steam-power,
with improved rolling, cutting-out,
and stamping machinery, after Mr.
Rennie's designs. The new machinery
was introduced between the years
1806 and 1810. Although it has
now been in use for half a century,
it continues in as efficient a work-
ing state as in the year it was
erected. It is still capable of turn-
ing out from the metal, in each
day of twelve hours, two and a half
tons of copper, and a ton each of
gold and silver coin. The whole
process, as carried out by this appa-
ratus, is extremely beautiful and effi-

140

THE ALBION MILLS.

PART VII.

himself was accustomed to say that the Albion Mill
machinery was the father of them all.

As a commercial enterprise, the mills promised to be
perfectly successful : they were kept constantly employed,
and were realising a handsome profit to their proprie-
tors, when unhappily they were destroyed by fire on the
3rd of March, 1791, only three years after their comple-
tion. Their erection had been viewed with great hostility
by the trade, and the projectors were grossly calumniated
on the ground that they were establishing a monopoly
injurious to the public, which was sufficiently disproved
by the fact that the mills were the means of considerably
reducing the price of flour while they continued in opera-
tion. The circumstances connected with the origin of
the fire were never cleared up, and it was generally be-
lieved at the time that it was the work of an incendiary.
During the night in which the buildings were destroyed,
Mr. Rennie, who lived near at hand, felt unaccountably
anxious. A presentiment as of some great calamity
hung over him, which he could not explain to himself
or to others. He went to bed at an early hour, but
could not sleep. Several times he went off in a doze,
and suddenly woke up, having dreamt that the mills
were on fire ! He rose, looked out, and all was quiet.
He went to bed again, and at last fell into a profound
sleep, from which he was roused by the cry of " Fire ! "
under his windows, and the rumble of the fire-engines
on their way to the mills ! He dressed hastily, rushed
out, and to his dismay found his chef-d'oeuvre wrapt in
flames, which brightened the midnight sky. The engi-

cient. The cutting-out and stamping-
machines were the invention of the
late Matthew Boulton, of Soho, but
the machinery was by Mr. Rennie.
On one occasion, in 1819, a million
of sovereigns were turned out in eight
days ! During the great silver coinage
in 1826, the eight presses turned out,
for nine months, not less than 247,696

pieces per day, the rolling going on
day and night, and the stamping for
fifteen hours out of every twenty-
four. Mr. Rennie also supplied the
machinery for the mints at Calcutta
and Bombay ; that erected at the
former place being capable of turning
out 200,000 pieces of silver in every
eight hours.

CHAP. IV. THE ALBION MILLS. 141

neer was amongst the foremost in his efforts to extin-
guish the conflagration ; but in vain. The fire had made
too great progress, and the Albion Mills, Eennie's pride,
were burnt completely to the ground, and never rebuilt.

The Albion Mills, however, established Mr. Rennie's
reputation as a mechanical engineer, and introduced him
to extensive employment. His practical knowledge of
masonry and carpentry also served to point him out
as a capable man in works of civil engineering, which
were in those days usually entrusted to men bred to
practical mechanics. There was not as yet any special
class trained to this latter profession, the number of
persons who followed it being very small ; and these
were usually determined to it by the strong instinct of
constructive genius. Hence the early engineers were
mainly self-educated — Smeaton, like Watt, being origin-
ally a mathematical instrument maker, Telford a stone-
mason, and Brindley and Rennie millwrights ; force of
character and bent of genius enabling each to carve out
his career in his own way. The profession of engineer-
ing being still in its infancy in England, there was very
little previous practice to serve for their guide, and they
were called upon in many cases to undertake works of
an entirely new character, in which, if they could not find
a road, they had to make one. This threw them upon
their own resources and compelled them to be inventive :
it practised their powers and disciplined their skill, and
in course of time the habitual encounter with difficulties
brought fully out their character as men as well as their
genius as engineers.

When the ruins of the Albion Mills had been cleared
away, Mr. Rennie obtained leave from the owners to
erect a workshop upon a part of the ground, wherein he
continued for the rest of his life to carry on the business
of a mechanical engineer. But from an early period the
civil, branch of the profession occupied a considerable
share of his attention, and eventually it became his

142 LOKD STANHOPE. PART VII.

principal pursuit ; though down to the year 1788 he was
chiefly occupied in designing and constructing machinery
for dye-works, water-works (at London Bridge amongst
others), flour-mills, and rolling-mills, in all of which
Boulton and Watt's engine was the motive power em-
ployed.

Among the friends whom Mr. Rennie's practical
abilities attracted about this time, was the eccentric
but ingenious Earl Stanhope, who frequently visited his
works to see what was going on that was new. His
Lordship was one of the busiest mechanical projectors of
his time, and England owes him a debt of gratitude for
his many valuable inventions, one of the most useful of
which was the printing-press which bears his name.
He also made important improvements in the process of
stereotype printing ; in the construction of locks and
canals ; and among his lighter efforts may be mentioned
the contrivance of an ingenious machine for performing
arithmetical operations. He especially delighted in the
society of clever mechanics, in whose art he took great
pleasure ; indeed, he was himself a first-rate workman,
and it was truly said of him by his father-in-law, the
Earl of Chatham, that " Charles Stanhope, as a carpenter,
a blacksmith, or millwright, could in any country or in
any times preserve his independence and bring up his
family in honest and industrious courses, without soliciting
the bounty of friends or the charity of strangers." Lord
Stanhope even insisted that his children should devote
themselves to acquire an industrious calling, as he him-
self had done, — believing that a time of public calamity
was approaching (arising from the extension of French
revolutionary principles to England), which would render
it necessary for them to depend for their livelihood upon
their own personal labour and skill. Indeed a serious
difficulty occurred between him and his wife on this very
point, which ended in a separation ; and the story went
abroad that the Earl was crazed.

CHAP. TV. CANAL UNDERTAKINGS. 143

The application of the power of the steam-engine to
the purposes of navigation was one of the subjects in
which Lord Stanhope took a more than ordinary interest.
As early as the year 1790 — before Fulton had applied
his mind to the subject — he was in communication with
Mr. Eennie as to the best mode of applying this novel
power, and in that year he took out his patent for the
propulsion of ships by steam ; but his plan, though
ingenious, was never carried into practical effect;1 On
the 26th of April, 1790, we find Mr. Eennie, in a letter
to the Earl, communicating the information which he
required as to the cost of applying Boulton and Watt's
improved steam-engine to his newly-invented method of
propelling ships without sails. His Lordship had also, it
appeared, taken objection to the space occupied by the
condensing apparatus, and wished to know whether it
could not be dispensed with, so that room might be econo-
mized. To this Mr. Eennie replied that it could, and
that high-pressure steam might be employed if necessary ;
also that the cylinders might be used inclined or ver-
tically, as best suited the space available for their ac-
commodation. His Lordship proceeded to perfect his
invention, and made a trial of its powers in Greenland
Dock with a flat-bottomed boat constructed for the pur-
pose ; but the vessel not moving with a velocity greater
than three miles an hour, the plan was eventually
abandoned.

Shortly after the retirement of Mr. Smeaton from
the profession, about the end of the year 1791, Mr.
Rennie was consulted respecting numerous important
canal undertakings projected in different parts of the
country ; amongst others were a proposed navigation to
connect Cambridge with Bury St. Edmunds — another
between Andover and Salisbury — and a third between
Reading and Bath, which was afterwards carried out by

1 He adopted paddles, placed under I made to open and shut like the feet
the quarters of the vessel, which were | of a duck.

144 RENNET AND AVON CANAL. PART VII.

him as the Kennet and Avon Canal. On this, his first
work of civil engineering in England, he bestowed great
pains, — on the survey, the designs for the viaducts and
bridges, as well as on the execution of the works them-
selves.

The Kennet and Avon Canal commences at Newbury,
at the head of the River Kennet Navigation, passes up
the vale of the Kennet for 16i miles, by Hungerford to
Crofton, where the summit level begins, which is reached
by 31 locks, rising in all 210 feet. It then proceeds by
Burnslade, Wootton Rivers, and the valley of the Pewsey,
to Devizes ; and from Devizes by Foxhanger, Seming-
ton, Bradford, and the vale of the Avon to Bath, joining
that river just above the Old Bath Bridge, where the
navigation from Bristol terminates. The total length of
the canal is 57 miles, the total descent on the west side
of the summit being 404 feet 6 inches, divided into
48 locks. The Kennet is crossed several times, — at
Hungerford by a brick aqueduct of three arches. At
the summit a tunnel 500 yards in extent was neces-
sary, approached by deep cuttings. The strata between
Wootton Rivers and Devizes being mostly open chalk
and sand, great difficulty was experienced in forming a
water-tight bed for the canal, as well as in preventing
slips of the adjacent ground. At that part of the line
which lies between the river Biss and Trowbridge, the
works were carried along the face of a steep slippery hill.
Then near Bradford the cutting is mostly through open
rock, and beyond that through beds of tough clay in-
terspersed with strata of fuller's earth. The water at
these points worked serious mischief, for after a heavy
fall of rain it would filter through the earth, and the
weight of the mass pressing down from above, tended
to force out the soft clay, causing extensive slips. On
one occasion not less than seven acres of land slid
into the canal, forcing the whole down into the river in
the valley below. To remedy this source of mischief,

CHAP. IV. RENNIE'S CANALS. 145

soughs or small tunnels were carried into the hillside for
a considerable distance, at a level much below that of the
canal. These again were crossed by other intercepting
drains, so that numerous distinct outlets were provided
for the water to prevent its reaching the canal works,
which were thus made to stand after great difficulties
had been overcome and much expense incurred. Besides
these works, there were the usual bridges, aqueducts,
culverts, &c., all of which were executed in a substantial
and satisfactory manner. Among the finest architectural
structures forming part of the canal is the aqueduct
over the river Avon, about a mile from Limpley Stoke
and six miles from Bath, which is greatly admired for
the beauty of its elevation ; and indeed, wherever there
is an aqueduct or a bridge upon the line of this canal, it
will be found excellent in workmanship and tasteful in
design. As a whole, the navigation was pronounced to
be one of the best executed in the kingdom ; and the
works have stood admirably down to the present time.
In a commercial and national point of view the under-
taking was of great importance, connecting as it did the
navigation of the metropolis with that of Bristol and St.
George's Channel, as well as opening up an extensive
intermediate district ; and it eventually proved highly
remunerative to the proprietors.

Another important line of navigation, on which
Mr. Eennie was shortly after engaged, was the Eochdale
Canal, projected for the purpose of opening up a direct
water communication between the manufacturing dis-
tricts of West Yorkshire and South Lancashire, to avoid
the circuitous route of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
The main line extended from the Duke of Bridge water's
Canal at Manchester, by Eochdale and Todmorden, to
the river Calder at Sowerby Bridge, a distance of 31|
miles, with a branch to join the Leeds and Liverpool
Canal at Wanless, and other branches to Bury and
Bolton. From the rugged nature of the country over

VOL. II. L

146

ROCHDALE CANAL.

TART VII.

which the canal had to be carried — having to be lifted
from lock to lock over the great mountain-ridge known
as " the backbone of England "- —few works have had
greater physical obstacles to encounter than this be-
tween Rochdale and Todmorden. A little before the

LOCKS ON THE ROCHDALE CANAL.
[By Pcrcival Skelton, after his original Drawing ]

traveller by railway enters the tunnel near Littleborough,
on his way between Manchester and Leeds, he can
discern the canal mounting up the rocky sides of the
hills until it is lost in the distance ; and as he emerges
from the tunnel at its other end, it is again observed
descending from the hill-tops by a flight of locks down
to the level of the railway. In crossing the range at
one place, a stupendous cutting, fifty feet deep, had to
be blasted through hard rock. In other places, where it
climbs along the face of the hill, it is overhung by
precipices. On the Yorkshire side, at Todmorden, the
valley grows narrower and narrower, overhung by steep,
often almost perpendicular, rocks of millstone-grit, with

CHAP. IV. ROCHDALE CANAL. 147

room, in many parts, for only the water-way, the turn-
pike road, and the little river Calder in the bottom of
the ravine. At some points, where space allowed, there
were mills and manufacturing establishments jealous of
their water-supply, which the engineer of the line had
carefully to avoid. It was also necessary to provide
against the canal being swept away by the winter's
floods of the Oalder, which rushed down with immense
violence from Blackstone Edge. Large reservoirs had to
be carefully contrived to store up water against summer
droughts for the purposes of the navigation, as well as
to compensate the numerous mills along the valley
below. One of these, fourteen feet deep, was dug in a
bog on Blackstone Edge, and others, of large dimen-
sions, were formed at various points along the hill-route.
But as these expedients were of themselves insufficient,
powerful steam-engines were also erected to pump
back the lockage water into the canal above, as well
as into side-ponds near the locks to serve for reser-
voirs, and thus economize the supply to the greatest
extent. No more formidable difficulties, indeed, were
encountered by George Stephenson, in constructing
the railway passing by tunnel under the same range
of hills, than were overcome by Mr. Rennie in carry-
ing out the works of this great canal undertaking.
The skill and judgment with which he planned them
reflected the greatest credit on their designer ; and
whoever examines the works at this day — even after
all that has been accomplished in canal and railway
engineering — will admit that the mark of a master's
hand is unmistakably stamped upon them. The navi-
gation was completed and opened on the 21st of Decem-
ber, 1804; and we need scarcely add that it proved of
immense service to the trade of Yorkshire and Lanca-
shire,— bringing important manufacturing districts into
easy and economical connection with each other,
enabling cheap fuel to be brought to the doors of the

L 2

148

LANCASTER CANAL.

PART VII.

population of the valleys along which it passed, placing
them in direct communication with the markets of Man-
chester and Liverpool, and, through the latter port,
opening up a water road to the world at large.

LUNfi AQUEDUCT, NEAR LANCASTER.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing

The Lancaster Canal was another enterprise con-
ducted by Mr. Eennie in the same neighbourhood. A
navigable communication between the coal-fields near
Wigan and the lime districts about Lancaster, Burton,
and Kendal, connecting these towns also with the in-
tervening country as well as with Liverpool, Man-
chester, and the towns of South Lancashire, had long
been regarded as an object of importance. A survey
had been made by Mr. Brindley as early as 1772,
but nothing further was done until some twenty years
later, when a company was formed, with Mr. Eennie as
engineer. The line surveyed by him commences near
Wigan, and proceeds northward by Chorley, Preston, and
Garstang, to Lancaster, where, skirting the east side of
the town, and crossing the Lune by a noble aqueduct, it
then passes by Haughbridge to its northern terminus at

CHAP. IV.

RENNIE'S CANALS.

149

Kendal ; the total length of the main line being 75 f miles,
and the branches two miles more. The aqueduct over the
Lune is the principal architectural work on the canal, con-
sisting of five semicircular arches of 75 feet span each ;
the soffits being 50 feet, and the surface of the canal
62 feet above the average level of the river. The
total length of the aqueduct — which forms a prominent
feature in the landscape — is 600 feet. The whole is
built of hard sandstone, the masonry being in imitation
of rockwork, the top surmounted by a handsome Doric
cornice and balustrade. It exhibits, in fine combina-
tion, the important qualities of strength, durability, and
elegance in design ; and even at this day it will bear
a favourable comparison with the best works of its kind
in the kingdom.

Mr. Bennie continued throughout his life to be
extensively consulted as a canal engineer.1 Though
navigations were then mostly valued for purposes of
internal communication, he seems early to have appre-
ciated the uses of the railway, if not as a substitute for
them, at least as an adjunct. Thus, when laying out a
new branch of the Grand Trunk Canal at Henley, in
the Potteries, he recommended the addition of a short
descending railway, connecting the navigation directly

1 The following canal works of Mr.
Ronnie may be mentioned : — The
Aberdeen and Inverarie, 12 miles
long, laid out and constructed by him
in 1796-7 ; the Calder Reservoirs and
improvement of the Trent and Mersey
Canal at Rudyard Valley, near Leek,
1797-8 ; a branch of the Grand Trunk
Canal to Henley, with a railway con-
necting it with the manufactories.
He also made elaborate reports on the
Leominster Canal (1798) ; on the
Chelmer and Black water Navigation ;
Somersetshire and Dorsetshire Canal ;
Homcastle Navigation; River Foss
Navigation; Polbrook Canal (1799);
Rotherhithe and Croydon; Thames
and Medway (1800) ; and River Lea
Navigation (1 804) . Among the works

surveyed by him, but which were not
carried out, were these : a canal through
the Weald of Kent (1802-3) ; a ship-
canal between the Thames and Ports-
mouth (1803) ; a ship-canal between
the Medway and Portsmouth (1810) ;
a ship-canal from Chichester Harbour
to Chichester (1804); and a ship-
canal from Bristol to the English
Channel (1811). He was also em-
ployed by the Gloucester and Berkeley
Canal Company, the Birmingham
Canal Company, and the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal Company, as their
consulting engineer ; and various im-
portant improvements in these navi-
gations were earned out by his advice
and under his superintendence.

150 CANALS IN IRELAND. PART VII.

with the manufactories at Burslem. Referring to this
method of communication, he observes that the railroad
" would form a quick and cheap mode of carrying goods.
Indeed," he adds, " I do not know a cheaper or better,
and, in my opinion, it might be substituted with great
advantage for the branch canal in question. I have
therefore to submit whether, as a matter worthy of the
consideration of the proprietors, this branch might not
be saved, and a railroad substituted in its place." This
report was written, be it observed, early in 1797, long
before railroads had been introduced ; and the suggestion
affords striking evidence of Mr. Rennie's sagacity in
so early detecting and appreciating the advantages of
this new means of communication.

In 1802 Mr. Rennie was requested to examine the
works of the Royal Canal of Ireland. The origin of
this project was curious. The Grand Canal had already
been formed to connect the navigation of the Liifey
with that of the Shannon near Banagher; and though
enormous blunders had marred its construction, and its
cost had consequently been excessive, the traffic upon it-
was so great as nevertheless to render it exceedingly
profitable to its proprietors. The managing committee
consisted for the most part of persons of high rank, but
amongst them was a retired shoemaker, who had invested
a very large sum in the undertaking and made himself
exceedingly busy in its concerns. Offence seems to have
been taken at this person, and his meddling in various
matters without authority caused a rupture between him
and the other members of the committee. They thwarted
him at every turn, outvoted him, snubbed him, and " sent
him to Coventry." Yowing revenge, the shoemaker
threw up his seat at the board, and, on parting with his
colleagues, said to them, " You may think me a very
insignificant person, but I will soon show you the con-
trary. I will sell out forthwith, start a rival canal, and
carry all the traffic." The threat was, of course, treated

CHAP. IV. ROYAL CANAL OF IRELAND. 151

with contempt, and the shoemaker was laughed out of
the board-room. But the indignant man set to work
with energy, got up a company, laid down a line of
navigation from Dublin to the Shannon near Longford,
passing by Mullingar, secured the support of the landed
proprietors through whose property the line passed,
and succeeded in obtaining an Act of Parliament autho-
rizing the construction of the Eoyal Canal of Ireland, in
an unusually short space of time. The works were com-
menced with great eclat, but, before they had proceeded
far, it was found that the levels were entirely wrong,
and there were numerous difficulties to be overcome for
which no provision had been made. Then it was that
Mr. Rennie was called in, and found the whole concern
in confusion ; the works at a standstill in many places,
in bogs, in cuttings, in embankments, and in limestone
rocks, and the proprietors involved in almost endless
claims for compensation. He found it necessary to
resurvey the whole line and to alter the plans in
many essential respects ; after which the works pro-
ceeded. It proved to be a work of an extraordinary
character as regarded the difficulties, mostly unneces-
sary, which had been encountered in its construction ;
but as respected the beneficial results to the pro-
prietors, it proved an almost total failure. The shoe-
maker, no doubt, had his revenge upon his former asso-
ciates, inflicting great injury upon the Grand Canal by
the diversion of much of its traffic ; but he accomplished
this at a terrible sacrifice to many, and at the almost
total loss of his own fortune.

152 RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF' PART VII

CHAPTEK V.

MR. KENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF THE LINCOLN AND CAMBRIDGE FENS.

NOTWITHSTANDING all that had been done for the
drainage of the Fens, as described in the early part of
this work, large districts of reclaimable lands in Lincoln
still lay waste and unprofitable. As early as 1789
Mr. Rennie's attention was drawn to the drowned
state of the rich low-lying lands to the south of Ely ;
and having become impressed with a conviction of the
extensive uses to which his friend Watt's steam-engine
might be applied, he recommended it for pumping the
water from the Botteshaw and Soham Fens, which con-
tained about five thousand acres of what was commonly
called " rotten land," because of the rot which infected
the sheep depastured upon it. But he found the preju-
dices in favour of drainage by the old method of wind-
mills, imported from Holland, too strong to be uprooted ;
and it was not until many years after, that his recom-
mendation was adopted and the steam-engine was
applied to pump the water from low-lying swamps
which could not otherwise be cleared. The results were
so successful that the same agency became generally
employed for the purpose, not only in England but in
Holland itself, where the forty-five thousand acres of
Haarlemer Meer have since been effectually drained by
the application of the steam-engine.

One of the most important works of thorough drainage
carried out by Mr. Rennie was in that extensive district
of South Lincolnshire which extends along the south
verge of the Wolds, from near the city of Lincoln east-
ward to the sea. It included Wildmore Fen, West Fen,

CHAP. V. THE LINCOLN FENS. 153

and East Fen, and comprised about seventy-five thou-
sand acres of land which lay under water for the greater
part of every year, and was thus comparatively useless
either for grazing or tillage. The only crop grown
there was tall reeds, which were used as thatch for
houses and barns, and even for churches. The river
Wrtham, which flows by Lincoln, had been grievously
neglected and allowed to become silted up, its bottom
being in many places considerably above the level of
the land on either side. Hence, bursting of the banks
frequently occurred during floods, causing extensive
inundation of the lower levels, only a small pro-
portion of the flood-waters being able to force their
way to the sea. The wretched state of these lands may
be inferred from the fact that, about seventy years since,
a thousand acres in Blankney Fen, constituting part of
" the Dales " —now one of the most fertile parts of the
district between Lincoln and Tattershall — were let annu-
ally by public auction at Harecastle, and the reserved
bid was only 10 1. for the entire area ! l It is stated that,
about the middle of last century, there were not two
houses in the whole parish of Dogdyke communicable
with each other for whole winters round except by boat ;
this being also the only means by which the Fen-slodgers
could get to church. Hall, the Fen Poet, speaks of
South Kyme, where he was born, as a district in which,
during the winter season, nothing was to be seen—

" But naked flood for miles and miles."

The entire breadth of Lincolnshire north of Boston often
lay under water for months together :—

" 'Twixt Frith bank and the wold side bound,
I question one dry inch of ground.
From Lincoln all the way to Bourne,
Had all the tops of banks been one,
I really think they all would not
Have made a twenty acre spot."

1 'Journal of Royal Agricultural Society,' 1847, vol. viii., p. 124.

154 RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF PART VII.

Until as recent a date as forty years back, the rich and
fertile district of Waldersea, about eight thousand acres
in extent, was, as its name imports, a sea in winter.
Well might Roger Wildrake describe his paternal estate
of " Squattlesea Mere " as being in the " moist county of
Lincoln ! "

Arthur Young visited this district in 1793, and found
the freeholders of the high lands adjoining Wildmore
and West Fens depasturing their sheep on the drier
parts during the summer months ; but large numbers of
them were dying of the rot. " Nor is this," he adds,
"the only evil, for the number stolen is incredible.
They are taken off by whole flocks, as so wild a country
(whole acres being covered with thistles and nettles four
feet high and more) nurses up a race of people as wild
as the fen." The few wretched inhabitants who con-
trived to live in the neighbourhood for the most part
sheltered themselves in huts of rushes or lived in boats.
They were constantly liable to be driven out of their
cabins by the waters in winter, if they contrived to
survive the attacks of the ague to which they were
perennially subject.

The East Fen was the worst of all. It was formerly
a most desolate region, though it now presents probably
the richest grazing land in the kingdom. Being on a
lower level than the West and Wildmore Fens, and the
natural course of the waters to the sea being through it
to Wainfleet Haven, it was in a much more drowned
state than those to the westward. About two thousand
acres were constantly under water, summer and winter.
One portion of it was called Mossberry or Cranberry
Fen, from the immense quantities of cranberries upon
it. A great part of the remainder of the East Fen
consisted of shaking bog, so treacherous and so deep in
many places that only a desperate huntsman would ven-
ture to follow the fox when he took to it, and then he
must needs be well acquainted with the ground.

CHAP. V.

THE LINCOLN FENS.

155

THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE FENNS MARKED THUS
ALL OTHER LINES ARE THE DRAYMES MADE 8V SIR A™1 THOMAS
THE BRIDGES OF BRICK HAVING DORES AND iiLUICtS
THt BRIDGES OF BRICK HflVINC NO DOPES MARKED
THE CART BRIDGES OF WOOD MARKED n

THE HORSE BRIDGES OF WOOD MARKER =

THE MAINE

Called the Dutch Se

THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS. [Before their Drainage by Mr. Rennie.]

Matters were in this state when Sir Joseph Banks,
then President of the Royal Society, endeavoured to
stir up the landowners to undertake the drainage of
the district. He was the proprietor of a good estate at
Revesby, near Tattershall ; and his mansion of Abbot's
Lodge, standing on an elevated spot, overlooked the
waste of the East and West Fens, of which it com-
manded an extensive view. Sir Joseph spent a portion of
every year at Revesby, as he did at his other mansions,
leaving each at special times appointed beforehand,
almost with the regularity of clockwork. He was a
popular and well-known man, jolly and good-humoured,
full of public spirit, and, though a philosopher, not
above taking part in the sports and festivities of the
neighbourhood in which he resided. While Sir Joseph
lived at Revesby he used to keep almost open house,

156 RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF PART VII.

and a constant succession of visitors came and went,—
some on pleasure, some on friendship, and some on
business. The profuse hospitality of the place was en-
joyed not less by the postillions and grooms who drove
thither the baronet's guests than by the visitors them-
selves ; and it was esteemed by the hotel postboys a great
privilege to drive a customer to Eevesby. On one occa-
sion, when Mr. Rennie went to dine and sleep at the
Lodge, he took an opportunity of saying to the prin-
cipal butler that he hoped he would see to his postboy
being kept sober, as he wished to leave before breakfast
on the following morning. The butler replied, with
great gravity, that he was sorry he could not oblige
Mr. Rennie, as the same man had left Revesby sober
the last time he was there, but only on condition that he
might be allowed to get drunk the next time he came.
" Therefore," said the butler, " for the honour of the
house, I must keep my word ; but I will take care that
you are not delayed for the want of horses and a
postboy." The butler was as good as his word : the
man got drunk, the honour of Revesby was saved, and
Mr. Rennie was enabled to set off in due time next
morning.

From an early period Sir Joseph Banks entertained
the design of carrying out the drainage of the extensive
fen lands lying spread out beneath his hall window,
and making them, if possible, a source of profit to the
owners, as well as of greater comfort and better sub-
sistence for the population. Indeed, the reclamation of
these unhealthy wastes became quite a hobby with him ;
and when he could lay hold of any agricultural im-
prover, he would not let him go until he had dragged him
through the Fens, exhibited what they were, and demon-
strated what fertile lands they might be made. When
Arthur Young visited Revesby about 1799, Sir Joseph
immediately started his favourite topic. " He had the
goodness," says Young, in his Report on Lincolnshire,

CHAP. V. THE LINCOLN FENS. 157

"to order a boat, and accompanied me into the heart
of East Fen, which had the appearance of a chain of
lakes, bordered by great crops of reed." Sir Joseph
was a man of great public spirit and determination : he
did not allow the matter to sleep, but proceeded to
organize the ways and means of carrying his design
into effect. His county neighbours were very slow to
act, but they gradually became infected by his example,
and his irresistible energy carried them along with him.
The first step taken was to call meetings of the pro-
prietors in the several districts adjoining the drowned
and " rotten lands." Those of Wildmore Fen met at
Horncastle on the 27th of August, 1799, and resolu-
tions were adopted authorizing the employment of Mr.
Rennie to investigate the subject and report to a future
meeting.

One reason, amongst others, which weighed with Sir
Joseph Banks in pressing on the measure was the
scarcity of corn, which about that time had risen almost
to a famine price. There was also great difficulty in
obtaining supplies from abroad, in consequence of the
war which was then raging. Sir Joseph entertained
the patriotic opinion that the best way of providing for
the exigency was to extend the area of our English food-
ground by the reclamation of the waste lands ; and hence
his determination to place under tillage, if possible, the
thousands of acres of rich soil, equal to the area of some
English counties, lying under water almost at his own
door. A few years' zealous efforts, aided by the skill
of his engineer, produced . such results as amply to
justify his anticipations, and proved his patriotism to
be as wise as his public spirit was beneficent.

The manner in which Mr. Rennie proceeded to work
out the problem presented to him was thoroughly cha-
racteristic of the man. Most of the drainage attempted
before his time was of a very partial and inefficient
character. It was enough if the drainers got rid of the

158 RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF TART VII.

surplus water anyhow, either by turning it into the
nearest river, or sending it in upon a neighbour. What
was done in one season was very often undone, or
undid itself, in the next. The ordinary drainer did not
care to look beyond the land immediately under his own
eyes. Mr. Rennie's practice, on the contrary, was founded
on a large and comprehensive view of the whole sub-
ject. He was not bounded by the range of his phy-
sical vision, but took into account the whole contour of
the country ; the rainfall of the districts through which
his drains were to run, as well as of the central
counties of England, whose waters flowed down upon
the Fens ; the requirements of the lands themselves as
regarded irrigation and navigation ; and the most effec-
tual method not only of removing the waters from
particular parts, but of providing for their effectual
discharge by proper outfalls into the sea.

What was the problem now to be solved by our
engineer ? It was how best to carry out to sea the
surplus waters of a district extending from the eastern
coast to almost the centre of England. Various streams
descending from the Lincolnshire wolds flowed through
the level, whilst the Witham brought down the rainfall
not only of the districts to the north and east of Lin-
coln, but of a large part of the central counties of
Rutland and Leicester. It was therefore necessary to
provide for the clear passage of these waters, and also to
get rid of the drainage of the Fens themselves, a con-
siderable extent of which lay beneath the level of the
sea at high water. It early occurred to Mr. Rennie
that, as the waters of the interior for the most part came
from a higher level, their discharge might be provided
for by means of distinct drains, and prevented from at
all mingling with those of the lower lying lands. But
would it be possible to " catch " these high land waters
before their descent upon the Fens, and then to carry
them out to sea by means of independent channels ?

CHAP. V. THE LINCOLN FENS. 159

He thought it would ; and with this leading idea in his
mind he proceeded to design his plan of a great " catch-
water drain," extending along the southern edge of the
Lincolnshire wolds.

But there were also the waters of the Fens themselves
to be got rid of, and how was this to be accomplished ?
To ascertain the actual levels of the drowned land, and
the depth to which it would be necessary to carry the
outfall of his drains into the sea, he made two surveys
of the district, the first in October, 1799, and the second
in March, 1800, — thus observing the actual condition of
the lands both before and after the winter's rains. At
the same time he took levels down to the sea outfalls of the
existing drains and rivers. He observed that the Wash,
into which the Fen waters ran, was shallow and full of
shifting sands and silt. He saw that during winter the
rivers were loaded with alluvial matter held in suspen-
sion, and that at a certain distance from their mouths
the force of the inland fresh and the tidal sea waters
neutralized each other, and there a sort of stagnant
point was formed, at which the alluvium was no longer
held in suspension by the force of the current. Hence
it became precipitated in the channels of the rivers,
and formed banks or bars in the Wash outside their
mouths, which proved alike obstructive to drainage and
navigation.

It required but little examination to detect the utter
inadequacy of the existing outfalls to admit of the dis-
charge of the surplus waters of so extensive a district.
The few sluices which had been provided had been badly
designed and imperfectly constructed. The levels of
the outfalls were too high, and the gowts and sluices
too narrow, to accommodate the drainage in flood-times.
These outfalls were also liable, in dry summers, to
become choked up by the silt settling in the Washes ; and
when a heavy rain fell, down came the waters from the
high lands of the interior, and, unable to find an outlet,

160 RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF PART VII.

they burst the defensive banks of the rivers, and an
amount of mischief was thus done which the drainage of
all the succeeding summer failed to repair. Accordingly,
the next essential part of Mr. Eennie's scheme was the
provision of more effectual outfalls ; with which object he
designed that they should be cut down to the lowest
possible level of low water, whilst he arranged that at
the points of outlet they should be mounted with strong
sluices, opening outwards ; so that, whilst the fresh waters
should be allowed freely to escape, the sea should be
valved back and prevented flowing in upon the land.
The third and last point was to provide for the drainage
of the Fen districts themselves by means of proper cuts
and conduits for the voidance of the Fen waters.

Such were the general conclusions formed by Mr.
Eennie after a careful consideration of the circumstances
of the case, which he embodied in his report to the
Wildmore Fen proprietors * as the result of his investi-
gations. The two great features of his plan, it will be
observed, were (1) his intercepting or catch water drains,
and (2) his cutting down the outfalls to lower levels
than had ever before been proposed. Simple though his
system appears, now that its efficacy has been so amply
proved by experience, it was regarded at the time as
a valuable discovery in the practice of fen-draining,
and indeed it was nothing less. There were, however,
plenty of detractors, who alleged that it was nothing of
the kind. Any boy, they said, who has played at dirt
pies in a gutter, knows that if you make an opening
sufficiently low to let the whole contained water escape,
it will flow away. Yery true ; yet the thing had never
been done until Mr. Rennie proposed it, and, simple
though the method was, it cost him many years of
arguing, illustration, and enforcement, before he could
induce intelligent men in other districts to adopt the

1 Report, dated the 7th of April, 1800,

CHAP. V. THE LINCOLN FENS. 161

simple but thoroughly scientific method which he thus
invented for the effectual discharge of the drainage of
the Fens. And even to this day there are whole dis-
tricts in which the stubborn obstinacy of ignorant
obstructives still continues to stand in the way of its
introduction. The Wildinore Fen proprietors, however,
had the advantage of being led by a sagacious, clear-
seeing man in Sir Joseph Banks, who cordially supported
the adoption of the proposed plan with all the weight of
his influence, and Mr. Rennie was eventually empowered
to carry it into execution.

In laying out the works, he divided them accord-
ing to their levels, placing Wildinore and West Fen in
one plan, and East Fen in another. In the drainage
of the former, the outlet was made by Anton's Gowt,
about two miles and a half above Boston, and by
Maud Foster, a little below that town. But both of
these, being found too narrow and shallow, were con-
siderably enlarged and deepened, and provided with
double sluices and lifting gates : one set pointing towards
the Witham in order to keep out the tides and river-
floods ; the other to the land, in order to prevent the
water in summer from draining too low, and thereby
hindering navigation as well as the due irrigation of the
lands. An extensive main drain was also cut through
the Wildinore and West Fens to the river Witham,
about twenty-one miles long and from eighteen to
thirty feet wide, the bottom being an inclined plane
falling six inches in the mile.

The level of the East Fen being considerably lower
than that of the Fens to the westward, it was neces-
sary to provide for its separate drainage, but on precisely
the same principles. From the levels which were taken,
it appeared that the bottom of "the Deeps," which
formed part of the East Fen, was only two feet six
inches above the cill of Maud Foster Sluice, thirteen
miles distant ; whereas its highest parts were but eight

VOL. II. M

162 RENNIK'S DRAINAGE OF PART VII.

feet above the same point, giving a fall of only an inch
and eight tenths per mile at low water of neap tides.
From some of the more distant parts of the same Fen,
sixteen miles from the outfall, there would only have
been a fall of five tenths of an inch per mile at low
water. It was clear, therefore, that even the higher
levels of the East Fen could not be effectually drained
by the outfall at Anton's Gowt or Maud Foster ; and
hence arose the necessity for cutting an entirely separate
main drain, with an outfall at a point in the Wash out-
side the mouth of the river Witham.1 This east main cut,
called the Hobhole Drain, is about eighteen miles long
and forty feet wide, diminishing in breadth according to
its distance from the outfall ; the bottom being an inclined
plane falling four inches in the mile towards the sluice at
Hobhole in the Wash. This drain is an immense work,
defended by broad and lofty embankments extending
inland from its mouth, to prevent the contained waters
flooding the surrounding lands. It is protected at its sea
outlet by a strong sluice, consisting of three openings of
fifteen feet each. When the tide rises, the gates, acting
like a valve, are forced back and hermetically closed ;
and when it falls, the drainage waters, which have in
the mean time accumulated, force open the gates again,
and the waters flow away down to the level of low
water. A connection was also formed between the main
drains emptying themselves at Maud Foster (three miles
higher up the Witham) and the Hobhole Drain, the
flow being regulated by a gauge ; so that, during heavy
floods, not only the low land waters of the East Fen
districts were effectually discharged at Hobhole, but also
a considerable portion of the drainage of the West and
Wildmore Fens.

An essential part of the scheme was the cutting of the
catch water drains, which were carried quite round the

1 See the Map, in Vol. I., of the " Fens as Drained in 1830 ;" p. 51.

CHAP. Y.

THE LINCOLN FENS.

163

base of the high lands skirting the Fens; beginning
with a six feet bottom, and widening out towards their
embouchures to sixteen feet. The principal work of this
kind commenced near Stickney, and was carried east-
ward towards Wainfleet, to near the Steepings river. It
was connected at Oowbridge with the main Hobhole
Drain, into which the high land waters brought down
by the catchwater drain were thus carried, without
having been allowed, until reaching that point, to mix
with the Fen drainage at all. It would be tedious to
describe the works more in detail ; and perhaps the out-
line we have given, aided by the maps of the district,
will enable the reader to understand the leading features
of Mr. Rennie's comprehensive design. The works were
necessarily of a very formidable character, the extent of
the main and arterial drains cut during the seven or
eight years they were under execution being upwards
of a hundred miles. They often dragged for want of
funds, arid encountered considerable opposition in their
progress ; though the wisdom of the project was in all
respects amply justified by the result.1

The drainage of Wildmore and West Fens was first
finished, when forty thousand acres of valuable land
were completely reclaimed, and in a few years yielded

1 The following letter, written by
a Lincolnshire gentleman, in January,
1807, appears in the ' Farmer's Maga-
zine ' of February in that year : —
" Our fine drainage works begin now
to show themselves, and in the end
will do great credit to Mr. llennie,
the engineer, as being the most com-
plete drainage that ever was made in
Lincolnshire, and perhaps in England.
1 have been a commissioner in many
drainages, but the proprietors never
would suffer us to raise money suffi-
cient to dig deep enough through the
old enclosures into the sea before;
and, notwithstanding the excellency
of Mr. Rennie's plan, we have a party
of uninformed people, headed by a

little parson and magistrate, who keep
publishing letters in the newspapers
to stop the work, and have actually
petitioned Sir Joseph Banks, the lord
of the manor, against it ; but he an-
swered them with a refusal, in a most
excellent way. ... I think Mr. Hen-
nie's great work will promote another
general improvement here, which is,
to deepen and enlarge the river
Witham from the sea, through Boston
and Lincoln, to the Trent, so as to
admit of a communication for large
vessels, as well as laying the water so
much below the surface of the land
as to do away with the engines. We
have got an estimate, and find the
cost may be about 100,000?."

M 2

164 JENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF TART VIT.

heavy crops of grain. East Fen was attacked the last,
the difficulties presented by its formidable chain of lakes
being much the greatest ; but the prize also was by far
the richest. When the East Fen waters were drained
off, the loose black mud settled down into fertile soil.
Boats, fish, and wildfowl disappeared, and the plough
took their place. After being pared and burnt, the
land in the East Fen yielded two and even three crops
of oats in succession, of not less than ten quarters to
the acre. The cost of executing the drainage had no
doubt been very great, amounting to about 580,000/.
in all, inclusive of expenditure on roads, &c. ; against
which had to be set the value of the lands reclaimed.
In 1814 Mr. Anthony Brown, surveyor and valuer, esti-
mated their improved rental at 11 0,5 61 /. ; and allowing
five per cent, on the capital expended on the works, we
thus find the increased net value of the drained lands to
be not less than 81,000/. per annum, which, at thirty
years' purchase, gives a total increased value of nearly
two millions and a half sterling ! l

It was a matter of great regret to Mr. Rennie that his
design was not carried out as respected the improved
outfall of the Witham. It was an important part of his
original plan that a new and direct channel should be
cut for this river from Boston down to deep water at
Clayhole, where the tide ebbed out to the main sea
level, and there was little probability of the depth being

1 Mr. Brown's estimate was as follows : —

Land reclaimed in the East Fen . . 12,664 acres worth 40s. per ann. £25,328

„ „ West Fen .. 17,044 „ 50s. „ 42,610

Wildmore .. 10,773 „ 42s. „ 22,623

Adjoining low lands improved . . 20,000 „ 20s. „ 20,000

Total acreage of improved and Annual value £110,561

drained lands 60,48 L

Less capital expended on drainage . . . £433,905

roads, &c... 146,800

£580,705 at 5 per cent 29,035

£81,526
Which at 30 years' purchase gives £2,445,780.

CHAP. V.

THE LINCOLN FENS.

165

materially interfered with by silting for many years to
come. This new channel would have enabled all the
waters — low land as well as high land — to be discharged
into the sea with the greatest ease and certainty. It
would also have completely restored the navigation of
the river, which had become almost entirely lost through
the silting up of its old winding channel. But the
Witham was under the jurisdiction of the corporation of
Boston, who were staggered by the estimated cost of
executing the proposed works, though it amounted to
only 50,000/. Accordingly, nothing was done to carry
out this part of the design, and the channel continued to
get gradually worse, until at length it was scarcely
possible even for small coasters to reach Boston Quay.
As late as the year 1826 the water was so low that little
boys were accustomed to amuse themselves by wading
across the river below the town even at high water of
neap tides. The corporation were at last compelled to
bestir themselves to remedy this deplorable state of
aifairs, and they called in Sir John Eennie to advise
them in their emergency. The result was, that as much
of the original plan of 18001 was carried out as the
state of their funds would permit : the lower part of the
channel was straightened, and the result was precisely

1 In his admirable Eeport, dated
the 6th October, 1800, Mr. llennie
pointed out that the lines of direction
in which the rivers Welland and
Witliiim entered the Wash tended to
the silting-up of the channels of
both, and he suggested that the two
river outlets should be united in one,
and diverted into the centre of the
Wash, at Clayhole, which would at
the same time greatly increase the
depth, and enable a large area of
valuable land to be reclaimed for
agricultural purposes. This sugges-
tion has since been elaborated by Sir
John Rennie, whose plan of 1837,
when fully carried out, will have the
effect of greatly improving the outfalls
of all the rivers entering the Great

Wash — the Ouse, the Nene, the Wel-
land, and the Witham — and the
drainage of the low level lands de-
pending upon them, comprising above
a million of acres, and ultimately
gaining from the Wash between
150,000 and 200,000 acres of rich
new land, or equal to the area of a
good-sized county. In the Wash of
the Nene, called Sutton Wash, 4000
acres have already been reclaimed
after this plan — the land, formerly
washed by the sea at every tide,
being now covered with rich corn-
fields and comfortable farmsteads. It
was at this point that King John's
army was nearly destroyed when
crossing the sands before the ad-
vancing tide.

160

RENNIE'S DRAINAGE OF

PART VII.

that which the engineer had more than thirty years
before anticipated. The tide returned to the town, the
shoals were removed, and vessels drawing from twelve
to fourteen feet water could again come up to Boston
Quays at spring tides.

Mr. Rennie was equally successful in carrying out
drainage works in other parts of the Fens, and on the
same simple but comprehensive principles.1 He thus
drained the low lands of Great Steeping, Thorpe, Wain-
fleet, All Saints, Forsby, and the districts thereabout,
converting the Steepings river into a catchwater drain,
and effectually reclaiming a large acreage of highly
valuable land. He was also consulted as to the better
drainage of the North Level, the Middle Level, South
Holland, and the Great Bedford Level ; and his valuable
reports on these subjects, though not carried out at the
time, for want of the requisite means, or of public spirit
on the part of the landowners, laid the foundations of
a course of improvement which has gone on until the
present day. It is much to be regretted that his grand
plan of 1810 for the drainage of the Great Level, by
means of more effectual outfalls and a system of in-
tercepting catchwater drains, was not carried out; for
there is every reason to believe that it would have proved
as completely successful as his drainage of the Fens of
Lincolnshire. But the only part of this scheme that was
executed in his time was the Eau Brink Cut, for the
purpose of securing a more effectual outfall of the river
into the Wash near King's Lynn.

The necessity for this work will be more clearly under-

1 Among other important works of
the same kind executed by Mr. Kcn-
nie, but which it would be tedious to
describe in detail, was the reclama-
tion (in 1807) of 23,000 acres of
fertile land in the district of Holder-
ness, near Hull. He was extensively
employed to embank lands exposed
to the sea, and succeeded (in 1812)
in effectually protecting the thirty

miles of coast extending from Wain-
fleet to Boston, and thence to the
mouths of the rivers Welland and
Glen. Two years later (in 1814) he,
in like manner, furnished a plan,
which was carried out, for protecting
the Earl of Lonsdale's valuable marsh
land on the south shore of the Solway
Frith.

CHAP. V.

THE CAMBRIDGE FENS.

167

stood when we explain the circumstances under which
its construction was recommended. It will be observed
from the map of the Fen district (vol. i., p. 51), that the
river Ouse flows into the shallows of the Wash near the
town of King's Lynn, charged with the waters of the
Great Bedford Level as well as those of Huntingdon,
Bedford, and Cambridge, and of the high lands of the
western parts of Norfolk and Suffolk. Immediately above
Lynn the old river made an extensive bend of about five
miles in extent, to a point called German's Bridge.
This channel was of very irregular breadth and full of
great sand beds which were constantly shifting. In some
places it was as much as a mile in width, and divided
into small streams which varied according as the tidal or
the fresh waters were for the time being most powerful.
During floods, the flow of the river was so much ob-
structed that the waters could not possibly get away
out to sea during the ebb, so that at the next rise
of the tide they were forced back into the interior,
and thus caused serious inundations in the surrounding
country.1 The fresh waters were in this way penned up
within the land to the extent of about seven feet ; and
over an extensive plain, such as the Bedford Level,
where a few inches of fall makes all the difference be-
tween land drained and land drowned, it is clear how
seriously this obstruction of the Ouse outfall must have
perilled the agricultural operations of the district. Until,

1 When Mr. Kennie was first con-
sulted respecting the drainage of the
Great Level, he found that much
good land which had been formerly
productive had become greatly dete-
riorated, or altogether lost for pur-
poses of agriculture. Some districts
were constantly flooded, and others
were so wet that they were rapidly
returning to their original state of
reeds and sedge. In the neighbour-
hood of Downham Eau, the harvest-
men were, in certain seasons, obliged
to stand upon a platform to reap their
corn, which was carried to and from

the drier parts in boats ; and some of
the fanners, in like manner, rowed
through their orchards in order to
gather the fruit from the trees. A
large portion of Littleport Fen, in
the South Level, was let at Is. an
acre, and, in the summer-time, stock
were turned in amongst the reed and
" turf-bass," and not seen for days
together. In Marshland Fen, the soil
was so soft that wooden shoes, or
flat boards, were nailed on the horses'
feet over the iron ones, to prevent
them from sinking into the soil.

168 KENNIE'S DEAINAGE OF PART VII.

therefore, this great impediment to the drainage of the
Level could be removed, it was clear to Mr. Rennie's
mind that no inland works could be of any permanent
advantage. The remedy which he proposed was, to cut
off the great bend in the Ouse by making a direct new
channel from Eau Brink, near the mouth of Marshland
Drain, to a point in the river a little above the town of
Lynn, as shown in the following plan : —

The cut was to be about three miles in length, and of
sufficiently capacious dimensions to contain the whole
body of the river. By thus shortening the line of the
stream, Mr. Rennie calculated that the channel would be
kept clear of silt by the greater velocity of the current,
and that the fresh waters would at the same time be able
to force their way out to sea without difficulty. An Act
was accordingly obtained enabling the Eau Brink to
be cut ; but some years passed before any steps were
taken to carry out the works, which were not actually
begun until the year 1817, when Mr. Rennie was formally
appointed the chief engineer. After about four years'
labour the cut was finished and opened, and its imme-
diate effect was to give great relief to the whole of the
district watered by the Ouse. An extra fall of not less
than five feet and a half was obtained at St. German's,

CHAP. V. THE CAMBRIDGE FENS. 169

by which the surface of the waters throughout the whole
of the Middle and South Levels was reduced in propor-
tion. Thus the pressure on all the banks along the
rivers of the Level was greatly relieved, whilst inunda-
tions were prevented, and the sluices provided for the
evacuation of the inland waters were enabled effectually
to discharge themselves.

By labours such as these an immense value has been
given to otherwise worthless swamps and wastes. The
skill of the engineer has enabled the Fen farmers to labour
with ever-increasing profit, and to enjoy the fruits of
their industry in comparative health and comfort. No
wonder they love the land which has been won by toil
so protracted and so brave. Unpicturesque though the
Fens may be to eyes accustomed to the undulating and
hill country of the western districts of England, they
nevertheless possess a humble beauty of their own, espe-
cially to eyes familiar to them from childhood. The long
rows of pollards, with an occasional windmill, stretching
along the horizon as in a Dutch landscape — the wide
extended flats of dark peaty soil, intersected by dykes
and drains, with here and there a green tract covered
with sleek cattle — have an air of vastness, and even
grandeur, which is sometimes very striking. To this we
may add, that the churches of the district, built on sites
which were formerly so many oases in the watery de-
sert, loom up in the distance like landmarks, and are
often of remarkable beauty of outline.

It has been said of Mr. Rennie that he was the greatest
" slayer of dragons " that ever lived, — this title being
given in the Fens to persons who, by skill and industry,
have perfected works of drainage, and thereby removed
the causes of sickness and disease, typified in ancient
times as dragons or destroyers.1 In this sense, certainly,
Mr. Rennie is entitled, perhaps more than any other
man, to this remarkable appellation.

1 Thompson's * History of Boston,' 1856, p. 639.

170 KENNIE'S B1UDGES. PART VJL

CHAPTER VI.
MR. KENNIE'S BRIDGES.

THE bridges erected by our engineer are amongst the
finest of his works, and sufficient of themselves to
stamp him as one of the greatest masters of his profes-
sion. We have already given a representation of his
first bridge, erected over the Water of Leith, near Edin-
burgh, the forerunner of a series of similar structures
unrivalled for solidity and strength, contrived with an
elegance sometimes ornate, but for the most part of
severe and massive simplicity.

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Mr. Rennie did
not profess a disregard for theory ; for he held that true
practice could only be based on true theory. Taken in
the sense of mere speculative guessing, however inge-
nious, he would have nothing to do with it ; but as
matter of inference and demonstration from fixed prin-
ciples, he held by theory as his sheet-anchor. His
teacher, Professor Eobison, had not failed to impress
upon him its true uses in the pursuit of science and art ;
and he never found reason to regret the fidelity with
which he carried out his instructions in practice. In
1793 he had the advantage of much close personal inter-
course with his old friend the Professor, who paid him a
visit at his house in London for the express purpose of
conferring with him upon mechanical subjects. In the
letter announcing the object of his visit, Dr. Robison
candidly avowed that it was in order " that he might
extract as much information from him as possible." The
Doctor had undertaken to prepare the articles on
Mechanics for the third edition of the ' Encyclopedia

CHAP. VI. RENNIE'S BRIDGES. 171

Britannica,' and he believed he should be enabled to im-
part an additional value to his writings by throwing upon
them the light of Eennie's strong practical judgment.
He proposed to take a lodging in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of Rennie's house, then in the Great Surrey
Road, and to board with him during the day ; but Rennie
would not listen to this proposal, and insisted on being
the Professor's entertainer during the period of his visit.
One of the points which he particularly desired to
discuss with Mr. Rennie was the theory of the equi-
librium of arches — a subject at that time very imper-
fectly understood, but which the young engineer had
studied with his usual energy and success. He had
clearly proved that the proper proportion and depth
of the key-stone to that of the extrados (or exterior
curve) should be in proportion to the size and form
of the arch and the materials of which it was com-
posed ; and he had also established the ratio in which the
arch-stones should increase from the key-stone to the
piers or abutments. Up to this time there had been no
rules laid down for the guidance of the engineer or archi-
tect, who worked very much in the dark as to principles ;
and it was often a matter entirely of chance whether a
bridge stood or fell when the centres were removed.
According to the views of Hutton and Attwood, the
weight upon the haunches and abutments, to put the
arch in a state of equilibrium so that it should stand, was
unlimited ; whereas Mr. Rennie established the limit to
which the countervailing force or weight on the extrados
should be confined. Hence he adopted the practice of
introducing a flat inverted arch between the extrados of
each two adjoining arches, (at the same time increasing
the width of the abutment,) — the radii of the vous-
soirs or arch-stones being continued completely through
them. And in order to diminish the masonry, the
lower or foundation course was inclined also, — thus
combining the work more completely together, and

172

KENNIE'S BRIDGES.

PART VII.

enabling it better to resist the lateral thrust. Dr. Ro-
bison had much discussion with Mr. Rennie on these
and many other points, and the information he obtained
was shortly after worked up into numerous original con-
tributions of great value ; amongst which may be men-
tioned his articles in the ' Encyclopedia ' on the Arch,
Carpentry, Roof, Waterworks, Resistance of Fluids, and
Running of Rivers l — on all of which subjects Mr.
Rennie had much original information to impart. It
may readily be imagined that the evenings devoted by
Dr. Robison to conversation and discussion on such
topics at Rennie' s house were of interest and advantage
to both ; and when the Doctor returned to his Edinburgh
labours, he carried with him the cordial affection and
respect of the engineer, who continued to keep up a
correspondence with him until the close of his life.

In the early part of his career Mr. Rennie was called
upon to furnish designs of many bridges, principally in
Scotland, which, however, were not carried out, in most
cases because the requisite funds could not be raised to
build them. Thus, in 1798, he designed one of eight
cast iron arches to span the river Don at Aberdeen.
Four years later he was called upon to furnish further
designs, when he supplied three several plans, two of
granite bridges ; but the structures were of too costly a
character for the people of Aberdeen then to carry out.
The first important bridge which Mr. Rennie was autho-
rised to execute was that across the Tweed at Kelso, and
it afforded a very favourable specimen of his skill as an
architect. It was designed in 1799 and opened in 1803.
It consists of five semi-elliptical arches of 72 feet span,
each rising 28 feet, and four piers each 12 feet thick,

1 Dr. Robison was the first contri-
butor to the ' Encyclopedia ' who was
really a man of science, and whose
articles were above the rank of mere
compilations. He sought information
from all quarters — searched the works

of foreign writers, and consulted men
of practical eminence, such as Rennie,
to whom he could obtain access, — and
extraordinary value was thus im-
parted to his articles.

CHAP. VT.

KELSO BRIDGE.

173

with a level roadway 23 feet 6 inches wide between the
parapets, and 29 feet above the ordinary surface of the
river. The foundations were securely laid upon the solid
rock in the bed of the Tweed, by means of coffer-dams,
and below the deepest part of the river. The piers and
abutments were ornamented with three-quarter columnar
pilasters of the Roman Doric order, surmounted by a plain
block cornice and balustrade of the same character. The
whole of the masonry was plain rustic coursed work, and
in style and execution it was long regarded as one of the
most handsome and effective structures of its kind. It
may almost be said to have formed the commencement
of a new era of bridge-building in this country. The
semi-elliptical arches, the columnar pilasters on the piers,
the balustrade, and the level roadway, are the same
as in Waterloo Bridge, except as regards size and cha-
racter ; so that Kelso Bridge may be regarded as the
model of the greater work. We believe it was one of
the first bridges in this country constructed with a level

KELSO BRIDGE [By Ptrcival Skeltcn.]

174

MUSSELBDRGH BRIDGE.

1'AKT VII,

BRIDGE.
[Ey EU M. Wimperis. after a. Drawing by J. S. Smiles.]

roadway. Some of the old-fashioned bridges were ex-
cessively steep, and to get over them was like climbing
the roof of a house. There was a heavy pull on one
side and a corresponding descent on the other. The old
bridge across the Esk at Musselburgh, forming part of
the high road between Edinburgh and London, was
of this precipitous character. It was superseded by a
handsome and substantial bridge, with an almost level
roadway, after a design by Eennie. When the engineer
was taking the work oif the hands of the contractor, one
of the magistrates of the town, who was present, asked
a countryman who was passing at the time with his cart
how he liked the new brig? "Brig!" said the man,
" it's nae brig ava ! ye neither ken whan ye're on't, nor
whan ye're aff't ! "

Mr. Rennie's boldness in design grew with experience,
and when consulted as to a bridge near Paxton, over
the Whitadder (a rapid stream in Berwickshire), he

CHAP. VI.

PROPOSED BRIDGE AT MENAT.

175

proposed, in lieu of the old structure, which had been
carried away by a flood, a new one of a single arch, of
150 feet span; but unhappily the road trustees could
not find the requisite means for carrying it into effect.
Another abortive but grand design was proposed by
him in 1801. He had been requested by the Secretary
of State for Ireland to examine the road through North
Wales to Holyhead, with the object of improving the
communication with Ireland, which was then in a
wretched state. The connection of the opposite shores
of the Menai Strait by means of a bridge was con-
sidered an indispensable part of any improvement of
that route ; and Mr. Rennie proposed to accomplish this
object by a single great arch of cast-iron 450 feet in
span, — the height of its soffit or crown to be 150 feet
above high water at spring tides.1 A similar bridge,
of 350 feet span, having its crown 100 feet above the
same level, was also proposed by him for the crossing
of Con way Ferry. These bridges were to be manu-
factured after a plan invented by Mr. Rennie in 1791,
and communicated by him to Dr. Hutton in 1794;
and he was strongly satisfied of its superiority to all
others that had been proposed. The designs were alike

1 The great arch of 450 feet was to
be supported on two stone piers, each
75 feet thick, the springing to be 100
feet above high water. There were to
be arches of stone on the Caernarvon
side to the distance of about 156
yards, and on the Anglesea side to
the distance of about 284 yards ;
making the total length of the bridge,
exclusive of the wing walls, about
640 yards. The estimated cost of
the whole work and approaches was
268,500Z. The point at which the
bridge was recommended to be thrown
across was, either opposite Inys-y-
Moch island, on which one of the
main piers would rest, or at the
Swilly rocks, about 800 yards to the
eastward ; but, on the whole, he pre-
ferred the latter site. He also sent

in a subsequent design, showing an
iron arch on each side of the main
one of 350 feet span, in lieu of ma-
sonry, with other modifications, by
which the dimensions of the main
piers were reduced, and the estimate
somewhat lessened. Other plans were
prepared and submitted, embodying
somewhat similar views, the promi-
nent idea in all of them being the
spanning of the strait by a great cast-
iron arch, the crown of which was to
be 150 feet above the sea at high-
water. The plans and evidence on
the subject are to be found set forth
in the 'Reports from Committees of
the House of Commons on Holyhead
Roads' (1810-22), ordered to be
printed 25th July, 1822.

176

BOSTON BRIDGE.

PART VII.

bold and skilful, and it is to be regretted that they
were not carried out ; for their solidity would not only
have proved sufficient for the purposes of a roadway,
but probably also of a locomotive railway. In that
case, however, we should have been deprived of the
after-display of much engineering ability in bridging
the straits at Menai and the ferry at Conway. But the
plans were thought far too daring for the time, and the
expense too great. The whole subject was therefore
allowed to sleep for many years, until eventually Telford
spanned both these straits with suspension road bridges,
and Kobert Stephenson afterwards with tubular railway
bridges, at a total cost of about a million sterling.

BOSTON BRIDGE. [By Percival Skelton.]

The first bridge constructed by Mr. Rennie in Eng-
land, and the earliest of his cast iron bridges, was that
erected by him over the Witham, in the town of Boston,
Lincolnshire, in 1803. It consists of a single arch of
iron ribs, forming the segment of a circle, the chord of

CHAP. VI.

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

177

which is 80 feet. It is simple yet elegant in design;
its flatness and width contributing to render it most
convenient for the purpose for which it was intended
—that of accommodating the street-traffic of one of the
most prosperous and busy towns in the Fens.

Mr. Eennie's reputation as an engineer becoming well
established by these and other works, he was, during the
remainder of his professional career, extensively con-
sulted on this branch of construction ; l and many solid
memorials of his skill in bridge-work are to be found in
different parts of the kingdom. But the finest of the
buildings of this character which were erected by him are
unquestionably those which grace the metropolis itself.

1 Among his minor works may be
mentioned the bridge over the stream
which issues out of Virginia Water
;ind crosses the Great Western Road
(erected in 1805); Darlaston Bridge
across the Trent, in Staffordshire
(1805); the timber and iron bridge
over the estuary of the Welland at
Fossdyke Wash, about nine miles
below Spalding (1810) ; the granite
bridge of three arches at New Gallo-
way, on the line of the Dumfries and
rortpatrick Road (1811) ; a bridge of
five arches across the Cree at Newton
Stewart (1812); the cast iron bridge
over the Goomtee at Lucknow, erected
after his designs in 1814, and fre-
quently referred to in the military
oj ic rations for the relief of that city a
few years ago ; Wellington Bridge,
over the Aire, at Leeds (1817) ; Isle-
worth Bridge (1819); a bridge of
three elliptical arches of 75 feet span
each, at Bridge of Earn, Perthshire
(1819); Cramond Bridge, of eight
semi -circular arches of 50 feet span,
with the roadway 42 feet above the
river (1819) ; and Ken Bridge, New
Galloway, of five stone arches, the
centre 90 feet span (1820). An ad-
venture of some peril attended Mr.
Rennie's erection of the bridge at
Newton Stewart. He happened to
visit the works on one occasion during
a heavy flood, which swept down the
valley with great fury ; and the passage

VOL. II.

of the ferry was thus completely in-
terrupted. Mr. Rennie and his son
(the present Sir John) were conse-
quently unable to cross over to New-
ton Stewart, on the further side of the
river, and they were under the ne-
cessity of spending the night in a
miserable public-house on the eastern
bank. About 11 P.M. the violence of
the storm had somewhat abated, and
the moon came out, though obscured
by the clouds which drifted across her
face. Mr. Rennie went out at that
late hour to look at the bridge works,
and even to tiy whether he might not
reach the other side by crossing the
timber platform by means of which
the works were being carried on.
There was a gangway of only two
planks from pier to pier on the eastern
side, and this he safely crossed. The
torrent was still raging furiously be-
neath, shaking the frail timbers of
the scaffolding. As Mr. Rennie was
about to place his foot on the plank
which led to the third pier, his son
observed the framework tremble, and
pulled his father back, just in time
to see the whole swept into the stream
with a tremendous crash. Fortunately
the planking still stood across which
they had passed, and they succeeded
in retracing their steps in safety.
The bridge was finished and opened
during the summer of 1814.

178

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

PART VII.

The project of erecting a new bridge to connect the
Strand, near Somerset House, with the Surrey side of the
Thames at Lambeth, was started by a Bridge Company
in 1809 — a year distinguished for the prevalence of one
of those joint-stock fevers which periodically seize the
moneyed classes of this country. The first plan consi-
dered was the production of Mr. George Dodds, a well-
known engineer of the time. The managing committee
were not satisfied with the design, and referred it to
Mr. Rennie and Mr. Jessop for their opinion. It w;is
found to be for the most part a copy of M. Peyronnet's
celebrated bridge of Neuilly, with modifications rendered
necessary by the difference of situation and the greater
width of the river to be spanned. It showed a bridge
of nine arches of 130 feet span; each being a com-
pound curve, the interior an ellipsis, and the face or
exterior a segment of a circle, as in the bridge at
Neuilly.1 The reporting engineers pointed out various

1 In their report on this design, Mr.
Kennie and his colleague observed:
" We should not have thought it ne-
cessary to quote the production of a
foreign country for the sake of show-
ing the practicability of constructing
arches of 130 feet span, had we not
been led to it by the exact similarity
of the designs, and by the principle
which is therein adopted of the com-
pound curve ; because our own coun-
try affords examples of greater bold-
ness in the construction of arches
than that of Neuilly. There is a
bridge over the river Taff, in the
county of Glamorgan, of upwards of
135 feet span, with a rise not exceed-
ing 32 feet, and what is more re-
markable is, that the depth of the
arch-stones is only 30 inches ; so that
in fact that bridge far exceeds in
boldness of design that of Neuilly."
[See our Memoir of William Edwards
in Vol. I. of this work.] After some
observations as to the importance and
necessity of making a bridge in such
a situation, at the bend of the river,
with as large arches as possible, to

accommodate the navigation and pre-
sent as little obstruction as possible to
the rise and fall of the water, they
proceed : " We confess we do not
wholly approve of M. Peyromu't's
construction as adapted for the in-
tended situation. It is complicated
in its form, and, we think, wanting
in effect. The equilibrium of the
arches has not been sufficiently at-
tended to ; for when the centres of
the bridge at Neuilly were struck,
the top of the arches sank to a degree
far beyond anything that has come to
our knowledge, whilst the haunches
retired or rose up, so that the bridge
as it now stands is very different in
form from what it was originally de-
signed. No such change of shape
took place in the bridge over the
Taff (Pont-y-Prydd) ; the sinking after
the centres were struck did not amount
to one-half of that at Neuilly, although
the one was designed and built under
the direction of the first engineer of
France, without regard to expense,
whilst the other was designed and
built by a country mason with par-

CHAP. VT. WATERLOO BRIDGE. 179

objections to Mr. Dodds's design, as well as to the plan
proposed by him for founding the piers ; and they
showed that his estimate of cost was altogether insuf-
ficient. The result was, that no further steps were taken
with Mr. D odds' s plan ; but when the Act authorising the
construction of the bridge had been obtained, the com-
mittee again applied to Mr. Rennie ; and on this occasion
they requested him to furnish them with the design of a
suitable structure.1 The first step which he took was
to prepare an entirely fresh chart of the river and the
adjacent shores, after a careful and accurate survey
made by Mr. Francis Giles. In preparing his plan, he
kept in view the architectural elegance of the structure
as well as its utility ; and while he designed it so as to
enhance the beauty of the fine river front of Somerset
House, by contriving that the face of the northern
abutment should be on a line with its noble terrace, he
laid out the roadway so that it should be as nearly upon
a level with the great thoroughfare of the Strand as
possible, — the rise from that street to the summit on
the bridge being only 1 in 250, or about two feet in all.
Two designs were prepared — one of seven equal arches,
the other of nine ; and the latter being finally approved
by the committee as the less costly, it was ordered to be
carried into effect.

The structure as executed is an elegant and substantial
bridge of nine arches of 120 feet span, with piers 20 feet
thick ; the arches being plain semi-ellipses, with their
soffits or crowns 30 feet above high- water of ordinary
spring tides. Over the points of each pier are placed

simonious economy. Our opinion
therefore is, that the arches of the
bridge over the Thames should either
be plain ellipses, without the slanting
off in the haunches so as to deceive
the eye by an apparent flatness which
does not in reality exist, or they should
be of a flat segment of a circle formed
in such n manner as to <nve the re-

quisite, room for the passage of the
current and barges under it."

1 In June, 1810, we find him ac-
cepting the direction of the new
bridge at 1000/. a year for himself
and assistants, or 11. Is. a day and
expenses; but on no account were any
of his people to have to do with the
payment or receipt of moneys.

x 2

180 RENNIE'S BRIDGES. PART VII.

two three-quarter Doric column pilasters, after the design
of the temple of Segesta in Sicily. These pilasters are
5 feet 84 inches diameter at the base, and 4 feet 4 inches
at the under side of the capital, forming recesses in the
roadway 17 feet wide and 5 feet deep. The depth of
the arch-stones at the crown is 4 feet 6 inches, and they
increase regularly to 10 feet at the haunches. Between
each pair of arches, at the level of 19 feet above the
springing, there is an inverted arch, the stones of which

SECTION OF WATERLOO BRIDGE.

are 4 feet 6 inches deep at the crown, arid decrease
regularly on each side as they unite and abut against the
extrados or backs of the voussoirs of the main haunches.
The abutments are 40 feet in thickness at the base, and
decrease to 30 feet at the springing. The cope of the
arches and piers is surmounted by a Grecian Doric
block-cornice and entablature, upon which is placed a
balustrade parapet 5 feet high. The total width of the
bridge from outside to outside of the parapets is 45 feet.
The footpaths on each side are 7 feet wide, and the
roadway for carriages 28 feet. There are four sets of
landing-stairs — two to each abutment ; and the arrange-
ment of this part of the work has been much admired,
on account of its convenience for public uses as well as
its architectural elegance.

In the construction of this bridge, there are four fea-
tures of distinctive importance to be noted : — 1 st. The
employment of coffer-dams in founding piers in a great
tidal river — an altogether new use of that engineering
expedient, though now become customary. 2nd. The
ingenious method employed for constructing, floating,
and fixing the centres ; since followed by other engineers
in works of like magnitude. 3rd. The introduction and
working of granite stone to an extent before unknown,

CHAP. VI.

WATERLOO BRIDGE.

181

and in much larger and more substantial pieces of
masonry than had previously been practised. 4th. The
adoption of elliptical stone arches of an unusual width,
though afterwards greatly surpassed by the same engi-
neer in his New London Bridge.

Mr. Kennie invariably took the greatest pains in
securing the most solid foundations possible for all his
structures, and especially of his river works, laying them
far below the scour of the river, at a depth beyond all
probable reach of injury from that cause. The practice
adopted in founding the piers of the early bridges across
the Thames, was to dredge the bottom to a level surface,
and build the foundations on the bed of the river, pro-
tecting them outside by rubble, by starlings, or by
sheet-piling. Mr. Dodds had proposed to follow the
method employed by Labelye at Westminster Bridge, of
founding the piers by means of caissons ; but Mr. Rennie
insisted on the total insufficiency of this plan, and that
the most effectual method was by means of coffer-dams.
This would no doubt be more costly in the first in-
stance, but vastly more secure ; and he foresaw that the
inevitable removal of the piers of Old London Bridge,
by increasing the current of the river, would severely
test the foundations of all the bridges higher up the
stream — which proved to be the case. Having already
extensively employed coffer-dams in getting in the
foundations of the London and East India Dock walls,
he had no doubt as to their success in this case; and
they were adopted accordingly.1

1 The coffer-dams in which the
foundations of the abutments were
built, were formed by driving two
rows of piles 13 by G£ inches each,
with a counter or abutting pile at
every 12 feet, 12 by 12, driven in the
form of an ellipsis, and strongly ce-
mented together, at low-water and
high-water levels, by double hori-
zontal walings or bracks, having a
space of about 8 inches clear between

them for the intermediate or half
piles. The whole were driven close
together from 15 to 20 feet deep into
the ground, well caulked, so as to be
water-tight, and all connected firmly
together by strong wrought iron bars
and bolts, besides shores and inter-
mediate braces. The spaces between
the two rows of piles were then
rammed close with well-tempered
clay, so that they formed, as it were,

182

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

PART VII.

Mr. Rennie also introduced a practice of some novelty
and importance in the centering upon which the arches
of the bridge were built. He adopted the braced prin-

CENTERING OF AKCH, WATERLOO BRIDGE. [After E. Blcre.]

ciple. The centres spanning the whole width of the
arch were composed of eight ribs each, formed in one
piece, resting upon the same number of solid wedges,

a solid vat or tub impermeable to
water ; and within these, when
pumped clear of water, the excava-
tion was made to the proper depth,
and in the space so dug out the
building operations proceeded. The
coffer-dams for the piers were formed
in a similar manner, with modifica-
tions according to circumstances. By
this means the bed of the river, where
the piers were to be erected, was ex-
posed and dug out to the proper
depth, and the foundations were com-
menced from a level nine feet at

least below low water mark. The
foundations there rested upon timber
piles from 20 to 22 feet long, driven
into the solid bed of the river. Upon
the heads of these piles half-timber
planking was spiked, and on this the
solid masonry was built — every stone
being fitted, mortared, and laid with
studious accuracy and precision. The
whole work was done with such soli-
dity that, after the lapse of fifty years,
the foundations have not yielded by a
straw's breadth at any i oiiit.

CHAP. \i. WATERLOO BRIDGE. 183

supported by inclined tressels placed upon longitudinal
bearers, firmly fixed to the offsets of the piers and abut-
ments. At the intersecting point of the bearers or
braces in each rib, there was a cast iron box with two
holes or openings in it, so that the butt-ends rested firmly
against the metal ; and to prevent them from acting like
so many wedges to tear the rib to pieces when the ver-
tical weight of the arch began to act upon them, pieces
of hard wood were driven firmly into the holes above
described, to check the effect of the bearers or strutts of
the ribs ; and this arrangement proved completely suc-
cessful. The eight ribs were firmly connected together by
braces and ties, so as to form one compact frame, and the
curve or form of the arch was accurately adjusted by
means of transverse timbers, 1 2 inches wide and 6 inches
thick, laid across the whole of the ribs, set out to the
exact form of the curve by ordinates from the main or
longitudinal axis of the ellipsis ; and in proportion as
the voussoirs or arch-stones were carried up from the
adjoining piers, the weight which had been laid upon
the top of the centre to keep it in equilibrium according
to the form of the arch during construction, was gra-
dually removed as it advanced towards completion.
AY hen the arch was about two-thirds completed, a small
portion of it was closed with the centre, and the remain-
ing part of each side was brought forward regularly
by offsets to the crown until the whole was finished.
Each key-stone was accurately fitted to its respective
place, and the last portion of each, for the space of about
eighteen inches, was driven home by a heavy wooden
ram or pile-engine, so as almost to raise the crown of
the arch from the centre.

About ten days after the main arches had been
completed, and the inverts and spandrel walls be-
tween them carried up to the proper height, the arches
were gently slackened, to the extent of about two
inches, so as to bring each to its bearing to a cer-

184 KENNIE'S BKiDQES. PART VII.

tain extent. This was effected by driving back the
wedges upon which the ribs of the centres rested, by
means of heavy wooden rams attached to them, so
that they could swing backwards and forwards with
great facility when any external force was applied to
them ; and this was done by ropes worked by hand-
labour. After the first striking or slackening, the
arches were allowed to stand for ten days, when the
wedges were driven back six inches further. After ten
days more the wedges were driven back sufficiently to
render the arch altogether clear of the centering. By
this means the mortar was firmly imbedded into all the
joints, and the arch came gradually to its ultimate bear-
ing without any undue crushing. In order to ascertain
whether any change of form took place, three straight
lines were drawn in black chalk on the extreme face of
the arch previous to commencing the operation of striking
the centre, — one horizontally in the centre of the vous-
soirs forming the crown, and two from the haunches of
the arch, each intersecting the first line at about 25 feet
on each side of the keystone ; so that if there had been
any derangement of the curve or irregular sinking, it
would at once have been clearly apparent. After the
centres had been removed, it was found that the sinking
of the arches varied from 2i to 3i inches, which was as
nearly as possible the allowance made by the engineer
in designing the work ; the whole plan being worked
out with admirable precision and accuracy.

The method of fixing and removing the centres was
entirely new; being precisely the same as was after-
wards followed by Mr. Eobert Stephenson in fixing
the wrought iron ribs of the Con way and Britannia
bridges, — that is, by constructing them complete on a
platform adjacent to the river, and floating them between
the piers on barges expressly contrived for the purpose.
They were then raised into their proper places by four
strong screws, 8 inches in diameter and 4 feet long,

CHAP. VI. WATEKLOO BRIDGE. 185

fixed in a strong cast iron box firmly bedded in the solid
floor of the barge. The apparatus worked so well and
smoothly, that the whole centre, consisting of eight ribs,
each weighing about fifty tons, was usually placed within
the week.

The means employed by Mr. Rennie for forming his
road upon the bridge were identical with those adopted
by Mr. Macadam at Bristol some six years later. But the
arrangement constituted so small a part of our engineer's
contrivances, that, as in many other cases, he made no
merit of it. When the clay puddle placed along the
intended roadway was sufficiently hard, he spread a
stratum of fine screened gravel or hoggins, which was
carefully levelled and pressed down upon the clay. This
was then covered over with a layer of equally broken
flints, about the size of an egg ; after which the whole
was rolled close together, and in a short time formed
an admirable " macadamized " road. Mr. Eennie had
practised the same method of making roads over his
bridges long before 1809 ; and he continued to adopt
it in all his subsequent structures.

The whole of the stone required for the bridge
(excepting the balustrades, which were brought ready
worked from Aberdeen) was hewn in some fields ad-
jacent to the erection on the Surrey side. It was
transported on to the work upon trucks drawn along rail-
ways, in the first instance over temporary bridges of
wood ; and it is a remarkable circumstance that nearly
the whole of the material was drawn by one horse,
called " Old Jack" — a most sensible animal, and a great
favourite. His driver was, generally speaking, a steady
and trustworthy man, though rather too fond of his dram
before breakfast. As the railway along which the stone
was drawn passed in front of the public-house door, the
horse and truck were usually pulled up while Tom
entered for his " morning." On one occasion the driver
stayed so long that "Old Jack," becoming impatient,

186

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

TAUT VII.

poked his head into the open door, and taking his master's
coat-collar between his teeth, though in a gentle sort of
manner, pulled him out from the midst of his companions,
and thus forced him to resume the day's work.

^

WATERLOO BRIDGE.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing.]

The bridge was opened with great ceremony by His
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, attended by the
Duke of Wellington and many other distinguished per-
sonages, on the 18th of June, 1817. It was originally
named the Strand Bridge ; but after that date the name
was altered to that of " Waterloo," in honour of the

CHAP. VI. SOUTHWARK BRIDGE. 187

Duke. At the opening, the Prince Regent offered to
confer the honour of knighthood on the engineer, who
respectfully declined it. Writing to his friend Whid-
bey, he said, " I had a hard business to escape knighthood
at the opening." He was contented with the simple,
unadorned name of John Rennie, engineer and architect
of the magnificent structure which he had thus so suc-
cessfully brought to completion. Waterloo Bridge is
indeed a noble work, and probably has not its equal for
magnitude, beauty, and solidity. Dupin characterised
it as a colossal monument worthy of Sesostris or 'the
Caesars ; and what most struck Canova during his visit
to England was, that the trumpery Chinese bridge, then
in St. James's Park, should be the production of the
Government, whilst Waterloo Bridge was the enterprise
of a private company. Like all Rennie' s works, it was
built for posterity. That it should not have settled
more than a few inches — not five in any part — after
the centres were struck, is an illustration of solidity and
strength probably without a parallel. We believe that
to this day not a crack is visible in the whole work.

The necessity for further bridges across the Thames
increased with the growth of population on both sides of
the river ; and in the year 1813 a Company was formed
to provide one at some point intermediate between
Blackfriars and London Bridge, of which Mr. Rennie
was appointed the engineer. The scheme was at first
strongly opposed by the Corporation on the ground of
the narrowness of the river at the point at which
it was proposed to erect the new structure ; but the
public demands being urgent, they at length gave way
and allowed the necessary Act to pass, insisting, how-
ever, on the provision of a very large waterway, so
that the least obstruction should be offered to the navi-
gation. Mr. Rennie prepared a design to meet the
necessities of the case, and in order to secure the largest
possible waterway, he projected his well-known South-

188

RENNIE'-S BRIDGES.

PART VII.

wark Bridge, extending from Queen Street, Cannon
Street, to Bridge Street, South wark. It consists of
three cast iron arches, with two stone piers and abut-
ments. The arches are flat segments of circles, the centre
one being not less than 240 feet span (or 4 feet larger
than Sunderland Bridge, the largest cast iron arch that
had until then been erected), rising 24 feet, and spring-
ing 6 feet above high water of spring tides. The two
side arches are of 210 feet span, each rising 18 feet
10 inches, and springing from the same level. The two
piers were 24 feet wide each at the springing, and 30 feet
at the base.

The works commenced with the coffer-dam of the south
pier on the Southwark side, and the first stone was laid
by Admiral Lord Keith about the beginning of 1815.
All the centering for the three arches was fixed by the
autumn of 1817, and the main ribs were set by the end
of April, 1818. The centres were struck by the end of
the month of June following, and completely removed
by the middle of October ; and the bridge was opened
for traffic in March, 1819.

In the course of this work great precautions were
used in securing the foundations of the piers. The river
was here at its narrowest and deepest point, the bed
being 14 feet below low water of ordinary spring tides.
The coffer-dams were therefore necessarily of great depth
and strength to resist the pressure of the body of water,
as well as the concussion of the barges passing up and
down the river, which frequently drove against them.
Hence the dams were constructed in the form most
capable of resisting external pressure, and yet suitable
to the dimensions of the foundations.1 The masonry

1 They were made elliptical, and
consisted of two main rows of piles
14 inches square, placed 6 feet apart.
These were cemented together on each
side at the level of low water at half-
tide, and 2 feet above high water

of spring tides, with horizontal wal-
ings or braces, also 14 inches square,
firmly secured to every tenth pile by
wrought iron screw bolts 2i inches
diameter passing through each row
of piles, and fixed at each end by

CHAP. VI.

SOUTHWARK BRIDGE

189

and iron work of the bridge were erected with great care
and completeness. The blocks of stone in the piers were
accurately fitted to their places by moulds, and driven
down by a heavy wooden ram. The least possible
quantity of finely tempered mortar was used, so that

large bracket-pieces of timber and
wrought iron plates and nuts, so that
the whole could be firmly screwed up
and braced together. The piles were
well headed and shod with wrought
iron, and driven from 15 to 20 feet
into the solid bottom of the river.
On the outside 'of the two main rows
of piles there was another placed
six feet from the inner, and driven
to the same depth, but their heads
only extended up to the level of half-
tide. They were tied together with
horizontal braces and wrought iron
screw bolts, in the same manner as the
two main rows. The joints of all
were well caulked, and the space?
between the three rows were filled
with well-puddled clay, so as to be
completely impervious to water. On
each dam there was a trunk three
feet square, fitted with a valve, which
could be lowered or raised at pleasure,
so that the water could be let off to
the level of low tide, or filled at any
time, in the event of any accident oc-
curring in the building of the piers.
Hie abutment coffer-dams were con-
structed in a semi-circular form, and
consisted of two rows of piles of like
dimensions, similarly rammed be-
tween with clay to keep out the
water. The enclosed spaces were
] tumped out by means of steam-
engines of 20-horse power. The en-
gines worked double pumps of 15
inches diameter by an arrangement of
slide-rods. When necessary, as at
the City abutment, where the soil
was more porous, an additional engine
with pumps was employed. By these
complete methods the water was kept
under until the foundations were got
in at the great depth we have above
stated. The piers and abutments rest
on solid platforms of piles, cills, and
planking about 2 feet 6 inches thick.
The piles, of fir, elm, and beech,

20 feet long and 12 inches in dia-
meter, shod with wrought iron, were
driven in regular rows three feet
apart, until a ram of 15 cwt. falling
from a height of 28 feet moved
them downward only half an inch
at a blow. Their heads were then
cut off level; the earth and clay
removed from about them to the
depth of a foot, and the space filled
in with Kentish rag -stone, well
rammed and grouted together with
lime and gravel. Cills of fir, beech,
and elm, 12 inches thick and 14
inches wide, were then accurately
fitted and spiked to each pile-head, in
the transverse direction of the piers
and abutments, with wrought iron
jagged spikes 18 inches long and six-
eighths of an inch square. The
spaces between the cills were solidly
filled with brickwork, and another
row of cills of the same dimen-
sions, laid at right angles to those
below, was fitted and spiked to them
over each row of piles, in the same
manner as above explained. The
spaces were then filled with brick-
work ; the whole surface was covered
with a solid flooring of elm-plank 6
inches thick, well bedded in mortar,
and spiked down to each cill with
wrought iron jagged spikes 10 inches
long and five-eighths of an inch square.
It may here be observed, as to the
use of timber at this depth, that when
it is exposed to an equable degree of
moisture it is found almost imperish-
able— timber having been taken up,
as fresh as when laid down, from
the foundations of structures laid in
water for more than a thousand years.
Besides, timber is found, better than
any other material, capable of dis-
tributing the pressure over the whole
surface, as well as binding all the
parts of the foundations together.

190

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

PART VII.

every part should have a perfectly true permanent bear-
ing. Great care was also taken in the selection of the
blocks. The exterior of the piers was constructed of
hard silicious stone brought from Craigleith Quarry near
Edinburgh, and Dundee ; the interior, from the bottom

.

SOUTHWARD BRIDGE.
[By Pcrcival Skelton, after his original Drawing.]

of the foundations to the springing of the arches, of
hard Yorkshire grit ; while that part of the piers and
abutments from which the arches spring consisted of
the hardest and closest blocks of Cornish and Aber-
deen granite : in fine, it may be affirmed that a more

CHAP. VL SOUTHWARK BRIDGE. 191

solid piece of masonry does not exist than Southwark
Bridge.

The iron work consists of eight arched ribs, the main
strength of the arches being embodied in their lower
parts, which. are solid. The lower or main arch is
divided into thirteen pieces, with a rib 5i inches thick
at the top and bottom, and 2J inches in the centre.
The joints radiate outwards from the lower edge, and
form so many cast iron instead of stone voussoirs, from
6 to 8 feet deep and 13 feet long. At the junction of
each of these main rib pieces there are transverse
plates of the same depth, having flanges cast upon
them on both sides in a wedge form, so that the ends
of the main rib piers fit into them on one side, whilst
on the other there is a cast iron wedge, driven in
between the rib and flange piece, and enabling the whole
to be accurately adjusted and connected together. In
addition to this, each rib piece had a flange, cast at each
end with a certain number of holes three quarters of
an inch in diameter, into which wrought iron screw
bolts were introduced to connect the whole firmly toge-
ther in the direction of the arch. These rib pieces
were also of great importance during construction, the
chief dependence being placed upon their lateral thrust
in holding the arches " together. At each pier and
abutment there was a similar cast iron bed or abutting
plate, let accurately H inch into the stone ; but between
the end of each main rib which sprang from this plate
there was a groove cut out of the solid stone behind
the springing plates and main iron ribs of the arches,
18 inches wide, 3 inches thick at the top, and 2 inches
at bottom. This groove was accurately dressed and
polished. Three cast iron wedges, 9 feet long, 6 inches
wide, and 3i inches thick at top and 2 inches at bottom,
were then made and most accurately chipped and filed,
so as to fit exactly the groove above mentioned to within
12 inches of its bottom. When the whole of these wedges

192 RENNIE'S BRIDGES. PART VII.

at both ends of the arch had been put into their places,
they were carefully driven home to the bottom of the
grooves at the same time by heavy wooden rams, by
which means the ribs of the arches were relieved from
the centres and took their own bearing. In other words,
the arches were keyed from the abutments only, instead
of from the centre, as is usual in bridges of stone. This
was an extremely delicate and nice process, as it required
that the variations of the thermometer should be carefully
observed, in order that each operation should be carried on
at as nearly as possible the same degree of temperature,
otherwise the form of the arch would have been distorted,
the vertical and lateral pressure of the different parts
would have been affected, and an undue strain thrown
upon the abutments as well as the different parts of the
arch. But so nicely was the whole operation arranged
and adjusted, that nothing of the kind occurred : the
parts remained in perfect equilibrium ; not a bolt was
broken, and not the smallest derangement was found in
the structure after the process had been completed.

The spandrel pieces attached to the top of the main
ribs were cast in the form of open diamonds or lozenges,
connected together in the transverse direction by two
tiers of solid crosses laid nearly horizontally — all closely
wedged and firmly bolted together. In addition to the
transverse connecting plates cast in open squares, there
were also diagonal braces of cast iron, commencing at
the extremity of the outer rib of each arch and inter-
secting each other so as to form a diamond-shaped space
in the centre. These were also secured at their ends by
wedges and bolts, like the main rib pieces. After the
main ribs of the arches were relieved from the centres,
and had taken their bearing, before the centres were
removed from beneath them, experiments were made
how far they might be affected by expansion and con-
traction, in proportion to the different degrees of tempera-
ture to which the bridge might be exposed ; and for this

CHAP. VI. SOUTHWARK BRIDGE. 193

purpose different gauges were made, of brass, iron, and
wood. These gauges were firmly attached to the middle
or crown of the wooden centres, and divided into
sixteenths of an inch, and at each a Fahrenheit thermo-
meter was placed; so that, the ends of the arch being
fixed, the variation in the temperature would be indicated
by the rise and fall in the centre. The observations
were made daily — in the morning, at midday, and at
sunset — for several months during summer and winter,
when it was ascertained that the arches rose and fell
about one-tenth of an inch for every 10 degrees of tem-
perature, more or less.

The whole iron work is covered with solid plates,
having flanges cast on their upper side. These plates
are laid in the transverse direction and on the top of the
spandrel walls, so that they form a solid and compact
cast iron floor to support the roadway. The cornice,
which is cast hollow, is of the plain Roman-Doric order,
and is secured to the roadway-plates by strong stays and
bolts at proper intervals. The parapet consists of a
plinth, also cast hollow, with a groove at the top to
receive the railing, which is cast in the form of open
diamonds corresponding with the spandrels. The road-
way is 42 feet wide from outside to outside, and formed
in the same manner as that over Waterloo Bridge,
already described. The total quantity of cast iron in
the bridge is 3620 tons, and of wrought iron 112 tons.
It has been said that an unnecessarily large quantity
of material has been employed ; and no doubt a lighter
structure would have stood. But looking at the imper-
fections of workmanship and possible flaws in the
castings, Mr. Rennie was probably justified in making
the strengths such as he did, in order to ensure the
greatest possible solidity and durability — qualities which
eminently characterize his works, and perhaps most of
all, his majestic metropolitan bridges. Although the
Southwark Bridge was built before the Railway era,

VOL. II. O

194

RENNIE'S BRIDGES.

PAKT VII.

which has given so great an impetus to the construction
of iron bridges, it still stands pre-eminent in its class,
and is a model of what a bridge should be. Its design
was as bold as its execution was masterly. Mr. Robert
Stephenson has well said of it that, "as an example of
arch-construction, it stands confessedly unrivalled as
regards its colossal proportions, its architectural effect,
and the general simplicity and massive character of its
details." l

1 Article on Iron Bridges in ' Encyclopedia Britannica.'

WATERLOO BRIDGE. [By R. P. Leitch.]

CHAP. YJL

LONDON DOCKS.

195

CHAPTER VII.

ME. BENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

THE growth of the shipping business, and the increase
in our home and foreign commerce, led to numerous ex-
tensive improvements in the harbours of Britain about
the beginning of the present century. The natural
facilities of even the most favourably situated ports,
though to some extent improved by art, no longer suf-
ficed for the accommodation of their trade. Compara-
tively little had as yet been done to improve the port
of London itself, the great focus of the maritime and
commercial industry of Britain.1 It is true its noble river
the Thames provided a great amount of shipping room
and a vast extent of shore convenience between Millwall
and London Bridge ; but the rise and fall of the tide twice
in every day, and the great exposure of the vessels
lying in the river to risks of collisions, and other
drawbacks, were felt to be evils which the shipping
interest found it necessary to remedy. Besides the
crowding of the river by ships and lighters — the larger
vessels having to anchor in the middle of the stream as
low as Blackwall, from which their cargoes were lightered
to the warehouses higher up the Thames — the warehouse

1 The increase in the trade of London is exhibited by the following abstract
of vessels entered at the port at different periods since the beginning of last
century : —

YEARS.

BRITISH.

FOREIGN.

COLLIERS AND COASTERS.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

1702
I?,")!
1798

839
1498
1649

80,040
198,023
397,096

496
184
1771

76,995
36,346
229,991

No return.
Do.
10,133

No return.
Do.
1,250,449

1860

6320

1,828,911

4857

1,152,499

18,346

3,152,853

o 2

196

KENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

accommodation was found very inadequate in extent as
well as difficult of access. There was also a regular
system of plunder carried on in the conveyance of the
merchandise from the ship's side to the warehouses, the
account of which, given in Mr. Colquhoun's work on
the ' Commerce and Police of the Thames,' affords a
curious contrast to the security and regularity with
which the shipping operations of the port are carried on
at the present day. Lightermen, watermen, labourers,
sailors, mates and captains occasionally, and even the
officers of the revenue, were leagued together in a
system of pilfering valuables from the ..open barges.
The lightermen claimed as their right the perquisites
of " wastage " and " leakage," and they took care that
these two items should include as much as possible.
There were regular establishments on shore for receiving
and disposing of the stolen merchandise.1 The Thames
Police was established, in 1798, for the purpose of
checking this system of wholesale depredation ; but, so
long as the goods were conveyed from the ship's side in
open lighters, and the open quays formed the principal
shore accommodation — sugar hogsheads, barrels, tubs,
baskets, boxes, bales, and other packages, being piled
up in confusion on every available foot of space — it was
clear that mere police regulations would be unequal to
meet the difficulty. It was also found that the confused
manner in which the imports were brought ashore led

1 Mr. Colquhoun, the excellent
Police Magistrate, estimated that, in
1798, the depredations on the foreign
and coasting trade amounted to the
almost incredible sum of 506,000^.,
and on the West India trade to
232,0002.— together 738,0002. ! He
stated the number of depredators — in-
cluding mates, inferior officers, crews,
revenue-officers, watermen, lighter-
men, watchmen, &c. — to be 10,850 ;
and the number of opulent and in-
ferior receivers, dealers in old iron,
small chandlers, publicans, &c., in-

terested in the plunder, to be 550 !
Colquhoun's book, and its descrip-
tions of the lumpers, scuffle-hunters,
long-apron men, bumboat men and
women, river-pirates, light-horsemen,
and other characters who worked at
the water-side, with their skilful ap-
pendages of jiggers, bladders with
nozzles, pouches, bags, sacks, pockets,
&c., form a picture of life on the Thames
sixty years since worthy to rank with
Mayhew's * London Labour and Lon-
don Poor ' of the present day.

CHAP. VII.

LONDON DOCKS.

197

to a vast amount of smuggling', by which the honest
merchant was placed at a disadvantage at the same time
that the revenue was cheated. The Government, there-
fore, for the sake of its income, and the traders for the
security of their merchandise, alike desired to provide
an eifectual remedy for these evils.

Mr. Rennie was consulted on the subject in 1798, and
requested to devise a plan. Before that time various
methods had been suggested, such as quays and ware-
houses, with jetties, along the river on both sides ; but
all these eventually gave place to that of floating docks
or basins communicating with the river, surrounded
with quays and warehouses, shut in by a lofty enclosure-
wall, so that the whole of the contained vessels and their
merchandise should be placed, as it were, under lock
and key. By such a method it was believed the goods
could be loaded and unloaded with the greatest economy
and despatch, whilst the Customs duties would be levied
with facility, at the same time that the property of
the merchants was effectually protected against depre-
dation. At the beginning of the century a small
dock had existed on the Thames, called the Greenland
Dock ; but it was of very limited capacity, and only
used by whaling vessels. Docks had existed at Liver-
pool for a considerable period, which had been greatly
extended of recent years ; so that there was no novelty in
the idea of providing accommodation of a similar kind on
the Thames, though it is certainly remarkable that, with
the extraordinary trade of the metropolis, the expedient
should not have been adopted at a much earlier period.

The first of the modern floating docks actually
constructed on the Thames was the West India,
occupying the isthmus that formerly connected the Isle
of Dogs with Poplar, and of which Mr. Jessop l was the

1 Mr. William Jessop, C.E., was
among the most eminent engineers of
his day. His father was engaged

under Smeaton in the building of the
Eddystone Lighthouse ; and, dying in
1761, he left the guardianship of his

198

EENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

engineer. At the same period, in 1800, a company was
formed by the London merchants for the purpose of
constructing docks at a point as near the Exchange as
might be practicable, for the accommodation of general
merchandise, and of this scheme Mr. Eennie was ap-
pointed the engineer. He proposed several designs for
consideration on a scale more or less extensive, adopting
his usual course of submitting alternative plans, from
which practical men might make a selection of the one
most suitable for the purposes of their business ; at the
same time inviting suggestions, which he afterwards
worked up into his more complete designs. As the
future trade of London was an unknown quantity, he
wisely provided for the extension of the docks as circum-
stances might afterwards require.

In carrying out the London Docks it was deemed
advisable, in the first instance, to limit the access to the
present Middle River Entrance at Bell Dock, 150 feet

family to that engineer, who adopted
William as his pupil, and carefully
brought him up to the same profes-

WILLIAM JE3SOP, C.E.

sion. With Smeaton Jessop continued
for ten years ; and, after leaving
him, he was engaged successively on
the Aire and Calder, the Calder and
Hebble, and the Trent Navigations.

He also executed the Cromford and
the Nottingham Canals ; the Lough -
borough and Leicester, and the Horn-
castle Navigations ; but the most
extensive and important of his works
of this kind was the Grand Junction
Canal, by which the whole of the
north-western inland navigation of the
kingdom was brought into direct con-
nection with the metropolis. He was
also employed as engineer for the Cale-
donian Canal, in which he was suc-
ceeded by Telford, who carried out the
work. He was the engineer of the West
India Docks (1800-2) and of the Bristol
Docks (1803-8), both works of great
importance. He was the first engineer
who was employed to lay out and
construct railroads as a branch of his
profession; the Croydonand Merstham
Kailroad, worked by donkeys and
mules, having been constructed by
him as early as 1803. He also laid
down short railways in connection
with his canals in Derbyshire, York-
shire, and Nottinghamshire. During
the later years of his life he was
much afflicted by paralysis, and died
in 1814.

CHAP. VII.

LONDON DOCKS.

199

long and 40 feet wide, with the cill laid five feet below
low water of spring tides. The entrance lock com-
municated with a capacious entrance basin, called the
Wapping Basin, covering a space of three acres, and this
again with the great basin called the Western Dock,
1260 feet long and 960 feet wide, covering a surface of
20 acres. The bottom of the dock was laid 20 feet
below the level of high water of an 18 feet tide. The
quays next to the river were five feet above high water,
increasing to nine feet at the Great Dock. From the
east side of the latter, it was ultimately proposed to make
two or more docks, communicating with each other
and with a larger and deeper entrance lower down the
river at Shadwell ; all of which works have since been
carried out.

PLAN OF LONDON DOCKS.

As the site of the Docks was previously in a great
measure occupied by houses, considerable time neces-
sarily elapsed before these could be purchased and
cleared away ; so that the works were not commenced
until the spring of 1801, when two steam-engines were
erected, of 50 horse power each, for pumping the water,

200

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

and three minor engines for other purposes, such as
grinding mortar, working the pile-engine, and landing
materials from the jetty — an application of steam power
as an economist of labour which Mr. Rennie was among
the first to introduce in the execution of such works.
The coffer-dam for the main entrance, and the excava-
tion of the Docks, were begun in the spring of 1802 ;*
after which time the works were carried forward with
great vigour until their completion on the 30th of
January, 1805, when they were opened with consider-
able ceremony.

At a subsequent period Mr. Rennie designed the
present westernmost or Hermitage entrance lock and
basin, the former of which is 150 feet long and 38 feet
wide, with the cill laid two feet below low water of spring
tides ; the basin and main dock covering a surface of

1 The locks were founded upon
piles driven firmly into the soil, with
rows of grooved and long-end sheet-
ing piles in front of and behind the
gates, in order to prevent the water
from getting under them. The cham-
ber between the lock-gates was formed
by an inverted arch of masonry 2 feet
6 inches thick, strongly embedded in
brickwork. The side- walls of the
lock recesses and chamber were 7 feet
thick, with strong counterfoots be-
hind at the proper intervals. The
whole of the locks and chambers
were built of fine masonry, com-
posed principally of hard blue sand-
stone from Dundee. All the retain-
ing walls of the basins and docks
were made curvilinear in the face,
drawn from a radius of 80 feet, the
centre being level with the top of the
wall, and the bottom being inclined
at the same angle as the radius. The
wall was of a parallel thickness of
6 feet, except three or four footings at
the back, where there were also
counterfoots 3 feet 4 inches square,
15 feet asunder. The dock walls
were founded generally upon a strong
bed of gravel, which rendered piling
unnecessary, and were built upon a

flooring of beech and elm plank 6
inches thick. Under the front and
back of this flooring ran a strong cill
12 inches square, to which the planks
were firmly spiked. The walls and
counterfoots were built of brickwork,
the front, for 14 inches inwards,
being formed of vitrified pavier
bricks, and the remainder of good
hard burned stock, the joints being
a quarter of an inch thick in front
and three-eighths thick at the back ;
the whole well bedded in excellent
mortar made by a mill. There were
two through or binding courses of
stone, 14 inches thick in front, in-
creasing in thickness backwards ac-
cording to the radius of the front of
the wall. The whole of the locks
were furnished with cast iron turning
or swivel-bridges erected across them.
The works were generally done by
contract, but the locks, which re-
quired greater care, accuracy, and
completeness, were executed by day-
work, under the engineer's immediate
direction. [For further particulars as
to these docks see Sir John Rennie's
able work on 'British and Foreign
Harbours ;' Art. London Docks.]

CHAP. VII. LONDON DOCKS= 201

one acre and a quarter. Another small dock of one acre
was afterwards added on the north-east side of the
Great Basin, exclusively devoted to the tobacco trade ;
and it was ultimately extended to the Thames at Shad-
well, as contemplated in the original design.

After the Docks had been opened for trade, Mr.
Rennie gave his careful attention to the working details,
and he was accustomed from time to time to make sug-
gestions with a view to increased despatch and economy
in the conduct of the business. Thus, in 1808, he re-
commended that the whole of the lifting cranes in the
Docks should be worked by the power of a steam-engine
instead of by human or horse labour. He estimated
that the saving thus effected, in the case of only twenty-
six cranes, would amount to at least 1500Z. a year,
besides ensuring greater regularity and despatch of
work ; and, if applied to the whole of the cranes along
the Docks and in the warehouses, a much greater annual
saving might be anticipated. It was, however, regarded
as too bold an innovation for the time ; and we believe
the suggestion has not been carried out to this day,
the cranes in the London Docks being still worked
by hand labour, at a great waste of time and money,
as well as loss of business. Another of Mr. Eennie's
valuable suggestions, with a view to greater economy,
was the adoption of tramways all round the quays, pro-
vided with trucks, by means of which the transfer of
goods from one part of the Dock to another might be
effected with the greatest ease and in the least possible
time. But this too was disregarded. Labour-saving
processes were not then valued as they now are. The
application and uses of machinery were as yet imper-
fectly understood, and there were in most quarters
powerful prejudices to be overcome before it could be
introduced. To this day the goods in the London Docks
are hauled in trollies, waggons, or hand-barrows from
ship to ship, or from the vessels to the respective

202 RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS. PART VII.

bonded warehouses ; and it still remains matter of sur-
prise that a system so clumsy, so wasteful of time, so
obstructive to rapid loading and unloading in dock,
should be permitted to continue.

Shortly after these works were set on foot, and when
the great importance and economy of floating docks
began to be recognised by commercial men, another
project of a similar character was started, to provide
accommodation exclusively for vessels of the East India
Company, of from 1000 to 1800 tons burden. A com-
pany was formed for the purpose, and an Act was
obtained in 1803, the site selected being immediately
to the west of the river Lea, at the point at which it
enters the Thames, and where at that time there were
two small floating basins or docks, provided with wooden
locks, and surrounded with wooden walls, called the
Brunswick and Perry's Docks. These it was determined
to purchase and include in the proposed new docks, of
which, however, they formed but a small part. Mr.
Rennie and Mr. Ralph Walker were associated as engi-
neers in carrying the works into execution, and they
were finished and opened for business on the 4th of
August, 1806. They consisted of an entrance lock into
the Thames 210 feet long and 47 feet wide, with the cill
laid 7 feet below low water of spring tides. This lock
is connected with a triangular entrance basin, covering
a space of 4J acres, on the west side of which it com-
municates by a lock with a dock expressly provided for
vessels outward bound, called the Export Dock, 760
feet long and 463 feet wide, covering a surface of 8^
acres. At the north end of the entrance basin is the
Import Dock, 1410 feet long and 463 feet wide, covering
a surface of 18§ acres. The depth of these basins is
22 feet below high water of ordinary spring tides.
The total surface of dock room, including quays, sheds,
and warehouses, is about 55 acres. The original capital
of the East India Dock Company was 660,000^. ; but

CHAP. VII.

EAST INDIA DOCKS.

203

Mr. Rennie constructed and completed the Docks for
a sum considerably within that amount. Eventually
they were united to the West India Docks, under the
joint directorate of the East and West India Dock

PLAN OF EAST AND WEST INDIA DOCKS.

Company.1 Mr. Rennie also introduced into these
Docks many improved methods of working ; his ma-
chinery, invented by him for transporting immense
blocks of .mahogany by a system of railways and loco-
motive cranes, having, in the first six months, effected a
saving in men's wages more than sufficient to defray

1 Among the improvements adopted
by Mr. Rennie in these docks may be
mentioned the employment of cast
iron, then an altogether novel expe-
dient, for the roofing of the sheds.
One of these, erected by him in 1813,
was 1300 feet long and 29 feet
6 inches in span, supported on cast
iron columns 7^ inches in diameter at
bottom and 5| at top. Another,
still more capacious, of 54 feet
clear span between the supports, was
erected by him over the mahogany
warehouses in 1817. He also intro-
duced an entirely new description of

iron cranes, first employing wheel-
work in connection with them, by
which they worked much more easily
and at a great increase of power.
He entirely re-arranged the working
of the mahogany sheds, greatly to the
despatch of business and the economy
of labour. His quick observation en-
abled him to point out new and im-
proved methods of despatching work,
eyen to those who were daily occu-
pied in the docks, but whose eyes
had probably become familiar with
their hurry-scurry and confusion.

204 RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS. PART VII.

their entire original cost, besides the increased expedi-
tion in the conduct of the whole Dock business.

Some of Mr. Rennie's harbour works at other places
were of considerable magnitude and importance ; the
growing trade of the country leading to his frequent
employment in constructing new harbours or extending
and improving old ones. In almost every instance he
had the greatest possible difficulty in inducing the per-
sons locally interested to provide harbour space suffi-
ciently extensive as well as secure. When asked to
give his advice on such questions, he began with making
numerous practical inquiries on the spot; he surveyed
the adjacent coast, took soundings all round the proposed
harbourage, noted the set of the currents, the direction
of the prevailing winds, the force and action of the land
streams, and the operations of the scour of the tides upon
the shore. He also inquired into the trade to be accom-
modated, the probability of its expansion or otherwise,
and prepared his plans accordingly. Writing to Mr.
Foster, of Liverpool, in 1810, he said, "It seems to me
that your merchants are much less liberal in their ideas
than is generally supposed. The account you give me
furnishes another strong proof of the necessity of en-
larging your scale of docks." Adverting to another
scheme on which he had been consulted, he added, " It
is my intention to impress upon the minds of the pro-
moters the necessity for a much larger scale of docks
than is proposed ; and though they may blame me now,
they will thank me afterwards ; as larger accommodation
will not only afford great and immediate relief to the
shipping now, but will save the expenditure of much
money hereafter."

As early as 1793 he was employed by the Commis-
sioners of British Fisheries to report as to the best
means of improving the harbour of Wick, — the only
haven capable of affording shelter for ships, in certain
states of the wind, which was to be found along an

CHAP. VII. IMPROVEMENT OF THE CLYDE. 205

extent of 120 miles of rock-bound coast. In his
masterly report he boldly proposed to abandon the old
system of jetties, and to make an entirely new harbour
beyond the bar ; thus at once getting rid of this great
and dangerous obstacle to improvement, securing at the
same time greater depth of water, better shelter, and
the means of easier access and departure for vessels of
all burdens. In order to accommodate the trade of
Wick, he recommended that a canal should be made
from the new harbour, having a basin at its termina-
tion in the town, where vessels would be enabled to
float, and to load and unload at all times. He also
proposed an effective plan of sluicing, with the view
of scouring the outer harbour when necessary. It
is much to be regretted that this plan was not carried
out, and that so important a national work has been
postponed almost until our own day ; nor does the
plan since adopted, though exceedingly costly, seem
calculated to secure the objects which would have been
obtained by executing Mr. Eennie's more comprehensive
yet much more economical design. He was consulted
about the same time respecting the improvement of the
harbour of Aberdeen ; but though want of means then
prevented his recommendations from being acted on, his
report ] produced a salutary effect in pointing out the
true mode of dealing with a difficult subject, and most
of his suggestions have since been carried out by other
engineers.

Of still greater importance was his report on the
improvement of the navigation of the river Clyde, for
the accommodation of the rapidly increasing trade of
Glasgow. Perhaps in no river Jbave the alterations
executed after well-devised plane been more extraor-
dinary than in this. Less than a century ago, the Clyde
at Glasgow was accessible only to herring-boats, whereas

See Sir John Eennie's ' British and Foreign Harbours ;' Art. Aberdeen.

206

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

now it floats down with every tide vessels of thousands
of tons burden, capable of wrestling with the storms of
the Atlantic. Watt, Smeaton, and Golborne had been
consulted at different times, and various improvements
were suggested by them. Watt laid out a ship-canal
from Glasgow to the sea. Smeaton proposed to con-
struct a dam and lock at Marlin Ford, so as to allow
vessels drawing only four feet of water to pass up to
the quay at the Broomielaw. The clearing out of the
channel by artificial means was, however, found the most
effectual method of opening up the navigation of the
river, and at length all other plans gave way to this.
Golborne had run out jetties at various points, by which
the scour of the tide had been so directed that consider-
ably greater depth had been secured. Mr. Eennie
examined the entire river below Glasgow in 1799, and
the result was his elaborate report of that year. He
recommended numerous additions to the jetties, as well
as many improvements in their direction. He also
advised that a system of dredging should be com-
menced, which was attended with the best possible
results ; and the same course having been followed by
succeeding engineers, the Clyde has now become one of
the busiest navigable thoroughfares in the world. The
plan which he shortly after prepared and submitted of
a range of commodious docks along both banks of the
river at the Broomielaw, showed his sagacity and fore-
sight in an eminent degree ; but unhappily it was con-
sidered too bold, and perhaps too costly, and was not
carried out.1

1 Mr. Rennie proposed to form two
docks on the Broomielaw side of the
river — one 1350 feet long and 160
feet wide, with two entrances, and
another 900 feet long and 200 feet
wide; with a third dock upon the
Windmill Croft, on the south side of
the river, 300 feet long and 200 feet
wide; the whole presenting a total

length of quayage of 6120 feet, besides
a river quay wall 1150 feet long.
This magnificent plan, proposed more
than half a century since, viewed by
the experience of this day, shows how
clearly Rennie anticipated the com-
mercial growth and manufacturing
prosperity of Glasgow, for which these
projected docks would have afforded

CHAP. VII. GHIMSBY DOCK WALLS. 207

At the opposite end of the island he was consulted (in
1796) as to the best method of improving the harbour
of Torbay, and submitted a series of able plans, only a
small part of which were carried into effect. Shortly
after (in 1797) we find him inspecting the sluicing
arrangements of the harbour then under construction at
Grimsby, when he furnished a plan of the great lock
which it was necessary to place at the entrance of the
canal leading to the dock, and which was in his opinion
indispensable for scouring the harbour entrance and
keeping it clear of silt. This lock was executed according
to his plans by the local engineer ; but it appeared that
sufficient precautions had not been taken in founding and
proportioning the dimensions of the retaining walls, on
which Mr. Rennie had not been requested to give an
opinion, the work appearing to be of so simple and
ordinary a character. But shortly after the building
was begun, a considerable portion gave way, and he
was again sent for to inquire and report as to the cause
of the failure. He found that the defect lay in the
nature of the ground on which the foundation was built,
which was so soft that it would not bear the weight of
solid walls of the ordinary construction. Always ready
with an expedient to meet a difficulty, he directed that,
without diminishing the quantity of material employed,
it should be distributed over a greater base, for the
purpose of securing a larger bearing surface. With
this object he prepared his plan of the requisite
structure, adopting the expedient of hollow walls, which
he afterwards employed so extensively in his pier and
harbour works. They not only bore upon a larger base,

ample accommodation, at an esti-
mated capital cost (at the time the
plans were made) of only 130,000?.
What would not Glasgow give now
to have the benefit of Rennie's docks ?
Indeed it is remarkable that, to this
<lay, so little has been done to realize

his idea, and provide dock accommo-
dation for the trade of the Clyde,
which is now quite as much needed
as the same kind of accommodation
was in the Thames at the beginning
of the present century.

208

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

but were found even stronger than solid walls con-
taining an equal quantity of material, and those at
Grimsby have stood firm until the present day. The
contrivance was thought so valuable, that some years
after Mr. Rennie had invented it, Sir Samuel Bentham
(in 1811) took out a patent for the plan; but of this
Mr. Eennie took no notice, having himself, as we have
seen, been the original inventor of the process. Indeed,
his attention had long before this time been directed
to the best form of walls for resisting the pressure
of water; and, as early as the year 1793, we find him
recommending the adoption of curved walls, in place of
the inclined straight-faced walls with perpendicular back
formerly adopted.1

Another important harbour on which Mr. Rermie
was early employed was that of Holyhead, situated at
the point of the island of Anglesea nearest to the Irish
capital. Although so conveniently placed for purposes
of embarkation, everything had as yet been left to
nature, which had only provided plenty of deep water
and many bold rocks. But Holyhead had neither pier
nor jetty, nor any convenience whatever adapting it for
harbour uses. Besides, the place was almost inaccessible
from inland by reason of narrow, rugged, and in many
places almost precipitous roads. The dangerous ferries

1 The occasion on which this plan
was first recommended was in Mr.
Rennie's report (1793) on the Hutchi-
son Bridge across the Clyde. That
bridge, erected by another engineer,
fell down on the removal of the cen-
tres, on which Mr. Rennie was sent
for, post haste, by the Lord Provost
and magistrates of Glasgow to confer
with them on the subject; and his
advice as to the rebuilding of the
bridge on another site was subse-
quently adopted. It appeared, from
an inspection of the ruined piers, that
a breast or quay wall had been built
on the south side of the river, and to
the west of the bridge, which had not

been executed according to contract.
The report stated : " The above walls
should be enlarged in their dimen-
sions and altered in their construction ;
they ought to be carried at least to
the level of the river bed, and made
five feet thick at the base next to the
bridge, and four feet thick at the top,
battering one-fifth of their height in
a curvilinear form, the beds of the
stones being radiated to the centre of
the curve ; as the height lessens, the
dimensions of the walls may be dimi-
nished in the same proportion, and,
if built as above described, I have no
doubt of the works being perma-
nent,"

CHAP. VI f. HOLTHEAD HARBOUR. 209

at Conway and Menai also presented serious obstacles
to travelling by that route ; and hence the port of Liver-
pool, and Park Grate on the Dee near Chester, continued
to be the principal places of embarkation for persons
proceeding to Ireland, until the beginning of the present
century. When the Act of Union was passed, the
Government determined to bring the two countries into
closer communication with each other ; first by means of
convenient roads through North Wales, and next by
capacious harbours at Holyhead on the one coast and at
Kingstown on the other. In the year 1802 Mr. Rennie
was requested to report upon the subject, and he pro-
ceeded to Wales for the purpose of examining the
Conway and Menai ferries, and the capabilities of Holy-
head as a port. It was on that occasion that he
recommended the construction of the permanent fixed
bridges across both Straits after the plans which we
have above referred to ; but nothing was done towards
carrying out his suggestions, and the whole question
slept until the year 1809, when he was requested by
the Government to prepare plans of a harbour at Holy-
head, as the first step towards the desired improvement ;
and his design having been approved, the works were
begun in the following year.

The form of the harbour of Holyhead has been
determined, in a great measure, by the cliffs which
there overhang the sea, and on the verge of which
stand the ancient church and cemetery of the place.
The works designed by Mr. Rennie consisted of a pier
1150 feet long, extending in a direction nearly due east
from the inner side of Salt Island, which is separated
by a narrow channel from the main island of Holyhead.
The pier terminated at a depth of about 14 feet at low
water of spring tides. At 80 feet distant from the
extremity of the main pier there was a jetty 60 feet
long, carried out at right angles to its inner face,
to check any swell which might come round the

VOL. II. P

210

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART Yll.

pier-head from entering the harbour, and to throw it
upon the opposite shore. The roadway was 50 feet
wide, and 8 feet above the level of high water of spring
tides, the parapet being 7 feet higher. The outer or sea
side of the pier was formed by a flat paved slope of
rough stone, laid at an inclination of 5 to 1. The quay-
wall was curved on the face one-fifth of the height ; the
thickness of the masonry being 10 feet upon the aver-
age, strengthened at the back by strong counterfoots,

at the regular distance of 15 feet apart. The founda-
tion of this wall was laid below low water by means of
long stones, inclined to each other, in the same manner
as at Howth Harbour, where the plan had been found
to answer remarkably well. The centre of the pier
was composed of loose rubble, taken from the adjacent
shore, packed solidly ; the outside being paved with
large angular blocks varying from one to ten tons in
weight, well wedged together. The inside of the parapet
was built of solid masonry. The pier-head and jetty

CHAP. VII.

HOLYHEAD HARBOUR.

211

were founded below low water by means of the diving-
bell. The works were begun in 1810 and finished in
1824, and during their progress a small pier was run
out from the Pibeo rock on the opposite shore, 550 feet
long, leaving an opening between it and the main pier
of 420 feet. This pier was provided with a jetty on the
inside, similar to that on the main pier, composed of the
same kind of materials, and finished in like manner.
Within it was a small dry dock for merchant vessels.

HOLYHEAD HAKBOUK. [By K. P JLeitch.]

The total low-water space covered by these two piers
was about six acres ; but there was more than double
that area lit high water, besides a large shallow space of
about thirty acres for timber.

In conformity with his usual practice, Mr. Rennie so
laid out this harbour as to be capable of extension, on
the same principles, according as the trade of the port
might require. Part of his original design was to
devote a large space in the inner portion of the bay,
which is dry at low water, to a wet dock of 23 acres.

p 2

212

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

Had this been carried out, it would have proved of
immense advantage to the numerous land-bound vessels
which have occasion to put into the port. His original
plan also contemplated a pier extending from the outer
end of Salt Island, parallel to the one above described,
1500 feet long, terminating at a depth of 25 feet at low
water ; and as it would have been about 1400 feet
distant from the other, and was to be provided with a
jetty at right angles to its extremity, it would have pro-
vided an additional low-water harbour of 40 acres. The
estimated cost of this work was 240,000/. ; and if to
this be added the probable outlay on the additional
wet dock above mentioned of 124,000/., it will be
found that a total low- water space of 46 acres, and an
additional tidal space of 25 acres, together with a wet
dock of 23 acres, or a total floating area of about 94
acres, with an ample extent of quay accommodation, suf-
ficient for any amount of packet or general commercial
business, would have been provided at a comparatively
moderate expenditure. Unhappily Mr. Rennie's plans
were not carried out; and though his original design
admirably answered the purpose intended, and the whole
of the packet service was satisfactorily performed at the
old port for many years, when an extension of Holyhead
Harbour was determined upon, the Government (after
Mr. Rennie's death) employed an engineer who pro-
ceeded upon an entirely new plan, the execution of
which, when completed, will probably cost upwards of
two millions sterling ; and, after all, when the rocky
and bad nature of the holding-ground within it is taken
into account,1 its security and convenience are still
matters of considerable doubt amongst naval men.

During the period in which he was engaged in carry-
ing out the works at Holyhead, Mr. Rennie was also

1 It will be remembered that the
Or eat Eastern was nearly wrecked in
consequence of the bad holding-ground

within the new harbour in the year
1859.

CHAP. VJL

HULL DOCKS.

213

constructing harbours at Howth and Kingstown, with
the same object of facilitating the communication be-
tween the ports of England and Ireland. Howth Har-
bour was opened for packets in 1819, previous to which
time they had sailed from the Pigeon House, at the
mouth of the Liffey, in Dublin Bay. When the piers
at Kingstown Harbour were sufficiently advanced to be
available for the service, the packets were removed
to that port, the depth of water being greater, and the
situation on the whole more convenient.1

Among the other harbour works constructed by Mr.
Rennie in England, were the Hull Docks. These were
of great importance, and urgently needed for the accom-
modation of the large trade of that rising port. What
is called the Humber Dock was begun in 1803 and
finished in 1809.2 The principal difficulty encountered
in the execution of these works was in getting in the
foundations of the dock walls — the bottom presenting
a great depth of soft mud. They were set on timber
piles and platforms well bound together, with truncated
arches of stone over them. A powerful steam-engine
was employed to draw the water from the coffer-dam in
front of the Humber entrance, to enable the foundations
of the cill to be got in, and the lock gates (which were

1 Mr. Rennie's plan of Kingstown
Harbour consisted of two piers of four
anus each, carried out from the shore
3700 feet distant from each other,
their heads inclined inwards at an
angle of 122 degrees, and terminating
in a depth of 26 feet at low water of
spring tides. The width between the
outer angles of the two outer arms of
the pier was 1150 feet, the entrance
pointing N.E. £ E. The total space
enclosed was 250 acres. The works
were commenced in 1817, the first
stone being laid by the Earl of Whit-
worth, the Lord Lieutenant ; and the
works were still in progress at Mr.
Rennie's death in 1821. The har-
bour subsequently fell under the

jurisdiction of the Board of Irish
Works, and all sorts of new plans
were adopted at variance with the
original design of Mr. Kennie, in
carrying out which it is to be feared
that the harbour has been seriously
injured.

2 This dock is 900 feet long by 370
wide. It covers a surface of 7J acres,
and is capable of holding about seventy
sail of square-rigged vessels. The
entrance lock communicating with
the tidal harbour opening into the
Humber is 42 feet wide and 158 feet
long between the gates, with the cill
land 6 feet below low water of spring
tides.

214 RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS. PART VII.

of stout oak) to be fixed. It was in the course of execut-
ing the Hull Harbour works that Mr. Rennie invented
the dredging-machine, as it is now used, for the purpose
of clearing the basins of mud and silt. Various unsuc-
cessful attempts had before been made to contrive an
apparatus with this object. A series of rollers, armed
with spikes to rake up the deposit, followed by buckets
and spoons to lift it from the bottom, worked by means
of a walking wheel between two barges, was the most
common practice ; but it was clumsy, tedious, and
inefficient. Other machines for a similar purpose were
driven by tread-wheels. At length the idea was taken
up of fixing a series of buckets to an endless chain,
worked by horse power. Mr. Rennie carefully investi-
gated all that had previously been attempted in this
direction, and then proceeded to plan and construct a
complete dredging-machine, with improved cast iron
machinery, to which he yoked the power of the steam-
engine. He was thereby enabled to raise as much as
300 tons of mud and gravel in a day from a depth
of 22 feet; and the expedient proved completely suc-
cessful. The same kind of machine was extensively
used by Mr. Rennie in executing his various harbour
works. One of these, constructed for the excavation of
the Perry Dock at Blackwall in 1802, was even fur-
nished with a powerful apparatus for splintering rocks
and large stones which could not otherwise be removed ;
and it answered the purpose most effectually. In the
Clyde, the Thames, the Mersey, and the Witham, as
well as in various foreign rivers, the dredging-machine,
as contrived by Mr. Rennie, has been found invaluable ;
and there is scarcely a port or harbour in the United
Kingdom in which it has not been most beneficially
employed.

In addition to these docks and harbours, Mr. Rennie
furnished the plans of the new quays and docks at Green-
ock on the Clyde in 1802 ; and those at Leith, the port

CHAP. VII.

GREENOCK— LEITH- SOUTHAMPTON.

215

of Edinburgh, in 1804. Neither of these schemes was
carried out to the full extent, chiefly for want of
funds ; but the improvements effected at the former port
were considerable, and at Leith two large docks, 1500
feet long, and two small ones, 750 feet long, constructed
along the shore between the old tidal harbour and the
village of Newhaven, provided a large amount of addi-
tional accommodation for the growing trade of that port.
He was also consulted in 1805 respecting the improve-
ment of Southampton ; and the measures which he then
recommended in his elaborate and able report formed
the beginning of a series of works of almost national
importance. Mr. Rennie's clear-sighted prognostications
of the future prosperity of the port — arising from its
great natural advantages in respect of security, capa-
bility of extension, the excellent anchorage of South-
ampton Water, the central situation of the place on the
south coast, and its moderate distance from London —
have been amply fulfilled; its subsequent connection
with the capital by railway having given an impulse to
its improvement and prosperity far beyond what even
his sagacious mind could at that time have foreseen.1

1 It would occupy much space to
mention in detail the various harbours
in the United Kingdom which Mr.
Rennie was employed to examine, re-
port upon, and improve ; but the fol-
lowing summary may suffice : — In
England, lie examined and reported
on Rye Harbour (1801); Dover
(1802); Hastings projected harbour
(1806); Berwick, where he con-
structed the fine pier at the mouth of
the Tweed, 2740 feet in length (1807) ;
Margate Harbour (carried out 1808) ;
Liverpool Docks, on which he made
an elaborate report (1809); North
Sui iderland (1809) ; Shoreham (1810) ;
Newhaven (1810); Harbour of Refuge
in the Downs, north of Sandown
Castle, on which he made a careful
report (1812); Prince's Dock, Liver-
pool, of which he furnished the de-
si-ns (1812); Bridlington (1812);

Sidmouth (1812) ; Rye, a second re-
port (1813) ; Blyth(1814); Ramsey,
Isle of Man (1814) ; Port Leven,
Mount's Bay, Cornwall (1814); Bridge-
water (1814) ; Whitehaven (1814) ;
Scarborough (1816); the improve-
ment of the navigation of the river
Tyne (1816); Yarmouth (1818);
Fishguard, Wales (1819) ; Kidwelly,
Wales (1820) ; and Sunderland
(1821). He also suggested vari-
ous improvements, many of which
were carried out, in the following
harbours of Scotland, besides those
above mentioned : — Loch Buy, Isle of
Skye (1793) ; Port Mahomack, near
Tarbet Ness (1793); Kirkcudbright
and Saltcoats (1799); Craigmore,
near Boroughstoness (1804) ; Mont-
rose (1805); Ayr, where the im-
provements recommended by him
were carried out (1805) ; Peterhead

216

RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

In his harbours, as in all his engineering works, Mr.
Rennie proceeded upon certain definite principles, which
he sought to arrive at after a careful study of the whole
subject. He was averse to all makeshifts and temporary
expedients. When he was asked to give his advice as
to the best means of rendering a harbour efficient, he
stated his views fully and conscientiously, holding no-
thing in reserve. He set forth the whole cost which he
believed would be incurred, and no less. He abhorred
setting traps in the shape of low estimates to tempt men
to begin undertakings when he knew that they would be
exceeded. He spoke out the whole truth. " You want a
harbour," he would say, " of such strength as to be safe,
with piers able to resist the greatest possible force of the
sea. Well, here is the plan I recommend : it is the best
that I can suggest. But I tell you the whole cost which
I think will be incurred in its construction. Adopt the
plan or not, as you think proper." He would never
consent to reduce the strength of his piers and retaining
walls under the limits which he thought essential for
stability. He would not risk his reputation and character
upon slop-work ; he would rather lose his chance of em-
ployment altogether. Hence so many of his large but
effective designs for the improvement of our most import-
ant harbours remained unexecuted, or were only carried
out to a limited extent, sometimes by engineers who had
not mastered the fundamental principles on which his
plans were founded, and in such a manner as occasionally
to lead to vast inconvenience and almost endless expense.

In his report on the Earl of Elgin's proposed har-
bour at Charleston, on the north shore of the Frith

(1806) ; Frazerburgh, only partially
carried out (1806) ; Charleston (1807);
Alloa (1808) ; St. Andrew's (1808) ;
Portnessock, Galloway (1813); Ar-
drossau (1811 and 1815) ; and Port-
patrick (1819). In like manner he
was consulted, and reported, as to the

following Irish harbours: — Westport
(1805) ; Ardinglass (1809) ; Dublin
(1811); Balbriggan (1818); Dona-
ghadee (1819); and Belfast (1821).
He was also consulted respecting dry
docks at Malta (1815), and a harbour
and docks at Bermuda (1815).

CHAP. VII. PRINCIPLES OF HARBOUR CONSTRUCTION.

217

of Forth, in the year 1807, he very clearly laid down
the Lroad principles on which he held that such works
should be designed : " Every harbour," he said, " should
be so constructed as to have its mouth as much ex-
posed as possible to the direction from whence vessels
can most conveniently enter in stormy weather when
they are least manageable ; but the Heads should be
made of such a form as to admit of the least sea entering
it, or so as to occasion as little swell within the haven as
possible. This cannot by any practicable construction
be entirely avoided ; but means should be provided within
the harbour so as to reduce the recoil of the waves to a
minimum, — for it is the undertow or retiring sea, after
the breaking of a wave, that renders vessels most un-
manageable by making the helm lose its effect. At such
a time the mariner is at a loss what to do, or how to
manage his vessel ; and for the want of due attention to
these particulars many of the most considerable artificial
harbours in the kingdom are exceedingly difficult of
access, and some of them are most unsafe even when
entered." The great point, he held, was not only to
make a harbour to keep out the sea, but to do so in
such a manner as not to render its entrance from the
most exposed or dangerous quarter difficult in stormy
weather, when its shelter was most needed ; and while it
must be so designed as to afford a safe shelter for ship-
ping, it must also be easy to enter and easy to get
out of.1 That so many modern harbours, constructed

1 From the following brief descrip-
tion it will be observed how skilfully
he carried out these views in laying
out the intended harbour at Charles-
ton. He proposed to construct two
great piers, one placed at the western
extremity of the little inlet, to which
:i railway was being laid down — the
straight part extending outwards about
154 yards, from which there were to
be two kants of about 64 yards each,
the last going 57 yards below low-

water mark. From thence there was
to be a return bend about 70 yards
long, in a direction considerably to the
north of east. At 50 yards from the
extremity of this pier, another of the
same length was proposed to be made,
forming an angle with it of about 120
degrees, with two other kants similar
to the former, and a larger one ex-
tending to the shore ; the entrance
being 50 yards wide, and the outer
arm or kant of the east pier making

218

KENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS.

PART VII.

at great cost, are found comparatively inaccessible in
severe weather, is, we believe, to be accounted for
mainly by the circumstance that they have been laid
out after no definite rule or principle whatever. If they
succeed, it is often the result of a happy accident ; and
if they prove failures, it is supposed that it could not
have been helped. Even within the last twenty years
several expensive havens have been constructed, which
have proved to be so dangerous that they can scarcely
be used. But by Mr. Eennie's forms of piers, vessels,
if they have only steerage-way, must enter the har-
bour in safety. They cannot strike on the pier-heads,
if the most ordinary care be used, the very recoil
of the waves forcing them forward into port ; and,
as any swell which might enter would have ample
space to expend itself, the ship could either be brought
up, or take the beach without damage if necessary.
Again, a sailing vessel, on leaving the harbour, sup-
posing the wind to be blowing right in, could lie out
upon either tack and make an offing, if it were prudent
to put to sea at all. And although the narrowed distance
between the two pier-heads might be termed the entrance,

an angle of 120 degrees with it, so
that both the outer arms made simi-
lar, kants with each other. A large
space would thus be enclosed, which,
he believed, would make a very com-
modious and capacious harbour. " By
the above construction," he says in
his report, " though it may seem that
its exposure will admit of the swells
from the south and south-west getting
into the harbour, yet when it is con-
sidered that the angle at which a
wave will strike the Heads will occa-
sion a rebound in a similar angle to
that in which it is struck, and as this
will be the case from each Head, it
follows that these reflected waves,
meeting each other, will occasion a
resistance which will have the effect
of preventing a considerable part of
the sea-wave from entering the har-
bour, and what does enter it will ex-

pend its fury on the flat beach within
and soon become quiet." This might,
he added, be in a great measure pre-
vented by extending the pier-heads
further seaward, but which the large
additional expense precluded him
from recommending ; and, indeed,
there would always be abundant shel-
ter for the shipping under one or
other of the pier-heads. Besides, as
the Frith was only about two miles
wide at the place, the probability
was that there would be no such
heavy seas as to render so ex-
pensive a measure necessary. The
plan was, however, carried out to
only a limited extent, and we merely
quote the report for the valuable
principles to be observed in the con-
struction of harbours, which are here
so clearly enunciated.

CHAP. VII. IMPROVEMENT OF THE DIVING-BELL. 219

yet in effect it is not so ; for the moment the vessel gets
within the outer angles of the two return arms or kants,
she may be said to be in or out of the harbour, as the
case might be. In this way the fullest width of entrance
and the smallest space for the admission of swell are
ingeniously and effectually secured.

Whilst occupied on the works of the Eamsgate Har-
bour, of which he was appointed engineer in 1807, Mr.
Rennie made use of the diving-bell in a manner at once
novel and ingenious. It will be remembered that Smeaton
had employed this machine in the operations connected
with the building of the harbour;1 but his apparatus
being of wood, was exceedingly clumsy, and very
limited in its uses. In that state Mr. Rennie found it
when he was employed to carry on the extensive re-
pairs of 1813. The east pier-head was gradually giving
way and falling into the sea at its most advanced and
important point. No time was to be lost in setting
about its repair ; but from the peculiarly exposed and
difficult nature of the situation, this was no easy matter.
The depth at the pier-head was from 10 to 16 feet at
low water of spring tides ; besides, there was a rise of
15 feet at spring and 10 feet at neap tides, with a strong
current of from two to three knots an hour setting past
it both on the flood and at the ebb. The work was also
frequently exposed to a heavy sea, as well as to the risk
of vessels striking against it on entering or leaving the
harbour. Mr. Rennie' s first intention was to surround the
pier-head by a dam ; but the water was too deep and
the situation too exposed to admit of this expedient.
He then bethought him of employing the diving-bell ;
but in its then state he found it of very little use. No
other mode of action, however, presenting itself, he turned
his attention to its improvement as the only means of
getting down to the work, the necessity for repairing

See Life of Smeaton, p. 69.

220 RENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS. PART VII.

which had become more urgent than ever. Without loss
of time he proceeded to design and construct a bell of
cast iron, about 6 feet in height, 4i feet wide, and 6 feet
long, having one end rather thicker and heavier than
the other, that it might sink lower, and thus enable the
exhausted or breathed air more readily to escape. At
the top of the bell eight solid bull's-eyes of cast glass
were fixed, well secured and made water-tight by means
of leathern and copper collars covered with white lead,
and firmly secured by copper screw bolts. To the top
of the inside were attached two strong chains for the
purpose of fastening to them any materials that might
be required for the work, and flanges were cast along
the sides of the bell, on which two seats were placed,
with footboards, for the use of the men while working.
In the centre of the top was a circular hole, to which
a brass-screwed lining was firmly fixed, and into this a
brass nozzle was screwed, having a leathern water-tight
hose fastened to it, 2i inches in diameter. The hose was
in lengths of about 8 feet, with brass-screwed nozzles at
each end, so that it could be lengthened or shortened at
pleasure, according to the depth of water at which the
men in the bell were working. For the purpose of duly
supplying the machine with air, a double air-pump was
provided, which was worked by a sufficient number of
men. The air-pump was connected with the hose referred
to, and was either placed on the platform above or in a
boat which constantly attended the bell while under water.
Two stout wrought iron rings were fixed on the top of
the machine, to which ropes or chains were attached for
the purpose of lowering or raising it. The whole weighed
about five tons ; and it was attached to a circular frame-
work of timber, strengthened by iron, erected over where
the intended new circular pier-head was to be built, and
so fixed to a pivot near the centre of the work, that
it was enabled easily to traverse its outer limits. On
the top of the framework was a truck, made to move

CHAP. VTI.

RAMSGATE HARBOUR.

221

backwards or forwards by means of a rack on the
frame, and a corresponding wheel provided with teeth,
worked by a handle and pinion. On the truck were
placed two powerful double-purchase crabs or windlasses,
one for working the diving-bell suspended from it, and
the other for lowering stone blocks or other materials
required for carrying on the operations at the bottom of
the sea. By these ingenious expedients the building

METHOD OF USING THE DIVING-BELL.

apparatus was so contrived as to move all round the new
work, backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards,
so that every part of the wall could be approached and
handled by the workmen, no matter at what depth, whilst
the engineer stationed on the pier-head above could at any
time ascertain, without descending, whether the builders
were proceeding in the right direction, as well as the
precise place at which they were at work.

222 EENNIE'S DOCKS AND HARBOURS. PART VII.

Everything being in readiness for commencing opera-
tions, the divers entered the bell and were cautiously
lowered to the place at which the building was to
proceed. A code of signals was established by which
the workmen could indicate, by striking the side of the
bell a certain number of strokes with a hammer, whether
they wished it to be moved upward, downward, or hori-
zontally ; and also to signal for the descent of materials
of any kind. By this means they were enabled, with
the assistance of the workmen above, to raise and lower,
and place in their proper bed, stones of the heaviest
description ; and by repeating the process from day to
day, and from week to week, the work was accomplished
with as much exactness and almost as much expedition
under water as though it had been carried on above
ground.

Thus the entire repairs were completed by the 9th
of July, 1814 ; and to commemorate the ingenuity and
skill with which Mr. Eennie had overcome the extra-
ordinary difficulties of the undertaking, the trustees of
the harbour caused a memorial stone to be fixed in the
centre of the new pier-head, bearing a bronze plate, on
which were briefly recorded the facts above referred to,
and acknowledging the obligation of the trustees to their
engineer. They also presented him at a public enter-
tainment with a handsome piece of plate in commemora-
tion of the successful completion of the work. The
diving-bell, as thus improved by Mr. Rennie, has since
been extensively employed in similar works ; and
although detached divers, with apparatus attached to
them, are made use of in deep sea works, the simplicity,
economy, and expeditiousness of the plan invented by
Mr. Rennie, and afterwards improved by himself, con-
tinue to recommend it for adoption in all undertakings
of a similar character.

CHAP. VIII.

THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.

223

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BELL EOCK LIGHTHOUSE.

ABOUT eleven miles eastward from the mainland of
Scotland, near the entrances to the Friths of Forth and
Tay, lies an extensive ledge of rocks, which for a long
time was the terror of the seamen navigating that coast.
It is nearly two miles in length, being the crest of a
mountain rising from the sea bottom, only a small part
of which is visible at high water. This sunken reef was
a source of such peril, that, as early as the fourteenth
century, the Abbot of Arbroath caused a bell to be
placed upon the principal rock, the swinging of which
by the motion of the weaves warned seamen of its dan-
gers ; and from this circumstance it came to be called
the Bell Eock. It is affirmed that a notorious pirate,
in order to plague the Abbot, cut the bell from the rock,
but was himself afterwards wrecked on the very spot ;
and on this tradition Southey founded his beautiful
ballad of < Ealph the Rover.' 1 *

Nothing was done to replace the bell, or to set a
beacon upon the reef; and it remained in its dangerous
state — the Eddystone of the northern seas — until the
beginning of the present century, when the increasing

1 The following is the tradition as
given by an old writer : — " By the
east of the Isle of May, twelve miles
from all land in the German Sea,
lyes a great hidden rock called Inch-
cape, very dangerous to the navi-
gators, because it is overflowed every
tide. It is reported that, in old times,
there was upon the said rock a bell,
fixed upon a tree or timber, which

rang continually, being moved by the
sea, giving notice to the saylors of the
danger. This bell or clocke was put
there by the Abbot of Aberbrothock,
and, being taken down by a sea-
pirate, a yeare thereafter he perished
upon the same rock, with ship and
goodes, by the righteous judgment of
God."— Stoddart's ' Kemarks on Scot-
land.'

224

THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.

PART VTI.

commerce of Scotland, and the large number of vessels
wrecked there, had the effect of directing public attention
to the subject. As in the case of the Eddystone reef, the
sailors' fear of it was such, that in order to avoid its
dangers, they hugged the land so close as very frequently
to run ashore.1

A Board of Commissioners had been appointed, under
the powers of an Act passed in 1786, for the purpose of
erecting lighthouses at the most dangerous parts of the
coast of Scotland ; and by the end of the century several
had been built, — one on the Isle of May at the entrance
to the Frith of Forth, another on the Cumbraes at the
mouth of the Frith of Clyde, and others on rocky pro-
montories on the eastern and western coasts, including
the Orkneys. The lights exhibited were of a rude kind,
and consisted of coal fires in chauffers ; though, all that
was needed being a light, they probably answered their
purpose, but in a clumsy way. The most dangerous
reef of all, however, was still left without any protection ;
and doubtless the delay in providing a light upon the
Bell Rock arose from the great difficulty and expense of
erecting a suitable structure on such a site.

In the winter of 1799, a tempest, memorable for its
violence and fatal effects, ravaged the coasts, and drove
from their anchors all the ships lying in Yarmouth

1 Captain Basil Hall relates that,
when a boy, he was constantly hear-
ing of vessels getting wrecked through
fear of that terrible Bell Bock, which
lay about ten leagues due north of
the house in which he was born — at
Dunglass, on the borders of East
Lothian, not far from the bold pro-
montory on which Fast-Castle stands,
overlooking the German Ocean; and
he relates that " ships bound for the
Forth, in their constant terror of the
dangerous reef, were not content with
giving it ten or even twenty miles of
elbow-room, but must needs edge off
a little more to the south, so as to
hug the shore, in such a way that,

when the wind chopped round to the
northward, as it often did, these over-
cautious navigators were apt to get
embayed in a deep bight to the west-
ward of Fast-Castle. If the breeze
freshened before they could work out,
they paid dearly for their apprehen-
sions of the Bell Bock, by driving
upon ledges fully as sharp, and far
more extensive and inevitable. Thus,"
he says, " at that time, from three to
four, and sometimes half-a-dozen ves-
sels used to be wrecked every winter,
within a mile or two of our very
door." — * Fragments of Voyages and
Travels,' vol. i., p. 15, 16. Edin-
burgh, 1831.

CHAP. VIIL THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 225

Roads. The greater part were wrecked on the northern
coast ; and it was believed that many of them might
have been saved, had a light been fixed on the Bell
Rock to point out the entrances to the Friths of Forth
and Tay. Among the other lamentable shipwrecks
which took place on the Inchcape about the same time,
was that of the York, a seventy-four-gun ship, which
went down with all her crew. The reef was also a
constant source of danger to the shipping of Dundee,
then rising in importance, as it lay right in the main
track of vessels making the mouth of the Tay from the
German Ocean.

Many were the plans suggested for a lighthouse on
the Bell Rock. In 1799 Captain Brodie submitted to
the Commissioners of Northern Lights his design of a
cast iron tower, to be supported on four pillars ; but it
was not adopted. In the mean time temporary beacons
of timber were employed ; but these rarely stood the
storms of a single winter ; and three successive struc-
tures of this kind were completely swept away. Mr.
Robert Stevenson and Mr. Downie also proposed plans
for the consideration of the Board between 1800 and
1804 ; but neither of them was adopted. Considerable
diversity of opinion continuing to exist, the Commis-
sioners determined to employ Mr. Renriie to examine
the site and report as to the best course to be pursued.
He accordingly proceeded to Scotland, and visited the
Inchcape on the 17th of August, 1805, in company
with Mr. Hamilton, one of the Commissioners, and
Mr. Stevenson, their surveyor.

After mature deliberation, he sent in his report on
the 30th of December following. The purport of it
was, a recommendation to erect a substantial light-
house of stone, similar to that on the Eddystone,
as being, in his opinion, the only structure calculated
to meet the necessities of the case. He regarded a
wooden building as objectionable, because of the perish-

VOL. II. Q

226 THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. PART V1T.

able character of the material, and its liability to be
destroyed by fire. Although it would be possible to
erect a lighthouse of cast iron, its cost at that time would
have been equal to one of stone, with which, in point of
durability, it was not to be compared. " I have there-
fore," he concluded, " no hesitation in giving a decided
opinion in favour of a stone lighthouse." With such ex-
amples as the Tour de Cordouan near the entrance of the
Garonne, and the Eddystone off the coast of Cornwall, he
held that there could be no doubt as to the superiority of
this plan to any other that could be proposed. Although
the Inchcape was not so long uncovered by the tide as
the Eddystone rock, and there might be greater delay in
getting in the first four or five courses of the foundation,
this was only a question of time ; and he had no doubt
that this difficulty could be overcome, and the whole struc-
ture completed in the space of about four years. In his
report he further says : " Mr. Stevenson, to whose merit
I am happy to bear testimony, has been indefatigable in
obtaining information respecting this rock, arid he has
made a model of a stone lighthouse nearly resembling
that of the Eddystone, in which he has proposed various
ingenious methods of constructing the work by way of
facilitating the operations. I own, however, after fully
considering them, and comparing them with the con-
struction of Mr. Smeaton — I mean in the process of
building — and also reflecting that there are undoubted
proofs of the stability of the Eddystone, that I am in-
clined to give the latter the preference ; its general
construction, in my opinion, rendering it as strong
as can well be conceived." But, taking into account
that the foundation of the proposed building lay so
much lower in the sea, he suggested that the column
should be somewhat higher, so that the eave of the cupola
should be about 100 feet above the surface of the rock,
the Eddystone being only 84 feet 6 inches, — though this
alteration would involve a somewhat greater diameter

CHAP. VIII. THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 227

of the base. He further pointed out that the pillar
should be surrounded by such an extent of rock as to
diminish the force of the waves breaking at its foot.
He also proposed that the floor of the lower room of
the lighthouse should be 50 feet above the level of the
rock, and from thence to the top of the platform 3 5 feet ;
making a total height of 85 feet to the platform or
gallery. He recommended that argand lights should be
employed, with parabolic reflectors ; and he suggested
for consideration the employment of carburetted hydro-
gen gas, then coming into extensive use for lighting
purposes. The cost of the lighthouse, so constructed,
he estimated at about 42,000£.

The Commissioners adopted Mr. Rennie's report,
and proceeded to Parliament for the requisite powers,
which were obtained in the session of 1806; after
which (on the 3rd of December following) they unani-
mously appointed him the chief engineer for conduct-
ing the work. At his recommendation Mr. Stevenson
was appointed the assistant-engineer to superintend the
operations on the spot, and under him were placed two
able foremen superintendents, Mr. Peter Logan over the
masons, and Mr. Francis Watt over the joiners employed
upon the lighthouse. Mr. Rennie was then requested to
report further in detail, with plans and specifications of
the various work, which he prepared and duly submitted
to the Board. In his second report of the 26th December
following, he entered at great length into the description
of stone to be used in the building, based upon a per-
sonal inspection of the quarries at Mylnefield near
Dundee, at Arbroath, and at Aberdeen ; and on his
recommendation it was determined to use blocks from
the Rubieslaw quarry at Aberdeen for the outer, and
Dundee stone for the inner masonry. He also repeated
his advice, that in carrying out the work, the plan of
construction adopted by Smeaton in the building on the
Eddystone should be mainly followed ; one of the few

Q 2

228

THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.

PART VII.

deviations consisting in the substitution of dovetailed
pieces of stone for chain bars in the joints both of the
walls and the floors. These recommendations having
been adopted, Mr. Rennie was authorised to proceed
with the requisite preparations for the work ; and, after
making all due arrangements, and giving his repre-
sentative suitable instructions, he left the practical
operations to be carried out by him accordingly.1

The whole of the year 1807 was occupied in con-
structing the necessary vessels and in erecting the requi-
site machinery and building-shops at the working yard
at Arbroath, which was fixed upon as the most conve-
nient point on the coast for carrying on the land opera-
tions. Some progress had been made at the rock itself,
where a smith's forge was fixed and a temporary beacon
erected, whilst a floating light, fitted up in an old fishing
dogger, was anchored near the reef until the lighthouse
could be erected. Preparations had also been made for
proceeding with the foundations, the necessary exca-
vation being conducted at considerable peril, in con-
sequence of the violence of the waves and the short
period during which the reef was uncovered during each
day. The dangerous nature of the employment may be
illustrated by the following brief account of an accident
which happened to the workmen on the 2nd of Sep-
tember, before the excavation for the first course had
been completed. An additional number of masons had
that morning come off from Arbroath in the tender of
forty tons, named The Smeaton, and having landed them
on the rock, the vessel rode at salvagee, with a crosshead
made fast to the floating buoy. The wind rising, the
men began to be uneasy as to the security of the Smea-
tons riding-ropes, and a party went off in a boat to

1 A detailed account of the opera-
tions was afterwards published by
the assistant-engineer, in his interest-
ing work entitled 'An Account of the

Bell Rock Lighthouse.' By Robert
Stevenson, Civil Engineer. Edin-
burgh, 1824.

CHAP. VIII. THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 229

examine whether she was all secure ; but before they
could reach the vessel's side they found she had already
gone adrift, leaving the greater part of the men upon the
reef in the face of a rising tide. By the time the Smea-
tons crew had got her mainsail set arid made a tack
towards their companions, she had drifted about three
miles to leeward, with both wind and tide against her,
and it was clear that she could not possibly make the
rock until long after it had been completely covered.
There were thirty-two men in all upon the Inchcape,
provided with but two boats, capable of carrying only
twenty-four persons in fine weather. Mr. Stevenson
seems to have behaved with great coolness and presence
of mind on the occasion, though he confessed that of the
two feelings of hope and despair, the latter considerably
predominated. Fully persuaded of the peril of the situa-
tion, he kept his fears to himself, and allowed the men to
continue engrossed with their occupations of boring and
excavating. After working for three hours, the water
began to rise upon the lower parts of the foundations,
and the men were compelled to desist. The forge fire
became extinguished ; the smith ceased from hammering
at his anvil, and the masons from their hewing and
boring ; and when they took up their tools to depart, and
looked around them, their vessel was not to be seen, and
the third of their boats had gone after the Smeaton
and was drifting away in the distance ! Not a word
was uttered ; but the danger of their position was
instantly comprehended by all. They looked towards
their master in silence ; but the anxiety which had been
growing on his mind for some time had now become so
intense, that he was speechless. When he attempted to
speak, his mouth was so parched that his tongue refused
utterance. Turning to one of the pools on the rock, he
lapped a little water, which gave him relief, though it
was salt ; but what was his happiness when, on raising
his head, some one called out " A boat! a boat!" and

230 THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. PART VII.

sure enough, a large boat was seen through the haze
making for them. She proved to be the Bell Rock
pilot-boat, which had come off from Arbroath with letters,
and her timely arrival doubtless saved the lives of the
greater part of the workmen. They were all taken off
and landed in safety, though completely drenched and
exhausted.

Mr. Rennie, accompanied by his son George, visited
the rock on the 5th of October, 1807, the day before the
works were suspended for the winter. They came off
from Arbroath and stayed on board the lighthouse yacht
all night, where Mr. Stevenson states that he " enjoyed
much of Mr. Rennie's interesting conversation, both on
general topics and professionally upon the progress of
the Bell Rock works, on which he was consulted as chief
engineer." On the following morning Mr. Rennie
landed to inspect the progress made in the excavation,
being received with a display of colours from the beacon
and three cheers from the workmen. They continued
at work for only about three hours that day, after which
the whole working party, accompanied by the chief en-
gineer and his son, the resident engineer, and the fore-
men of the works, returned to land for the winter.

The preparation of the stone blocks for next sum-
mer's operations then proceeded on shore ; and by the
spring large numbers were dressed, and waiting to be
floated off. In May, 1808, the excavations on the rock
were proceeded with, and on the 10th of July the
first stone was laid with considerable ceremony. Mr.
Rennie paid his next visit on the 25th of November fol-
lowing, for the purpose of inspecting the work done and
reporting progress to the Commissioners. From his
report it appears that three courses of masonry had by
that time been laid in a very complete manner. At
his suggestion, a modification was adopted in the cement
used for the building, and also in the use of the granite
blocks delivered from the Aberdeen quarry, some of

CHAP. VIII. THE BELL KOCK LIGHTHOUSE. 231

which had been found defective. By the end of 1809,
at our engineer's next visit of inspection, the tower
had been built to a height of 30 feet, and was com-
paratively secure against the effects of the most violent
seas. In his report to the Commissioners he stated that
he found that the form of slope which he had adopted for
the base of the tower, as well as the curve of the building,
fully answered his expectations — that they presented
comparatively small obstruction to the roll of the waves,
which played round the column with ease — and he
expressed the opinion that the lighthouse, when finished,
" would be found to be the most perfect work of its kind."
In this report he recommended a modification in the
details of the upper part of the building. In dovetailing
the stones together, the method employed at the Eddy-
stone had up to this point been followed ; but from the
top of the staircase he proposed that a somewhat different
plan should be adopted. " The stone floors in the Eddy-
stone," he said, " were formed by an arch in the shape
of a dome springing from the surrounding walls, to
strengthen which chain-bars were laid in the walls. I
propose that these should be done with large stones
radiating from a circular block in the middle, to which
their interior ends are to be dovetailed as well as the
radiated joints, and these connected to the surrounding
walls by means of a circular dowel. By this means the
lateral pressure on the walls will be removed, the whole
connected together as one mass, and no chain-bars will
be wanted except under the cornice. Thus the whole
will be like a solid block of stone excavated for the
residence of the lightkeepers, stores, &c." He concluded
with some practical advice as to the construction of the
lantern after an improved method which he proposed,
in order that it might be in readiness in the course of
the ensuing summer, by which time he anticipated that
the building would be ready for use if the weather proved
favourable. These recommendations were adopted, and

232

THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.

PART VII.

the work having proceeded satisfactorily, the whole was
completed by the end of 1810, and the light was regu-
larly exhibited after the 1st of February, 1811. When
finished, the tower was 10 feet higher than the original

design, being 95J feet to the top
of the cornice, and 127 feet to the
top of the lantern. The additional
height to which Mr. Rennie had
thought it necessary to carry the
lighthouse during its construction
had the effect of raising the total
cost to 6 1,3 3 II. ; but he believed
the increased outlay would be
fully justified by the greater secu-
rity given to the building, and its
increased efficiency for the purpose
for which it was intended.

Notwithstanding the facts which
we have stated, showing that Mr.
Rennie acted throughout as the
chief engineer of the lighthouse—
that he furnished the design,
arranged the details
of the building, settled
the kind of materials
to be used down even
to the mode of mixing
the mortar, and from
time to time made va-
rious alterations and modifications in the plans of the work
during its progress, with the sanction of the Commission-^
ers — his name has not usually been identified with the
erection of this structure ; the credit having been almost
exclusively given to Mr. Robert Stevenson, the resident
engineer, arising, no doubt, from the circumstance of
Mr. Rennie being in a great measure ignored in the
4 Account of the Bell Rock Lighthouse,' afterwards pub-

SECTION OF BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.

CHAP. VIII.

THE BELL HOCK LIGHTHOUSE}.

233

lished by that gentleman. Mr. Stevenson was unquestion-
ably entitled to great merit for the able manner in which
he performed his duty, which Mr. Eennie was always
prompt to acknowledge ; but had any failure occurred,
in consequence of a defect in the plans, Mr. Rennie, and
not Mr. Stevenson, would have been held responsible. As,

THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. [By PercivaJ. Skelton.]

however, it proved a success, it is but fair that the former
should not be deprived of the merit which unquestionably
belonged to him as chief engineer, which office he con-
tinued to hold until the completion of the undertaking.
It is a matter of impossibility that engineers in exten-
sive practice should personally superintend the various

234 THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. PART VII.

structures designed by them, which are proceeding at
the same time in different parts of the country. Hence
the appointment, at their recommendation, of resident
assistants, whose business it is to see that the details
of the design are faithfully carried out, and that the
work is executed in all respects according to the deter-
mined plans. To take two instances — Telford's Menai
Bridge and Stephenson's Britannia Bridge — in the
former of which cases Mr. Provis was appointed resident,
and in the latter Mr. Edwin Clarke. Both of these gen-
tlemen afterwards published detailed histories of their
respective works ; but neither of them ignored the
chief engineer, nor claimed the merit which attached to
the successful erection of these great structures.

During Mr. Kennie's lifetime various paragraphs were
published in the Edinburgh papers, claiming for Mr.
Stevenson the sole credit of having designed and erected
the lighthouse. At this he was naturally annoyed ; and
the more so when he learnt that Mr. Stevenson was about
to " write a book " on the subject, but without commu-
nicating with him thereon. " I have no wish," he says,
in a letter to a friend, " to prevent his writing a book.
If he details the truth fairly and impartially, I am satisfied.
I do not wish to arrogate to myself any more than is justly
my due, and I do not want to degrade him. If he writes
what is not true, he will only expose himself. I bethink
me of what Job said, ' Oh that mine enemy would write
a book ! ' : The volume, however, was not published
until three years after Eennie's death ; and it was not
before the publication of Sir John's work on Break-
waters, that his father's claims as chief and responsible
engineer of the lighthouse were fairly asserted and after-
wards fully and clearly established.1

1 The correspondence which took I corded in the 'Civil Engineer and
place on the subject will be found re- j Architect's Journal,' vol. xii, 1849.

CHAP. IX. RENNIE'S WAR DOCKS. 235

CHAPTER IX.

MR. RENNIE'S WAR DOCKS AND OTHER GOVERNMENT WORKS.

FROM an early period Mr. Rennie's eminent practical
abilities pointed him out for employment in the public
service ; and he was consulted by the Ministry of the day
more particularly as to the machinery used in the Govern-
ment establishments, the formation of royal docks, and
the construction of breakwaters. At the recommenda-
tion of Mr. Smeaton he was called upon by the Vic-
tualling Department of the Navy to advise them as to
the improvement of their flour -mills at Rotherhithe,
which were worked by the rise and fall of the tide ; and
the manner in which he performed that service was so
satisfactory, that it shortly led to his advice being taken
on other subjects, some of which might at first sight be
supposed to lie beyond the range of his engineering
experience.

Great alarm prevailed in 1803 as to the threatened
intentions of our warlike neighbours across the Chan-
nel. The ' Moniteur ' and the ' Brussels Gazette ' were
openly speculating as to the time it would take the
French army to reach London, and it therefore be-
hoved England to be upon her guard. All the possible
lines of approach from the coast to the capital were
carefully examined ; and it appeared to military men
that the eastern side of London was the most acces-
sible to the advance of an enemy landing near the
mouth of the Thames or on the Essex coast. Mr.
Rennie was employed to examine the valley of the Lea,
to ascertain whether means could be devised for sud-

236 COAST DEFENCES. TART VII.

denly laying it under water, if necessary, to check the
approach of a hostile army from that quarter. After
careful consideration, he laid before the Government
a plan with that object, which included a series of
dams furnished with sluices, — one at the junction of
the Lea with the Thames, another across the valley at
Bow, a third at Temple Mills, and others higher up
the river as far as Amwell. These were contrived so
that the waters should be penned up, and the valley
flooded at will. The works were, however, only partially
carried out, and some five dams were formed above
Bromley, with jetties at different points to increase the
current ; but happily these defensive works were never
required, Napoleon's warlike ambition having shortly
after become diverted in another direction.

About the same time Mr. Rennie was consulted as to
the best means of improving the defences of the coast
of Kent ; and he laid out and constructed for the Go-
vernment the Hythe Military Canal, defended by earth-
works, and protected by a breastwork on the land
side. It extends for some twenty miles westward across
Bomney Marsh to the river Bother, near Bye.1 He
was also consulted as to the best site for a low-water
harbour on the south-east coast for accommodating
frigates to watch the opposite shore, — Napoleon's legions
being then assembled on the heights above Boulogne,
and his fla1>bottomed boats crowding its port. Mr.
Bennie's opinion was in favour of Folkestone as the
best site for such a port, where a ridge of rocks outside
its then small tidal basin offered unusual facilities for
the formation of a haven capable of accommodating
vessels of considerable burden. This work was not,
however, carried out, and Folkestone Harbour is happily
now devoted to more pacific purposes.2

1 See Descriptive View of Romney I 2 Mr. Rennie seems to have been
Marsh, Vol. I., p. 8. | frequently in communication with

('MAP. TX.

FULTON'S TORPEDO.

237

When Fulton proposed the scheme of his famous tor-
pedo for blowing up ships at sea, by stealthily approach-
ing them under water, Earl Stanhope made so much noise
about it in the House of Lords, that a commission was
appointed to investigate its merits, of which Mr. Rennie
was a member. Little importance was attached to
Fulton's pretended " invention ;" nevertheless it was
determined to afford him an opportunity of exhibiting
the powers of his infernal machine, and an old Danish
brig riding in Walmer lioads was placed at his disposal.
He succeeded, after an unresisted attack of two days
— during which he had also the assistance of Sir Home
P< >pham — in blowing up the wretched carcass, and with
it his own pretensions as an inventor.1

Among other subjects on which we find Mr. Rennie
consulted by the Government authorities, were the im-

thc military authorities of the day on
warlike matters. Thus, in 1809, he
was applied to for a gang of workmen
to proceed to Flushing, during the
im fortunate \Yalcheren expedition, to
assist in destroying the piers, flood-
gates, and basins of that port; after
effecting which they returned home.
The contractors were Messrs. Brough
and Macintosh. The sum expended
on artificers' and workmen's wages,
amounting to 29617. Os. Id., was dis-
bursed by Mr. Rennie, who obtained
the requisite vouchers from the Trea-
sury.

1 Mr. Rennie had a very mean
opinion of Fulton, regarding him as a
quack who traded upon the inven-
tions of others. He considered that
little merit belonged to him in re-
gard to the invention of the steam-
boat. Thus, Jonathan Hulls, Miller
of Dalswinton, and Symington had
been at work upon the invention long
before Fulton ; Miller having actually
made a voyage to Sweden and back
with his steamboat as early as 1789,
eighteen years before Fulton made his
first successful experiment on the
Hudson. Fulton's alleged invention

of cast iron bridges was not more ori-
ginal. Writing to Mr. Barrow of
the Admiralty, in 1817, Mr. Rennie
says : "I send you Mr. Fulton's book
on Canals, published in 1796, when
he was in England, and previous to
his application of the steam-engine to
the working of wheels in boats. On
the designs (as to bridges, &c.)
contained in that book, his fame, I
believe, principally rests ; although
he acknowledges that Earl Stanhope
had previously proposed similar
plans, and that Mr. Reynolds of
Coalbrookdale, in Shropshire, had
actually carried them into execution ;
so that all the merit he has — if merit
it may be called — is a proposal for
extending the principle previously ap-
plied in this country. The first iron
bridge was erected at Coalbrookdale
in 1779, and between that and the
publication of Fulton's book in 1796
many others were erected ; so that,
in this department, he has little to
boast of. I consider Fulton, with
whom I was personally acquainted, a
man of very slender abilities, though
possessing much self-confidence and
consummate impudence."

238

DOCKYARD ECONOMY.

PART VII.

provement of the machinery of the Waltham Powder
Mills, especially as to the more economical application of
the water power — the fixing of moorings in the tideways
of the royal harbours — the clearing of the Thames in
front of Woolwich Dockyard of its immense accumulation
of mud — the erection of a quarantine establishment in
the Medway 1 — the provision of wet docks for the Royal
Navy — and the introduction of improved machinery at
the various dockyards ; on which last subject Mr. Rennie
was especially competent to give advice.

A Commission of Civil Officers of the Navy was ap-
pointed, in 1806, to consider the best means of turning
out work from the dockyards with the greatest despatch
and economy. Private manufacturing establishments
were then a long way ahead of the Government yards,
where methods of working, long abandoned everywhere
else, still continued in practice ; and to call a mechanic
or labourer on the Thames "a regular dockyarder" was
to apply to him the lowest term of reproach that could
be used. Foreign governments were introducing steam-
engines and the most improved kinds of machinery,
whilst our Admiralty were standing still, notwithstanding

1 The quarantine establishment of
the port of London was then situated
at Stangate Creek, which joins the
Medway about two miles above
Sheerness. It consisted of several
old two and three-decker hulks, into
which goods were placed. Passengers
while performing quarantine might
well fret and fume at their detention,
having before them a most uninterest-
ing prospect — a wide extent of flat
marsh-land, with a fringe of mud at
low water. A small vessel of war
was stationed at the entrance of the
creek to prevent infringement of the
regulations. The annoyance caused
by this establishment was very great,
and it was complained of more and more
as our foreign commerce extended.
On several occasions, vessels filled with
passengers, having accidentally run

foul of the ships performing quaran-
tine, were compelled at once to heave-
to, and undergo two or three days'
detention before they could be re-
leased. To diminish this evil, the
Government determined to erect a
permanent quarantine establishment
about three miles up Stangate Creek,
at a place called Chetney Hill, a
small rising ground situated in the
marshes. It was proposed to isolate
this hill by a canal, provided with a
lock ; and Mr. Ilennie was requested to
prepare the requisite plans, which he
did (in 1806), and the works were
executed at a heavy expense ; but we
believe they were never used, and
the old hulks continued to be em-
ployed until the final abandonment
of the quarantine system.

CHAP. IX. DOCKYARD ECONOMY. 239

the war with France, which called for more than ordi-
nary despatch in the building and repairs of ships of war.
In Mr. Rennie's report to the Commission, he inciden-
tally mentions mechanical appliances which he was en-
gaged at the time in manufacturing for exportation. " I
am erecting," he said, " a steam-engine for the royal dock-
yard at Copenhagen, for the purpose of blowing all the
bellows in the smithies, and another for pumping water
out of the docks. I also understand they mean to con-
struct machinery there for forging anchor-palms and
other large iron work. Rolling-mills for bars, bolts,
hoops, &c., might also be employed with advantage.
Saw-mills, such as I have constructed at Calicut, on the
coast of Malabar, for sawing plank, beams, and other
articles, would be very serviceable. Block-machinery
and rope-works might likewise be worked by steam-
engines, as well as mills for rolling copper, machinery
for working cranes, and other purposes." He pointed
out, that dockyards ought to be so laid out as to enable
work of the same kind to be carried on by continuous
operations as in a well-ordered manufactory. He showed
that the water at the entrance of all the dockyards,
excepting Plymouth, was too shallow to enable large
ships to be docked for repairs, without dismantling them
and taking out their guns and stores, which was a cause
of much delay, damage, and expense ; and he urged
the provision of a dockyard in which the largest ships
might lie afloat at low water, and be docked and un-
docked in all states of the tide. He would also have
powerful steam-engines provided, by which any dock
might be pumped dry in a few hours, so as to enable
repairs to be at once proceeded with. He had no doubt
that the cost of constructing such a harbour and dock
would be saved to the nation in the course of a very few
years. He also urged, as of still greater importance, the
necessity for concentrating all dockyard work as much
as possible. Himself the head of a large manufacturing

240 THE NAVAL ARSENALS. PART VII.

establishment, he was well aware that the more the
several branches are kept apart from each other, the
less is the efficiency secured, and the greater is the waste
of material as well as loss of time. He therefore urged
above all things concentration, and he broadly held that
without it economy was impossible.

Portsmouth, Plymouth, Sheerness, Chatham, Wool-
wich, and Deptford were mostly far apart, some of them
very badly adapted for the purposes of royal dockyards,
and at nearly all of them the same costly process of
patching, cobbling, and waste was going forward. In-
deed, he held that it would be much cheaper, viewed
as a money question only — not to mention the increased
despatch of business and the improved quality of the
work done — to construct an entirely new dockyard, where
every department could be laid out in the most com-
plete and scientific manner. These views looked so
reasonable, and they pointed to results so important, that
the Board of Naval Eevision determined to pursue the
investigation ; and they requested Mr. Eennie to examine
all the royal dockyards, and report as to the im-
provements that might be made in them with the above
object ; and also on his plan of a new and complete
naval arsenal suitable to the requirements of the nation.

The result of his inquiries was set forth in the elabo-
rate report delivered by him on the 14th May, 1807.
He had found most of the royal harbours in a state
of decay, silted up with mud or sand, and in a gene-
rally discreditable condition. Of all the naval arsenals,
he found Plymouth had suffered the least, in conse-
quence of less alluvial matter flowing into the harbour .
from the rivers discharging themselves into the Sound
— the principal objection to that port being that it was
exposed to the violence of south-westerly and south-
easterly winds. Portsmouth he found to be in a very
defective state, much silted up with mud, the depth on the
bar having become reduced within a century from 18 to

CHAP. IX. ROYAL DOCKYARDS. 241

14 feet, whilst the works generally were in a condition
of great decay. The docks were also, in his opinion,
quite inadequate to the accommodation of ships requiring
repairs, whilst the storehouses, workshops, and building
slips wrere ill laid out, having been run up in haste after
no well-digested plan, involving bad work and waste
both of money and of time.1 Deptford Royal Dockyard,
the oldest on the Thames, was objectionable because of
the decreasing depth of water, which rendered it less and
less available for ships of large burden ; and hence it was
gradually being abandoned for ship-building purposes ;
Mr. Eennie recommending that it should for the future
be exclusively used as a victualling yard. Woolwich
also he considered ill adapted for the purposes of a royal
harbour and arsenal : it was situated too high up the riverr
where the water was shallow, and the place was incapable
of enlargement to the required extent, except at an
enormous cost. He held that large ships, even if built
there, must go down the stream into deeper water before
they could take in their guns, stores, and provisions,
thus involving the risk of damage and the certainty of
delay and increased expense. With reference to the
naval arsenals on the Medway, although considerable im-
provements had been made in the dry and wet docks of
Chatham, yet he held that the place was, from its situation,
incapable of being adapted to the important purposes of
a naval establishment of an extent and accommodation
commensurate with the national requirements. Besides,
the navigation of the Medway from the Nore was very

1 By way of illustrating his views, j place to nothing else than to a pack of
Mr. Rennie used to say : " Let any cards, with the names of different
stranger visit Portsmouth Dockyard, buildings, docks, &c., marked upon

them, and then tossed up into the

the head establishment of the British
navy, he will be astonished at the
fastness and number of buildings,
and perhaps say, ' What a wonderful
place it is ! ' knowing nothing about

air, so that each, in falling, might find
its place by chance, — so completely
are they devoid of all arrangement
and order."

the subject. But I can compare the

VOL. II. R

242 RENNIE'S WAR DOCKS. PART Vll.

intricate, and the upper part too shallow for ships of large
burden. Then, as for Sheerness, his opinion was that the
yard there, besides being on too small a scale to adapt it
for the purposes of a national harbour and arsenal, would
be exposed to great risk in event of a war, being almost
incapable of effectual defence. " On the whole," he
observed, " it appears to me, on consideration of all the
facts I have been able to collect respecting the principal
naval arsenals of the empire, that they are far from pos-
sessing such properties, either in point of situation, extent,
arrangement, or depth of water in the harbours, as the
large and growing naval power of this country demands."
In reviewing the sites of the different arsenals,
Mr. Eennie says he was struck with surprise to find
them mostly placed on the lee shore of their respective
harbours — the worst of all positions. Plymouth, Ports-
mouth, Chatham, and Sheerness were thus situated ;
Deptford was on the weather shore, and Woolwich had
the prevailing wind blowing across it. He also pointed
out that, at all the royal dockyards, vessels had to
take in their stores and be rigged and fitted out in
open harbours ; and, with the exception of Plymouth,
the materials were clumsily and expensively conveyed
from the shore to the ship's side in lighters. There being
no wet docks at any of the royal yards, vessels in ordi-
nary lay moored out in the open tideway ; and the ex-
pense of moving them, of placing men on board to watch
them, and the various accidents to which they were thus
liable, were the constant cause of heavy loss to the nation.
Viewing the subject in all its bearings, and with a view
to despatch, efficiency, and economy, he strongly recom-
mended the construction of capacious wet and dry docks,
in some convenient situation on a 'weather shore, pro-
vided with sufficient storehouses and workshops, fitted
with engines and machinery on the most improved plans
for the building and repair of ships ; and he expressed

CHAP. IX. ItOYAL DOCKYAEDS. 243

the strong opinion that the political importance of adopt-
ing such a measure would far outweigh the expense,
however large, which it might be necessary in the first
place to incur.

The subject was felt by the Admiralty authorities to
be of so much importance, that Mr. Rennie was again
requested to report as to the most advisable site for
a great naval harbour and arsenal such as he had pro-
posed ; and he was requested by Lord Howick (then
First Lord) more particularly to state his views as
to the eligibility of Northfleet on the Thames, which
had been suggested as the most desirable situation.
In his visit of inspection to the place, Mr. Rennie
was accompanied by his venerable friend James Watt,
and his confidential assistant Mr. Southern, together
with Mr. Whidbey, acting master-attendant at Wool-
wich Dockyard ; and he had the benefit of their great
experience in assisting him to mature the design which
he shortly laid before the Admiralty for their con-
sideration. The site seemed to him most convenient for
the purpose. " Northfleet," he said, " possesses every
advantage that can possibly be wished for in a naval
station, and it is capable of being rendered as complete
and perfect an establishment as can be made for building,
repairing, and fitting out vessels of war of all classes,
011 the largest scale." The Thames at that point pre-
sented abundant depth of water ; there was a large space
of flat land available for the harbour and docks, which
might be so laid out as to be almost indefinitely extended ;
the situation was on the weather shore, well protected,
and capable of being strongly defended ; it would be in
direct connection by water with Woolwich, Deptford,
and London, as well as with Chatham and Sheerness ;
and as a great national harbour and arsenal he regarded
its situation on the Thames, at the entrance to the greatest
port in the world, as in all respects the most suitable and
appropriate. Accompanying his report was a carefully

R 2

244

RENNTE'S WAR DOCKS.

PART VII.

devised and most elaborate plan,1 which unhappily was
never carried out.

1 The site of the proposed arsenal
was the flat portion of land near
Northfleet, about eight hundred acres
in extent, lying in the angular space
formed by Fidlers' and Northfleet
Reaches. Its depth close to the shore
was about seven fathoms at low
water, or sufficient for vessels of the
largest burden. The main entrance-
lock was to be at the Nortlifleet end
of the docks, within which was to be
an entrance-basin 1815 feet long and
600 feet wide, covering about twenty-
five acres. Dry docks were to be placed
conveniently near, from which the
water was to be pumped by powerful
steam-engines, so that vessels might
be docked directly from the basin,
and have their bottoms examined
with the least loss of time. Part of
the entrance-basin was to be appro-
priated for an anchor-wharf, another
for a gun- wharf ; next the stores and
victualling wharves, with their ap-
propriate buildings; the whole ar-
ranged on a system, so that the mate-
rials required on shipboard might be
passed forward to their respective
wharves from one stage of preparation
to another, with the greatest despatch
and economy. At the north end of
the basin were to be the mast and
boat pounds, with their adjoining

workshops, connected also with the
Thames and the main western basin
by separate entrances. The main
western basin was to be at right angles
to the entrance-basin, 4000 feet long
and 950 feet wide, covering a surface
of about eighty acres. Alongside were
to be six dry docks and eight building
slips, all fitted in the most complete
manner with the requisite saw-pits,
seasoning-sheds, mould-lofts, timber-
stores, and smitheries, conveniently
situated in their rear. The whole of
the heavy work, such as bellows-
blowing, tilt-hammering, forging of
anchors, and iron-rolling, was to be
performed by the aid of steam-engines
and machinery of the most perfect
kind. Seventy sail of the line, with
a proportionate number of smaller
vessels, might conveniently lie in this
basin, and yet afford abundant space
for the launching of new vessels. An-
other basin, 980 feet long and 500
feet wide, was proposed for timber
ships, on the south-west extremity of
the great basin, with a separate en-
trance into the Thames a little below
Greenhithe. The whole of the arsenal
was to be connected together by a
system of railways extending to every
part and all round the wharves.
The plan was most complete, some

PROPOSED DOCKS AT NOKTHFLEET.

CHAP. IX.

NORTHFLEET DOCKS.

245

Mr. Eennie was also consulted respecting the im-
provement of the old royal dockyards, and submitted

of the details being highly ingeni-
ous. Had it been adopted, the fol-
lowing would have been amongst its
certain advantages. We use Mr.
.Ronnie's own words : " All mate-
rials," said he, " used for building
ships will be brought to the ship with
a prodigious saving of labour and
time, compared to what can be done
in any of the present yards. When
launched from the slip, the vessel
will immediately go into the dry dock
to be coppered ; after which she will
proceed to the masthouse-quay to
take in her masts, which will be
placed in her with the assistance of
the sheers, and in a state of perfect
dryness. She will then proceed to
the entrance-basin, and successively
take in her ballast, stores, rigging,
sails, cables and cordage, victuals and
water, guns and shot, anchors, and,
finally, her crew and boats, and so
proceed to sea, almost without the
possibility of any delay occurring in
the successive stages of her equip-
ment. Then, in case of a ship coming
in for repairs : where they are slight,
she will go into either of the dry
docks in the entrance or eastern basin,
and there have her copper repaired,
her bottom scrubbed, or any other
slight repairs effected, and return im-
mediately to sea, without experiencing
more than a few days', perhaps only a
few hours', detention. If she requires
a more thorough repair, she will de-
liver her anchors at the wharf next
to the pound in the entrance-basin,
then her guns on the gun-wharf,
then turn out her crew into one of
the receiving-vessels moored in the
entrance-basin for the purpose, with
what provisions they may require
during the process of repair, deliver-
ing the remainder into the victualling
yard. She will next deliver her ca-
bles into the cable storehouse, and,
successively, her cordage, her sails
and rigging, and her small stores, as
she passes along the wharves with
their storehouses specially appro-
priated for their reception. She will

then deposit her ballast on the ballast
wharf, and pass through the com-
munication lock into the great wet
dock, where she will go alongside the
sheers to have her masts taken out ;
and, finally, go into one of the dry
docks to be repaired. In coining out
of the dock, she will move by the
same course reversed, and, having
taken her men on board in the en-
trance-basin, she will then be ready
to proceed to sea again." In con-
cluding, he observes : "I should hope
that the benefits accruing to the ser-
vice from the superior quality of the
stores manufactured under the imme-
diate superintendence of the agents of
Government, as well as the economy
produced by the substitution of ma-
chinery for hand-labour, would prove
an ample indemnity for the expense
incurred in the establishment of the
respective manufactories." But the
cost was the real difficulty ; Mr. Ren-
nie's estimate of the total outlay re-
quisite to complete the works amount-
ing to four millions and a-half sterling.
Yet the plan was so masterly and
comprehensive, and so obviously the
right thing to be done, that the Port-
land Administration determined to
carry it out, and the necessary land
was bought for the purpose. Fre-
quent changes of Ministry, how-
ever, took place at the time; the
resources of the country were heavily
taxed in carrying on the wrar against
Napoleon in Spain; the public at-
tention was diverted in other quar-
ters ; and no further steps were
taken to carry out Mr. Rennie's de-
sign. He knocked at the door of one
Administration after another without
effect. In 1810 we find him writing
to Lord Mulgrave, the First Lord ; to
the Right Hon. George Rose; to the
Earl St. Vincent, and others ; but
though the more the plans were
scrutinised the more indisputable did
their merits appear, he could find no
Ministry strong enough to carry them
out. When peace came, Government
and people were alike sick of wars,

240

RENNIE'S WAR DOCKS.

PART VII.

various plans with this object, the most important of
which were only carried out after the Northfleet pro-
ject had been finally abandoned. Of the new works
executed after our engineer's designs, those at Sheerness
were the most extensive. The royal dockyard there
was felt to be a public disgrace. It consisted of a number
of old wooden docks and basins, formed by ships' timbers
roughly knocked together from time to time as neces-
sity required. The ground, in its original state, had
been merely an accumulation of mud and bog, surrounded
by a wide extent of flat wet land. It is easy to con-
ceive how, in ancient times, Sheerness must have been
regarded as of importance, occupying as it does the
extreme north-western point of the Isle of Sheppey, and
commanding the entrance both of the Thames and the
Medway. But, with the improvements in modern artil-
lery, the place has in a great measure ceased to be of
value as a public arsenal, being incapable of efficient
defence against a hostile fleet. Mr. Rennie entertained
a strong opinion as to the inferiority of the site compared
with others which he pointed out ; but from the time
when he was directed to prepare plans for the recon-
struction of the dockyards, his business was confined

naval armaments, and glorious vic-
tories; and believing that all danger
from France was at an end, — the
French fleet having been destroyed
or captured, and Napoleon banished
to St. Helena, — it was supposed that
the old royal harbours, patched and
cobbled up, might answer every pur-
pose. So the land at North fleet was
sold, and the whole subject dis-
missed from the public mind. But,
after the lapse of half a century, the
wisdom of Mr. Rennie's advice has
become more clearly apparent even
than before. For years past, the waste
in our dockyards, which it was the
chief object of his Northfleet de-
sign to prevent, has become one of
the principal topics of public discus-
sion, and it has been the standing

opprobrium of every successive Naval
Administration. What Mr. Rennie
urged fifty years since still holds as
true as ever — that without concentra-
tion economy is impossible. So long
as Government goes on tinkering at
the old dockyards, spending enormous
sums of money in the vain attempt
to render them severally efficient, and
maintaining separate expensive staffs
in so many different places, — building
a ship in one yard and sending it
round the island to another, perhaps
more than a hundred miles distant,
to be finished and fitted, and then
to another to take in its guns, stores,
&c.,— so long shall we have increasing
reason to complain of the frightful
waste of public money in our royal
dockyards.

CHAP. IX.

SHBERNESS DOCKS.

247

to carrying out his instructions in the best possible
manner.

The plan finally decided upon was that of a river-
front, extending from the Garrison Point to near the
Old Town Pier of Sheerness,
of the length of 3150 feet, in-
cluding the entrances, and en-
closing within it three basins :
one to the north, 480
long and from 90 to
feet wide, containing a
face of about two acres,
4 feet below low water
of spring tides, with
two frigate-
docks and a
building-
slip and
boat-slips; a

central tidal
basin 220
feet square,
of the depth

of 2 feet below low water, with storehouses around it
for the reception and delivery of victualling and other
stores; and on the west end of the dockyard a basin
520 feet long and 300 feet wide, covering a surface of
nearly four acres, provided with dry docks for ships
of the line on the south side, with their cills and the
bottom of the basin laid 9 feet below low water of
spring tides, westward of which were the mast-ponds,
mast-locks, and workshops. In the rear, on the south
of these works, were placed sawpits, timber-berths, and
the officers' houses. The total surface of the dockyard
was 64J acres. The foundation-stone of the docks was
laid by the late Lord Viscount Melville in 1815, and
the works then commenced and continued without

SHEERNESS DOCKS.

248 KENNIE'S AVAR DOCKS. PART VI I.

interruption until the year 1826, when the whole were
completed.

Their execution was attended with many difficulties,
and necessarily required a great deal of Mr. Rennie's
care and attention. The foundations were a soft run-
ning sand, extending to an almost fathomless depth.
The strong currents flowing past the place rendered it
necessary to adopt an entirely new system of operations,
which were carried out to an extent never before
attempted in so exposed a situation. That form of sea-
wall was devised which should most effectually resist
the strong pressure of the current, and the heavy swell
beating upon its outer side, without yielding to the
lateral pressure or thrust of the water of the basins
and the earth by which it was backed. At the same
time, the weight necessary to ensure stability must not
be such as to sink vertically. Mr. Rennie adopted
the means to secure these objects which he had em-
ployed with such success at Grimsby Docks in 1797,
namely, to take the like quantity of materials as would
have been necessary for an ordinary wall, and dispose
of them in such a form, that the same weight should
be distributed over a greater surface, thus diminish-
ing the vertical pressure. In the foundations of the
walls he also adopted the method employed by him in
similar works, of driving the piles and cutting off
their heads at an angle inclining inwards, or towards
the land side, laying the courses of stone at the same
angle ; by which a greater resistance was offered to
the pressure of the earth, and the building was pre-
vented from being pushed outwards, as was more or
less the case in most of the walls built on the old con-
struction. The entrance gates to the great basin were
also planned and executed with great skill, Mr. Rennie
carrying into effect the same simple but correct prin-
ciples laid down by him in his report on the Northfleet
docks, making the direction of the entrance suitable to

\\ p

or THE

UNIVERSITY

CHAP. IX. NHEERXESS DOCKS. 249

the current in the Medway, from which the ships entered
the port.

The coffer-dams in which these Cyclopean walls were
built demand a passing notice because of their gigantic
dimensions and the great depth at which they were
placed, not less than from 27 to 28 feet below low water
of spring tides. They were composed of four rows of
piles about 12 to 14 inches square. The two centre
rows were carried about four feet above the level of
high water of the highest spring tides, and were driven
from 20 to 30 feet into the sea-bottom. The outer and
inner rows were about seven feet from the two centre
main rows, but only extended up to the level of the half
tide, and were driven from 15 to 20 feet into the ground.
All the piles were hooped and shod with wrought
iron, firmly bound together at the bottom, middle, and
top, with timber braces and wrought iron bolts and ties
in every direction. The joints were caulked with oakum
covered with pitch, and the spaces between the piles
were filled with well-tempered clay, so that they were
as nearly water-tight as possible, notwithstanding the
tremendous weight of the sea outside at the top of
every tide. Though the dams somewhat changed form
by this pressure and inclined inwards, the piles were
prevented being forced in that direction by powerful
counteracting braces, and the whole stood fast until the
completion of the work, contrary to the expectations of
many, who regarded it as an altogether impracticable
thing to construct coffer-dams of such magnitude in so
exposed a situation, where the pressure to be resisted
was so enormous. The only accident which occurred
to the coffer-dams was in 1820, when the old Bellerophon
line of battle ship, which had been anchored outside to
break the swell, was forced from her moorings by a
fierce storm from the north-east, and driven against the
piling, a large extent of which gave way, and the
waters rushed in upon the works. Fortunately, the

250

RENNIE'S WAR DOCKS.

PART VII.

building of the wall was by this time considerably ad-
vanced, so that no great damage was done. On the fall
of the tide the dams were repaired without difficulty,
and the works proceeded to completion.

Among Mr. Rennie's other dock works may be men-
tioned the new river-wall, with a ship-basin and two
building-slips, at Woolwich ; the new dockyard, building-
slips, and dry dock at Pembroke ; the new entrance to
Deptford Basin ; and various improvements at Chat-
ham,1 Portsmouth, and Plymouth. It was in front of

PLAN OF MED WAY IMPROVEMENT.

1 One of Mr. Rennie's most inge-
nious plans was that proposed by
him for the improvement of Chatham
Dockyard. He saw large sums of
money expended from year to year
in the ineffectual patching-up of the
old yards, with little good result ; and
he foresaw that eventually the Go-
vernment, if it would secure efficiency
and avoid waste, must fall back
upon some such plan as his Northfleet
Docks to obtain the requisite economy
by concentration of dockyard work.

In 1818 he was requested to re-
port on the best means of im-
proving Chatham Dockyard, and
again pointed out the great loss to
the nation by maintaining so many
separate yards, all of which were
being tinkered and mended at an
enormous cost. He then boldly
recommended that the Government
should sell Deptford Dockyard,
which he held to be comparatively
useless, and devote the proceeds to
the improvement of Chatham, after the
plan which he submitted. It consisted
in cutting a new channel from a point
in the river Medway, a little below Ro-
chester Bridge, to another point lower
down the river at Upnor Castle, thus
straightening its channel, increasing its
current, and consequently improving
its depth. By this simple means the
whole of the bend in the present river
would be converted into a capacious
wet dock, extending along the whole
front of the dockyard, shut in by

CHAP. IX.

PROPOSED MEDWAY IMPROVEMENT.

251

this last port that Mr. Eennie constructed his cele-
brated Breakwater, of which we next proceed to give
an account.

gates at either end. He also proposed
to make another cut from its lower
end to join the Medway at Gilling-
hain, where there is ample depth of
water at all times for ships of the
largest burden. Lord Melville was
much struck with the simplicity and
at the same time the comprehensive
character of the plan, and desired to
have an estimate of the cost, which
Mr. Rennie furnished. The whole
amount — including land, labour, and
materials — according to the engineer,
would not exceed 685,0007., against
which there was to be set the heavy
annual cost for moorings in the tide-
way (which would be saved) or
equal to a capital sum of 200,0007. ;
the expense of watching vessels lying
at moorings, amounting to about
15,000/. a year, or equal to a capital
sum of 300,0007. ; and the amount

realised by the sale of the disused
dockyard at Deptford, which of itself
would have been almost sufficient to
defray the entire cost of this magni-
ficent new arsenal, not to mention
the saving in the steam and other
vessels employed in carrying stores to
the men-of-war lying in ordinary along
the course of the Medway, and the great
despatch and economy which would
have been secured in all the opera-
tions connected with the building,
fitting, and repairs of ships. The
plan, however, was too comprehensive
for the time, and was not adopted.
Patching is still going on at Chatham,
at a cost far exceeding that required
to carry out Mr. Rennie's design ; but
it still remains to be seen whether
anything like the same amount of
concentration and efficiency will be
secured.

252 PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. PART VII.

CHAPTEK X,

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

THE harbour of Plymouth being situated at the entrance
of the English Channel, nearly opposite two of the
principal French coast arsenals, has always been re-
garded as a naval station of national importance. The
great area of the Sound, its depth of water, and its con-
nection with the two spacious and secure inner harbours
of Hamoaze and Catwater, admirably fit it for such a
purpose. The Sound is more than three miles wide in
all directions, and includes an area of about four thou-
sand acres, with a depth of 'water varying from four to
twenty fathoms at low water of spring tides. Its shores
are bold and picturesque, rising in some places in almost
perpendicular cliffs ; in others, as at Mount Edgcumbe,
the land, clothed with the richest verdure, slopes gently
down to the high-water line.

The only natural defect of the haven — and it was felt
to be a serious one — was that the Sound lay open to
the south, and was consequently exposed to the fury
of the gales blowing from that quarter during the
equinoxes. The advantages presented by its excellent
anchorage and great depth of water were thus in a con-
siderable degree neutralized, and the cases were not
unfrequent of large vessels being forced from their
moorings during storms, and driven on shore.

From an early period, therefore, the better protection
of the outer harbour of Plymouth was deemed to be
a matter of much importance, and various plans were
proposed with that object. One of these was, to carry
out a pier from near Penlee Point, at the south-western

CHAP. X.

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

253

entrance to the Sound, for a distance of above 3000
feet, into deep water ; another was, to construct a pier
several thousand feet long, from Staddon Point to the
Panther rock ; and a third contemplated a still more

MAP OF PLYMOUTH SOUND. [Ordnance Survey.]

extensive pier, of above 8000 feet in length, extending
westward into deep water, from the south-eastern en-
trance to the Sound. While the question was under
discussion, the Lords of the Admiralty called upon

254 PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. TART VII.

Mr. Rennie to report upon these several plans, and to
advise them what, in his opinion, was the best course
to be pursued. In his preliminary inquiry, which
was of the most thorough kind, he was assisted by
Mr. Joseph Whidbey and Mr. James Hemmans. Mr.
Whidbey had been a sailing master in the Eoyal Navy,
and was a most able and meritorious officer. He had
sailed round the world with Vancouver, and raised
himself from the station of a man before the mast to
the highest position a non-commissioned officer could
reach. His varied experience had produced rich fruits
in a mind naturally robust and vigorous. As might be
expected, he was an excellent seaman. He was also a
person of considerable acquaintance with practical science,
and had acquired from experience a large knowledge of
human nature, of a kind that is not to be derived from
books. He was afterwards raised to the office of Master-
Attendant at Woolwich Dockyard, and was greatly be-
loved and respected by all who knew him. Mr. Hemmans
was Master- Attendant of Plymouth Dockyard, and pos-
sessed an intimate practical knowledge of the locality,
which proved of much value in the course of the
investigation.

The result of Mr. Rennie' s careful study of the object
to be accomplished, and the best mode of fulfilling the
requirements of the Admiralty, was embodied in the
report presented by him on the 22nd of April, 1806.
He there expressed himself of opinion that, of the three
plans which had been proposed, that of a pier ex-
tending westward from Andurn Point, near the Shag-
stone, at the south-eastern extremity of the Sound, was
the best ; but even that was objectionable, as calculated
to produce shoaling of the harbour by favouring the
deposit of silt, — a process which was then going on,
and which it was most desirable to prevent. Looking
at the main object of the proposed work, which was to
render the Sound a safe haven for vessels riding at

CHAP. X. PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. 255

anchor there, as well as to increase the security of Ply-
mouth inner harbour, he considered that another method
might be adopted, with greater certainty of success, at
much less cost, and without any risk of silting up the
entrance of the harbour.

It may here be explained that, in its original state,
there were three channels of entrance into the Sound :
one on the west side, 3000 feet wide, between the Scot-
tish Ground rocks and the Knapp and Panther rocks ;
another, on the eastern side, 1800 feet wide, between
the shore and the Tinker, St. Carlos, and Shovel
rocks ; and a third in mid channel, also about 1800 feet
wide, which was rarely used, being through dangerous
rocks on either side. Any works which might be con-
structed across this middle channel, it appeared to Mr.
Rennie, would be of no detriment to the navigation
of the Sound. On the other hand, by narrowing the
passage through which the tidal waters flowed in and
out, the tendency would be to increase the scour, and
consequently to deepen the two remaining channels —
an object only second in importance to the protection of
the harbour itself. His plan, accordingly, was to form
a breakwater across this middle channel by throwing
into the sea large angular blocks of rubble, of from
two to twelve tons each, leaving them to find their own
base, and to continue this process until a sufficient mass
had been raised to the level of half-tide, so as to make
a ridge, about 70 yards broad at the base and 10 yards
at the top, these dimensions to be afterwards varied
and increased according to circumstances. He proposed
that the Breakwater should be of a total length of 5100
feet ; of which 3000 feet, forming the central part, was
to be in a straight line across the Sound, and 1050 feet
at either end inclined inwards at an angle of 160
degrees. It was also proposed to run out a pier of 2400
feet, in two arms, from Andurn Point, at the south-
eastern entrance to the Sound, but this part of the

256 PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. PART VIT.

design was not carried into effect. The total esti-
mate of cost, including the Point Andurn pier, was
1,102,440/.

The formation of breakwaters by a similar process
had been practised from an early period ; and by such
means the moles of Venice, Genoa, Bochelle, Cherbourg,
and other ports, had been formed. Mr. Rennie had
himself adopted the same method in forming the har-
bours of Howth, Kingstown, and Holyhead ; and the
success which had followed his operations at those
places left no doubt in his mind as to the practicability
of constructing an efficient breakwater across Plymouth
Sound, though its situation was admitted to be much
more difficult. Mr. Eennie considered that a ridge
of rough, heavy stones would be the simplest "and least
costly, as it would probably be found the most efficient,
plan of protection that could be devised. By throwing
in the blocks in the given line, and allowing the waves
by their own action to form the slope or angle of repose
at which the materials would lie, the expenditure of an
infinity of labour and money would be avoided. In this
kind of work he held that success was to be secured by
following the laws of nature ; and, with reference to the
proper slope, his own expression was that " the waves
were the best workmen."

The report in which Mr. Rennie embodied these re-
commendations excited great interest amongst naval
men, and led to much discussion. Many pronounced the
scheme to be visionary and impracticable ; and it was
alleged that, even if it could be executed, such a work
would prove altogether useless. Others held that it
would destroy the Sound for purposes of navigation, and
lead to its complete silting up ; whilst a greater number
criticised and condemned it in its details. Amongst
other critics, one of the most severe was the late General
Sir Samuel Bentham, a brother of Jeremy the philosopher,
who strongly recommended a plan of his own, con-

CHAP, X. PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. 257

sisting of one hundred and forty wooden towers, with
stones sunk between them in a double line. Five years'
controversy thus passed, and numerous designs were
prepared, submitted, and considered, all of which were
referred to Mr. Rennie, who still remained as firmly
satisfied as ever of the expediency of his design, and
vindicated its superiority to all others which had been
proposed. At length the Lords of the Admiralty were
won over to his views, as well as Earl St. Vincent, Lord
Keith, and many other leading naval officers. Lord
Melville was then at the head of the Admiralty, and when
he had become fully persuaded as to the merits of Mr.
Rennie's plan, and ascertained that there was a growing
unanimity of opinion in its favour, he exerted himself
strenuously to have it carried into effect.

The result was, that an Order of Council was issued
on the 22nd June, 1811, by which the requisite powers
were given to proceed with the works. Mr. Rennie
was appointed engineer in chief, and Mr. Whidbey resi-
dent engineer, with Mr. William Stewart as assistant.
It was very difficult to find contractors willing to under-
take the execution of a work of so novel and extensive
a character, except at prices which the engineer could
not sanction ; and it was therefore determined only to
contract for the labour of the several operations in detail,
so that there might be an opportunity for revising the
scale of prices from time to time,1 the Government under-
taking to find the requisite plant and materials. A
piece of ground was purchased from the Duke of Bed-
ford at Oreston, up the Catwater, containing twenty-five
acres of limestone, well adapted for the purposes of the
work ; and steps were taken to open out the quarry,

1 The propriety of this arrangement
was proved by the fact, that whereas
the price paid in 1812 for taking and
depositing rubble in the Breakwater

reduced to Is. per ton, as the con-
tractors and workmen became better
acquainted with the nature of the
work.

was 2s. Qd. per ton, it was afterwards

VOL. IT. S

258 PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. PART VII.

to lay down railways to the wharves, to erect cranes, to
build vessels suitable for conveyance of the stone, and
to provide the various appliances required for carrying
out the undertaking.

On the 12th of August, 1811, the birthday of the
Prince Eegent, the first stone of the main ridge was
deposited on the Shovelbank rock, nearly in the centre
of the work. Lord Keith, commander of the Channel
Fleet, was present, attended by the chief naval, mili-
tary, and civil authorities of the port, together with
the staff and men of the building establishment. From
this time forward the operations were carried on with
every despatch when weather would permit, beginning
at the centre and working towards the extremities. The
lines of the Breakwater were carefully marked out by
buoys, to which the barges laden with the stone blocks
were attached whilst they were being emptied into the
sea ; after which they returned to the quarry wharves,
about five miles distant, for fresh cargoes. For nearly
two years this process of emptying in the rubble pro-
ceeded, until in March, 1813, portions of the work began
to be visible at low water, and by the end of July there
appeared a continuous line of about 720 yards. By the
month of March in the following year the ridge had been
so raised, that its effect in tranquillizing the waters of the
Sound during violent south-westerly gales was very con-
siderable, and vessels of all classes sought its protection,
and came to anchor behind it with perfect confidence.
The Admiral's ship on the station, the Queen Charlotte, of
120 guns, had been accustomed heretofore to ride in
Cawsand Bay ; but it was now brought to an anchor
under the lee of the Breakwater. Among other vessels
which took shelter there in 1814 was a large French
three-decker, which rode out a severe gale in safety.
The year after, when Napoleon entered Plymouth Sound
on board the Betterophon, he expressed himself in such
terms of the work, as gave Mr. Eennie much gratifica-

CHAP. X. PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. 259

tion on the ex-Emperor's expressions being communi-
cated to him.

By the llth of August, 1815, not less than 615,057
tons of stone had been deposited, and a length of 1100
yards was raised above low water of spring tides. The
complete success of the work was now beyond dispute,
and exceeded the most sanguine anticipations. Even
the most sceptical became convinced of its great practical
utility, and many who had before offered vehement
opposition to its being begun, became clamorous for its
completion on even a larger scale than Mr. Rennie had
originally intended. And it was at length determined
by the Admiralty, after advising with the engineer, to
carry the whole Breakwater twenty feet, instead of ten
feet, above the level of low water of spring tides.
Whilst the original plan of Mr. Rennie was calculated
to afford complete security to the larger class of vessels,
this addition to its height doubtless gave more adequate
protection to the smaller craft. The finishing of the
work above the low water line, however, involved a
more expensive kind of workmanship ; for the greatest
force of the waves is exercised between the lines of high
and low water. Hence it became necessary to render
this upper part of the Breakwater so strong as to present
the greatest possible amount of resistance. Mr. Rennie
suggested the propriety of increasing the seaward slope
to about 5 to 1, so as to give greater strength, and
present an increased resistance to the force of the waves.
But this recommendation was overruled for the time,
and the work proceeded. No estimate of the additional
cost was asked for, and the operations were continued
without intermission, the stone blocks being deposited
at the rate of 1030 tons a-day during the year 1816 —
a greater average than has since been accomplished in
carrying out any similar work, notwithstanding the
improved modern appliances of stages provided with

s 2

260

PLYMOUTH BEEAKWATER.

PART VII.

steam power and railways worked by powerful locomo-
tives.1 Towards the end of the year about 300 yards of
the west end of the Breakwater had been raised to the
full height of two feet above high water, and 20 feet
above low water of spring tides.

Success, as usual, produced over confidence ; and the
authorities on the spot, believing that if the sea slope
of the rubble were roughly put together at an inclination
of 3 to 1, it would present sufficient resistance, as well
as in order to reduce the expense, directed it to be so
executed. But about this time a succession of severe
gales set in from the south-west and sent a tremendous
sea upon the Breakwater, especially one of great vio-
lence which occurred on the 17th of January, 1817.
On examining the work, after the return of moderate
weather, it was ascertained that a length of about 200
yards of the rubble of the upper part had been dis-
placed or deranged, — that several blocks of stone, vary-
ing from two to five tons, had by the force of the waves
been thrown over from the south or sea slope to the
north or land slope, — and that their further effect had
been to increase the inclination of the former to 5-|- to 1
instead of 3 to 1, as it had originally stood. Never-
theless, the great mass of the Breakwater remained
unmoved, and large numbers of vessels, availing them-
selves of the secure protection which it provided, had
been enabled to ride out the storm in safety. Unfor-
tunately, however, the Jasper sloop of war and the
Telegraph schooner, anchored without the line of pro-
tection, were driven on shore and wrecked under the
citadel, when a melancholy loss of life took place.

Mr. Rennie was of opinion that this storm had been

1 The largest quantity of stone de-
posited in one year was in 1821,
when not less than 373,773 tons were

quarried, lightered, and emptied into
the work.

CHAP. X. PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER, 261

of service by forcing the stones together and con-
solidating the work more firmly. His recommendation
as to the necessity of increasing the seaward slope having
been so singularly confirmed by the action of the waves,
he now advised that it should be allowed to remain as
left by the storm of the 1 7th, and that the rest of that
face of the Breakwater should be made uniform with
it. It would, however, appear that Mr. Whidbey, the
resident engineer, contrived to finish most of the ex-
terior face at a slope of only 3 to 1, as before ; and
thus it stood without any material interruption until
several years after Mr. Eennie's death. By that time
nearly the whole of the intended rubble, amounting
to 2,381,321 tons, had been deposited, and the main
arm, with 200 yards of the west arm, making 1241
yards in length, had been raised to the required level.
The work had arrived at that stage when it had to
experience the full force of another terrific storm,
which took place on the 23rd of November, 1824. It
blew at first from the south-south-east, and then veered
round to the south-west ; and the effect of this concur-
rence of winds was to heap together the waters of the
Channel between Bolt Head and Lizard Point, and drive
them with terrible force into the narrow inlet of Ply-
mouth Sound. This storm was not only greatly more
violent, but of much longer duration, than that of 1817.
When the Breakwater could be examined, it was found
that, out of the 1241 yards of the upper part which had
been completed with a slope of 3 to 1, 796 yards had
been altered as in the previous storm, and the immense
blocks of stone which formed the sea face of the work
had by the force of the waves been rolled over to the
landward side, thus reducing the sea slope as before to
about 5 to 1. The accuracy of Mr. Rennie's view as to
the proper slope — which was indicated by the action of
the sea itself — was thus a second time confirmed ; and
the same view having been taken by the eminent engi-

262

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

PART VII.

neers l who were called upon to make an inspection of
the work, and to report as to the best means of rendering

**?

PLYMOUTH BBEAKWATEB.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing.]

it permanently secure, it was determined to make the
permanent slope of the same inclination, and the works
were so carried out accordingly.2 The total quantity of

1 These were Mr. Telford, Mr.
Josias Jessop, Sir J. Rennie, and Mr.
G. Rennie. For more full particulars
as to the history and construction of the
Breakwater, we refer the reader to Sir
John Rennie's elaborate work entitled
'An Historical, Practical, and Theo-
retical Account of the Breakwater in
Plymouth Sound.' London, 1848.

2 The slopes were paved with
blocks of the largest stone, firmly
wedged together ; the centre line was
removed 36 feet further seawards ;
the top width was reduced 5 feet ;
a strong binding course of dovetailed
granite masonry was built at the bot-
tom of the sea slope, which was laid
one foot convex from the bottom to
the top ; whilst the land slope was

laid with close-fitting rubble at the
inclination of 2 to 1. It was, how-
ever, found, in the course of the work,
that the rough paving of the rubble
alone was scarcely strong enough to
withstand the violence of the waves
without a certain degree of yielding;
and Sir J. Rennie, having been con-
sulted by the Admiralty, recom-
mended that, in addition to the gra-
nite basement binding course, there
should be another similar course both
in the centre and at the top of the
sea slope; and that the remainder
should be paved with rough-dressed
limestone ashlar, set in courses at
right angles to the slope, about three
feet deep on the average — each course
binding bond well with the one ad-

CHAP. X.

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

263

rubble deposited to the end of 1848 — when the work
may be said to have been completed — was 3,670,444 tons,
besides 22,149 cubic yards of masonry, or an amount of
material at least equal to that contained in the Great
Pyramid. The whole cost of this magnificent work was
a- bout a million and a half sterling, including a conve-
nient and spacious watering place at Bovesand Bay.

As forming a convenient and secure haven of refuge
for merchant ships passing up and down Channel, along
the great highway between England, America, and
India — as a capacious harbour for vessels of war, wherein
fifty ships of the line, besides frigates and smaller vessels,
can at all times find safe anchorage — Plymouth Break-
water may in all respects be regarded as a magnificent
work, worthy of a great maritime nation.

jacent, — the lower parts of the granite
bonding courses being laid level, but
the upper parts forming part of the
slope- . It was still found that there
was a difficulty in preventing the
outer edge or base of the sea slope,
where the main lower granite bonding
courses were placed, from being under-
mined by the waves ; and it was de-
termined to place a trenching or fore-
shore on the outside of the sea slope,
40 feet wide in the centre of the
Breakwater, increasing to 50 feet wide
at the commencement of the western
arm, and diminishing towards the
eastern arm to the width of only
30 feet. This foreshore was about
2 feet above the level of low water
of spring tides next to the toe or
base; and the surface was roughly

paved with rubble well wedged toge-
ther. The whole of the slope was
paved with well-dressed courses of
ashlar masonry without mortar, 3 feet
6 inches deep, well bedded down
upon the rubble below. The ex-
tremity of the western arm was fur-
nished with a solid head of circular
masomy, 75 feet diameter at the top,
with slopes of 5 to 1 all round. At
the point at which the lighthouse has
since been placed, an inverted arch of
solid blocks was formed, the whole
well bonded, dovetailed, and dowelled
together, and firmly united with the
other parts of the solid rock. These
works answered admirably, and Ply-
mouth Breakwater now rests as firm
as a rock upon the bottom of the

SECTION OF THE BREAKWATER A3 FINISHED

204 RENNIE'S LAST WORKS— PART VII.

CHAPTER XL

MR. KENNIE'S LAST WORKS — His DEATH AND CHARACTER.

ON undertakings such as these, of great magnitude and
importance, was Mr. Rennie engaged until the close of
his useful and laborious life. There was scarcely a pro-
ject of any large public work on which he was not
consulted ; sometimes furnishing the plans, and at other
times revising the designs of others which were sub-
mitted to him. Numerous works of minor importance
also occupied much of his attention, as is shown by
the extent of his correspondence and the number of
his reports, which contain an almost complete reposi-
tory of engineering practice. Whilst he was engaged
in designing and superintending the construction of
his great London Bridges, the formation of Plymouth
Breakwater, the building of the docks at Sheerness,
the cutting of the Crinan Canal, and the drainage of
the Fens by the completion of the Eau Brink Cut,
he was at the same time consulted as to many im-
portant schemes for the supply of large towns with
water. His report on the distribution of the water
supplied by the York Buildings Company in the
Strand — in which he proposed for the first time to
appropriate a distinct service to the several quarters
of the district supplied — was a masterpiece in its
way ; and the principles he then laid down have been
generally followed by subsequent engineers. He also
reported on the improved water-supply of Manchester,
Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds, Doncaster, Greenwich and
Deptford, and many other large towns in England

CHAP. XT.

VARIOUS MACHINERY.

265

and Scotland, as well as in the colonies and in foreign
countries.1

In addition to the various mills and manufactories
fitted up by him with new and improved machinery, we
may mention that he advised the Bank of England on
the subject of the more rapid manufacture of bank notes
by the employment of the steam-engine ; and he entirely
re-arranged the Government machinery at Waltham
for the better manufacture of gunpowder. He erected
the anchor-forge at Woolwich Dockyard, considered to
be the most splendid piece of machinery in its day ; he
supplied Baron Fagel (then Dutch minister in this
country) with designs of dredging-engines for clearing
the mud out of the rivers and canals of Holland ; and
he designed and constructed the celebrated machinery for
making ropes according to Captain Huddart's patent.2

1 In 1817, his fame having gone
ahroad as the most skilled water en-
gineer of the day, Captain Dufour, of
Geneva, came to England for the pur-
pose of consulting him as to the ex-
tension and improvement of the water-
works of that city. Captain Dufour
was introduced to Mr. Rennie by the
mutual friend of both, the eminent
Dr. Wollaston. Mr. Rennie made a
careful and detailed report on the
surveys and plans submitted to him,
especially on the engine and pumping
machinery of the proposed works;
and his advice was followed, very
much to the advantage of the citizens
of Geneva.

2 Captain Joseph Huddart, F.R.S.,
was a singularly estimable character.
He was a man of great nautical ex-
perience, sound judgment, and excel-
lent skill as a mechanic and engineer,
and was often consulted by Mr. Rennie
in reference to marine works of more
than ordinary importance. His origin
was humble, like that of so many of
the early engineers ; and, like them
also, he was drawn to the pursuit by
the force of his genius, rather than by
the peculiar direction of his education.
He was born at Allonby, in Cumber-

land, in 1740, the son of a shoemaker
and small farmer. From his mother
he inherited a determined spirit and a
vigorous constitution, combined with
sound moral principles, which he

.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH HUDDART, F.R.S.

nobly illustrated in his life. He re-
ceived an ordinary share of education
at the common school of his village,
to which he added a knowledge of

266

BENNIES LAST WORKS-

VII.

In his capacity of advising* engineer to the Admiralty,
Mr. Renriie embraced every opportunity which his posi-

mathematics and astronomy, obtained
from the son of his teacher, who had
studied these branches at Glasgow
University. He seems to have been
an indefatigable learner, for he also
acquired some knowledge of music
from an itinerant music-teacher, whom
he very shortly outstripped. His
mechanical tastes early displayed
themselves. Watching some mill-
wrights employed in constructing a
flour-mill, he copied the machinery
which they erected, in a model which
he finished as they completed their
mill. He also made a model of a
74-gun ship, after the drawings given
in Mungo Murray's ' Treatise on Navi-
gation and Shipbuilding,' which he
was so fortunate as to fall in with.
At an early age he was employed in
herding his father's cows on a hill-side
overlooking the Solway Frith, and
commanding a view of the coast of
Scotland. There he took his books,
with a desk of his own making, and
while not forgetting the cattle, em-
ployed himself in reading, drawing, and
mathematical studies. When a little
older, his father set him on the cob-
bler's stool, and taught him shoe-
making, though the boy's strong in-
clination was to be a sailor. But
large shoals of herrings making their
appearance about this time in the
Solway Frith, a small fishing com-
pany was started by the Allonby
people, in which his father had a share,
and young Huddart was sent out
with the boats, very much to his
delight. He now began to study
navigation, carrying on shoemaking
in the winter and herring-fishing at
the time the shoals were on the
coast. On the death of his father, he
succeeded to his share in the fishery,
and took the command of a sloop
employed in carrying the herrings to
Ireland for sale. During his voyages
he applied himself to chart-making,
and his chart of St. George's Channel,
which he afterwards published, is
still one of the best. The herrings
having left the frith, Huddart got the

command of a brig, his excellent cha-
racter securing him the 'post, and he
made a successful voyage in her to
North America and back. His pro-
gress was steady and certain. A few
years later we find him in command
of an East Indiaman. After many
successful voyages, in which he hap-
pily brought all his ships to port, and
never met with any serious disaster,
he retired from the service ; having
been in command of a ship of greater
or less burden for a period of twenty-
five years. He now published many
of his charts, the results of the obser-
vations he had made during his nu-
merous voyages. His eminent charac-
ter, not less than his known scientific
knowledge, secured his introduction to
the Trinity House as an Elder Brother,
and to the direction of the London
and East India Docks, in which situa-
tions he was eminently useful. The
lighting of the coast proceeded chiefly
under his direction, and many new
lighthouses were erected and floating-
lights placed at various points at his
recommendation. Among others, he
superintended the construction of the
lighthouse at Hurst Point. He also
surveyed the harbours of White-
haven, Boston, Hull, Swansea, St.
Agnes, Leith, Holyhead, Woolwich
Dockyard, and Sheerness ; several of
these in conjunction with his friend
Mr. Eennie, who was always glad to
have the benefit of his excellent judg-
ment. He made many improvements
in ship-building; but the invention
for which the nation is principally
indebted to him is his celebrated rope-
making machinery, by which every
part of a cable is made to bear an equal
strain, greatly to the improvement of
its strength and wearing qualities.
This machinery, constructed for him
by Mr. Eennie at Limehouse, was
among the most perfect things of the
kind ever put together. Captain
Huddart died at his house in High-
bury Terrace, London, in 1816, closing
a life of unblemished integrity in the
seventy-fifth year of his age.

CHAP. XI. STEAM POWER IN THE ROYAL NAVY. 267

tion afforded him of recommending the employment of
steam power in the Royal Navy. His advice met with
the usual reception from the inert official mind : first
indifference ; next passive resistance ; then active oppo-
sition when he pressed the matter further. Naval officers,
who had grown old in sailing tactics, could ill brook the
idea of navigating ships of war by a mechanical inven-
tion like the steam-engine, by which skill in seamanship,
of which the old salts were so proud, would be entirely
superseded. The navy had done well enough heretofore
without steam ; why introduce it now ? It was a smoky
innovation, and if permitted, would only render ships
liable to the constant risk of being blown up by boiler ex-
plosions. Lord Melville, however, listened to Mr. Rennie's
suggestions, and at length consented to the employment
of a small steam-vessel as a tug for a ship of war, by way
of experiment. Mr. Rennie accordingly hired the Mar-
gate steamboat, Eclipse, to tow the Hastings, 74, from
Woolwich to two miles below Gravesend, against a rising
tide. The experiment was made on the 4th of June,
1819, and proved so successful that the Admiralty were
induced to authorise a steamboat to be specially built at
Woolwich for similar service. This vessel was named
the Comet ; it was built after the designs and under the
direction of the late Mr. Oliver Lang, assisted to a consider-
able extent by Mr. Rennie, who attended more particu-
larly to the designing and fitting of the engines, which
were made by Boulton and Watt. The Comet, though a
small vessel, was the parent of other royal ships of vastly
greater dimensions . She was only 1 2 0 feet long between the
perpendiculars, and 2 2 feet 6 inches in extreme breadth ;
the draught of water was about 6|- feet, and the power of
her engines about 40 horses. The Admiralty had great
doubts as to the width of the paddle-boxes ; but Mr.
Rennie encouraged them to make the experiment after
his design. " Steam-vessels," he observed, " are as yet
only in their infancy, and can scarcely be expected to

268

RENNIE'S LAST WORKS-

VIT.

have arrived at anything approaching perfection. Much,
however, will be learnt by experience ; but unless some
risk is run in the early application of the new power, no
improvements are likely to be made." For her size,
the Comet proved a most efficient vessel — the best that
had up to that time been constructed. She fully an-
swered the purpose for which she was intended ; and
the result was so satisfactory, that vessels of increased
size and power were from time to time built, until the
prejudice amongst naval men against the employment of
steam power having been got over, it was at length
generally introduced in the Eoyal Navy.2

The last of Mr. Rennie's great designs was that of
New London Bridge, which, however, he did not live
to complete. The old bridge had been gradually falling
into decay, and was felt to be an increasing obstacle
to the navigation of the river. The starlings which pro-
tected the piers had of late years been seriously battered
by the passing of hoys, barges, and lighters, on which they
had inflicted equal injury in return ; for vessels were con-
stantly foundering on them, and many were sunk and
their cargoes damaged or destroyed. Emptying stones
into the river, to protect the decayed pile-work, had only

1 Letter to the Admiralty, 22nd
May, 1820.

2 Mr. Rennie Avas engaged for
many years in urging the introduc-
tion of steam power in the Royal
Navy. In 1817 we find him writing
to Lord Melville, Sir J. Yorke, Sir
D. Milne, and others on the subject.
It would appear that Lord Melville
had declared that he was determined
to employ steam-vessels as tugs, so
soon as he could convince the Sea
Lords of their advantages ; on which
Mr. Rennie compliments Sir D.
Milne, saying that he is " glad to
find that there is one admiral in the
navy favourable to steamboats." In
July, 1818, he laments that he can-
not convince Sir G. Hope or Mr.
Secretary Yorke of their utility, but

that he is persuaded their adoption
must come at last. On the 30th
May, 1820, he writes James Watt,
of Birmingham, informing him that
the Admiralty had at last decided
upon having a steamboat, notwith-
standing the strong resistance of the
Navy Board. " My reasons," he says,
" I understand, were satisfactory ; but
unless the Admiralty cram it down
the throats of the Navy Board, no-
thing will be done ; for of all the
ignorant, obstinate, and stupid boards
under the Crown, the Navy Board is
the worst. I am so disgusted with
them that, could 1 at the present mo-
ment with decency relinquish the
works under them which 1 have in
hand, I would do so at once."

CHAP. XI. NEW LONDON BRIDGE. 269

had the effect of further obstructing the navigation, the
scour of the current having formed two great banks
of stone across the whole bed of the river : one about
100 feet below the bridge, and the other about the
same distance above it, with two deep hollows between
them and the piers, from 25 to 33 feet deep at low
water. The piers and arches were also becoming decre-
pit. Though the top-hamper of houses had long been
removed, and the piers patched and strengthened at
various times, the bridge was every year becoming less and
less adapted for accommodating the increasing traffic to
and from the City. At last it was regarded as a standing
nuisance, and generally condemned as a disgrace to the
capital. To maintain the structure, inefficient and un-
safe though it was, cost the City not less, on an average,
than 3500/. a year, and the expense was likely to increase.
The Corporation felt that they could no longer avoid
dealing decisively with the subject. They then resolved
to take the opinion of the best engineers and archi-
tects ; and Mr. Daw, the architect of the Corporation,
Mr. Chapman, the engineer, and Messrs. Alexander
and Montague, two eminent City architects, were con-
sulted as to the best steps to be taken under the circum-
stances. The result of their deliberations was a recom-
mendation to the Corporation to remove eight of the
arches and to substitute four larger ones, as well as to
make extensive repairs in the remaining arches, piers, and
superstructure. Their plan was referred to Mr. Kennie,
Mr. Chapman, and Messrs. Montague, for further con-
sideration ; and, as was Mr. Eennie's custom before
making his report, he proceeded to master the whole
of the facts, on which alone a sound opinion could
be formed. He had the tides and currents watched
and noted, and the river carefully sounded above and
below bridge, from Teddington Lock to the Hermitage
entrance of the London Docks. He examined the piers
down to their foundations, and explored the bottom of

270 EENNIE'S LAST WOEKS— PART VII.

the river, making borings at various points between the
one shore and the other. In the report which he made
to the Corporation on the 12th of March, 1821, a great
deal of new and accurate information was first brought
to light respecting the flow of the tide through the
arches, and the additional depth of water likely to be
secured by their removal. Although it was pronounced
quite practicable to carry out the alterations which had
been recommended, and the erection of four new arches
in lieu of the eight old ones, he was of opinion that
the cost would be very considerable ; and, after all, the
old foundations would still present great defects, which
could never be wholly cured. Mr. Rennie therefore
suggested the propriety of building an entirely new
bridge of five arches, with a lineal waterway of not less
than 690 feet, in lieu of the then waterway of 231 feet,
below the top level of the starlings, and 524 feet above
them. Besides the greatly increased accommodation
which would be provided by such a structure for the
large traffic passing between London and Southwark, Mr.
Rennie held that not the least advantage which it pro-
mised was the much greater facility which it would
afford for the navigation of the river to and from the
wharves above bridge ; for coasters and even colliers,
with striking masts, might then be enabled to navigate
the whole extent of the City westwards. The increased
waterway would also enable the waters descending from
the interior to flow more readily away, floods often
inflicting great damage along the shore, especially in the
winter months, when the arches of the old bridge became
choked up with ice.

The report was felt to be almost conclusive on the
subject ; and the more it was discussed the deeper grew
the conviction in the minds of all that its recommenda-
tions ought to be adopted. The Corporation accordingly
applied to Parliament, in the year 1821, for an Act
enabling them to purchase the waterworks under the

CHAP. XL NEW LONDON BRIDGE. 271

arches of the old bridge, and to erect an entirely new
structure. The bill, of course, had its opponents ; some
arguing that there was no necessity for a new bridge,
and that its erection would be only a useless waste of
money, whilst the old one could be repaired and made
fit for traffic at so much less outlay. The case in favour
of the new bridge was, however, too strong to be re-
sisted, and Mr. Rennie's evidence was considered so
clear and conclusive that committees of both Houses
unanimously approved the bill, and it duly received
the sanction of Parliament. Power was conferred by
the Act enabling the Treasury to advance from the
Consolidated Fund such sums as might be necessary
to supply any deficiency in the funds at the disposal
of the Corporation applicable to the erection of the
bridge ; the Government regarding the work as one of
national importance, and consequently entitled to public
assistance.

During the progress of the bill through Parliament,
Mr. Eennie prepared the general outlines of a design of
the new structure. It consisted of five semi-elliptical
arches, the centre one 150 feet span, the two side arches
140 feet, and the two land arches 130 feet, making a
total lineal waterway of 690 feet; the height of the
soffit or under-side of the centre arch being 29 feet
6 inches above the level of Trinity high-watermark.
The general principle of this design was approved and
embodied in the bill. Yery shortly after the Act had
passed, Mr. Rennie was seized by the illness which
carried him off, and it was accordingly left to others
to execute the great work which he had thus planned.
The Corporation of London then appealed to the
whole engineering and architectural world for com-
petitive designs, and at least thirty were prepared in
answer to their call. These were submitted to a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons in the year 1823, and
after long consideration the plan originally proposed

272

EENNIE'S LAST WOKKS—

PART VII.

by Mr. Eermie was finally adopted ; on which the Cor-
poration of London selected his son, the present Sir
John Bennie, engineer in chief, to carry it into effect ;
and the nomination having been approved by the
Lords of the Treasury, in conformity with the pro-

NEW LONDON BJEUDGE. [By Percivnl Skelton.J

vision of the Act, steps were forthwith taken to pro-
ceed with the work. It is scarcely necessary to say
how admirably Mr. Rennie's noble design has been
executed. New London Bridge, in severe simplicity
and unadorned elegance of design — in massive solidity,
strength, and perfection of workmanship in all its
parts — not less than as regards the capacious size of
its arches and the breadth and width of its roadway

CHAP. XI.

HIS INCESSANT OCCUPATION.

273

and approaches — is perhaps the finest work of its kind
in the world.1

It will be observed from the preceding chapters, that
Mr. Rennie's life was one of constant employment, and
that, apart from his great engineering works, his career
contains but few elements of biographic interest. In-
deed his works constitute his biography, overlaying, as
they did, almost his entire life, and occupying nearly the
whole of his available time. His personal wants were
few ; his habits regular ; and his pleasures of the most
moderate sort, consisting chiefly in reading and in the
enjoyment of domestic life. At the age of twenty-nine
lie married Miss Mackintosh, an Inverness lady, who
made his home happy ; and he became the father of nine
children, six of whom survived him. In the early part
of his career in London he lived in the Great Surrey

1 The new bridge was erected about
thirty yards higher up the river than
the old one, and involved the con-
struction of new approaches on both
sides. The first coffer-darn was put
in on the South wark side, and the
first pile was driven on the 15th of
M;irch, 1824; the foundation stone
w:is laid witli great ceremony by
H. ]J. H. the Duke of York, on the
15th of June, 1825, assisted by the
Lord Mayor (Garrett), the Aldermen,
and Common Council. The bridge was
finally completed and formally opened
by His Majesty King William the
Fourth on the 1st of August, 1831 —
the time occupied in its construction
having thus been seven years and three
months. The total cost of the bridge
and approaches was about two mil-
lions sterling. All the masonry below
low water is composed of hard sand-
stone grit, from Bramley Fall, near

Leeds ; and the whole of the ex-
terior masonry above low water is
of the finest hard gray granite, from
Aberdeen, Devonshire, and Cornwall.
The actual width of the arches as
executed is as follows : the centre
arch is 152 feet 6 inches span; the
two arches next the centre are 140
feet; and the two land arches 130
feet. The details of construction of
the coffer-dams, piers, and floating
and fixing the centres, were similar
to those adopted by Mr. Rennie in
building Waterloo and Southwark
bridges. The total length of the
bridge is 1005 feet ; width from out-
side to outside, 56 feet ; width of the
footpaths, 18 feet ; and of the carriage-
way, 35 feet. The total quantity of
stone built into the bridge is 120,000
tons. The builders were Messrs.
Joliffe and Banks, the greatest con-
tractors of their day.

SECTION OF NEW LONDON BRIDGE.

VOL. II.

274 RKXNTE'S LAST WOKKS— PART VII.

Road, from which lie afterwards removed to Stamford
Street, not far from his works.

His close and often unremitting application early
began to tell upon his health. In 1812, when arrived
at the age of fifty-one, he was occasionally laid up
by illness. While occupied one day in inspecting the
works of Waterloo Bridge, he accidentally set his foot
upon a loose plank, which tilted up, and he fell into
the water, but happily escaped with only a damaged
knee. Though unable for some time to stir abroad, lie
seized the opportunity of proceeding with the preparation
of numerous reports, and of working up a long lee-way
of correspondence. In the following year he was fre-
quently confined to the house by a supposed liver-
complaint ; but his correspondence never flagged. He
tried the effects of change of air at Cheltenham ; but
he had no time for repose, and after the lapse of only a
week he was again in harness, giving evidence before
a Committee of the House of Commons on Lough Erne
drainage. He made another hurried visit to Chelten-
ham, but evidently took no rest; his absence from
active business only affording him an opportunity for
writing numerous letters to influential persons at the
Admiralty on the subject of his grand scheme of the
Northfleet Docks. To one of his correspondents we find
him saying he was "better, though only half a man
yet." In course of time, however, he partially reco-
vered, and was forthwith immersed in business — engaged
upon his docks, bridges, and breakwaters.

He very rarely "took play." In 1815 his venerable
friend James Watt, of Birmingham, urged him to pay a
visit with him to Paris, shortly after the battle of AVaterloo.
But Mr. Rennie was too full of work at the time to
accept the invitation, and the visit was postponed until
the following year, when he was accompanied by James
Watt, jun., then of Aston Hall, near Birmingham. This
journey was the first relaxation he had taken for a period

CHAT. XI.

SHORT CONTINENTAL TOUR.

275

of thirty years ; yet it was not a mere holiday trip, but
partly one of business, for it was his object to inspect with
his own eyes the great dock and harbour works executed
by Napoleon during the Continental war, of which he
had heard so much, and to gather from the inspection
such experience as might be of use to him in the improve-
ment of the English dockyards on which he was then
engaged. The two set out in September, 1816, passing
by Dover to Calais and thence to Dunkirk, where Mr.
Bennie carefully examined the jetties, arsenal, docks, and
building-slips at that port. From thence they proceeded
to Osteiid, and afterwards to Antwerp, where our engineer
admired the great skill and judgment with which the dock
works there, still incomplete, had been laid out. From
Antwerp they went to Paris, where they stayed only
two days, and then to L' Orient and Brest, accompanied
by Mr. Joliffe, the contractor. At both these ports
Mr. Rennie took careful note of the depths, dimensions,
and arrangements of the harbours in detail, receiving
every attention from the authorities. At Cherbourg, in
like manner, he examined the building-yards and docks,
as well as the progress made with the famous Digue 1—

1 The Digue is of considerably
greater extent than the breakwater
at Plymouth, being above 2f Eng-
lish miles long. Up to the time
of Mr. Rennie's visit, the work had
been a series of attempts and fail-
ures, which, however, eventually pro-
duced experience, and led to suc-
Wooden cones filled with small
stones were first tried; they were
sunk so as to form a sea-rampart ; but
the cones were shattered to pieces by
the force of the waves, and the stones
were scattered about in the bottom of
the sea. Then loose rubble-stones were
tried ; but the blocks were too small,
and these, too, were driven asunder.
Larger blocks were then used ; but,
for a time, the smaller stones beneath
acted as rollers to the larger ones.
At length, however, these found their

bearing, and when Mr. Rennie visited
the place, the slope formed by the
saa-ridge of rubble was as much as
11 to 1. This greatly increased the
contents of the breakwater, while its
stability was not much to be de-
pended on. Many accidents occurred
to the work, and several extensive
breaches were made through it by
the force of the sea. At low water the
height of the Digue was at some parts
only three feet ; at others, considerably
more ; whereas, in some places, the top
of the work was from seven to eight feet
below low water of spring tides. At
length, after many years' labour and
vast expense, the work has been
brought to completion ; and it now
forms a very excellent defence for the
fine war roadstead and arsenal of
greatly exceeding the

T 2

270

RENNIE'S LAST WORKS-

VII.

a rival to his own Breakwater at Plymouth. At Cher-
bourg he was joined by Mr. Whidbey, who had come
over in a vessel of war to meet him. Mr. Rennie
returned to England after less than a month's tour ;
and though he had made a labour of his pleasure-trip,
the change of air and scene did him good, and he
entered with zest upon the business of clearing off
the formidable arrears of work which had accumulated
during his absence. We may add, as an illustration of
his habit of turning everything, even his pleasure, to
account, that one of the first things he did on his return
home was to make an elaborate report to Lord Melville,
then First Lord of the Admiralty, of the results of his
investigations of those foreign harbours which he had
visited in the course of his journey.

After a few years' more devoted application, his health
again began to give way. When consulted by Mr. Fol-
jambe of Wakefield, in June, 1820, respecting a railway
proposed to be laid down in that neighbourhood, he
excused himself from entering upon the business because
his hands were so full of work and his health was so
delicate. Shortly after, we find him writing to a friend
that the new works executed by him during the past
year had cost about half a million, besides those in
progress at Sheerness, which would cost a million. He
was then busy with his investigations relative to New
London Bridge, the report on which he prepared whilst
laid up with gout. He persisted in going abroad as
long as he could, and went to his doctor in a carriage for
advice, instead of letting the latter come to him. But
resistance, however brave, was useless against disease,
and at length he was compelled to succumb. To the
last he went on issuing instructions to his inspectors
in different parts of the country relative to the works

humble dimensions which it pre-
sented when Mr. Rennie visited the
place. The whole cost of the works

amounted to upwards of seven mil-
lions sterling.

CHAP. XI. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 277

then in progress — the docks at Chatham and Sheerness,
the harbours at Howth and Kingstown, the bridge at
New Galloway, the Eau Brink Cut, the Aire and Calder
Navigation, and the pumping-engines for Bottesham
and S waff ham, in the Fens. He was especially anxious
about the Eau Brink Cut, nearly ready for opening,
urging his assistants to report from time to time, giving
him full particulars of the progress made. In the midst
of all this, he writes a letter to a harbour-master at Brid-
lington, giving him detailed instructions as to the arrange-
ment of tide tables ! His last business letter was written
to the Navy Board respecting the proper kind of gates
to be used for the dry dock at Pembroke : it was dated
the 28th September, 1821. A little before this he had
written to his friend Mr. Jerdan, the Edinburgh engineer,
that he had completed all business connected with his
preparation for the next session of Parliament, when
he had many bills to carry through. But how often are
the intentions of the bravest defeated ! Day by day he
grew weaker, struggling with the whole force of his
will against the disease that was slowly mastering him.
Although extremely ill, he insisted on rising from his
bed, and tottered about, even taking an occasional airing
in a carriage. In this state he continued until the 4th of
October. On that day he did not get up. His mind
had until then been as clear and vigorous as ever;
but now it began to wander. There was no resisting
the hand of death, which was already upon him. He
took no further heed of what passed around him, and
about five in the evening a violent fit occurred, from
which he never rallied. About an hour later he expired,
in the sixty-first year of his age.

The portrait prefixed to this memoir expresses, so
far as an accurate delineation of his features can do, the
actual character of the man. It is grave and thoughtful,
yet has an expression of mildness perfectly in unison
with his gentle yet cheerful disposition. Raeburn painted

278

RENNIE'S LAST WORKS—

I'AKT VI 1.

his portrait, and Chantrey chiselled his Lust ; but the
chalk drawing by Archibald Skirving,1 after which our

1 Archibald Skirving, like John
Rennie, was the son of an East Lo-
thian farmer. He was born in 1749,
at Garleton, a farm belonging to the
Earl of Wemyss. His father, Adam
Skirving, was a well-known hu-
morist and ballad-maker — one of his
songs, * Hey, Johnny Cope,' a de-
scription of the rout of the royal army
at the battle of Prestonpans, being
still popular in Scotland. Its publi-
cation gave great offence to some of
Cope's officers, and one of them,
Lieutenant Smith, went so far as
to send Skirving a challenge, dated
the George Inn, Haddington. When
the messenger arrived with the mis-
sive, the farmer was in his yard, turn-
ing over manure. After reading the
letter, he said, " Ye may gang back
to Lieutenant Smith, and say to him,
if he likes to come up-by here, I'll
tak' a look at him ; if I've a mind to
fecht him, I'll fecht him; and if no,
I'll do as he did — I'll rin awa' !"
Many similar stories are told of the
farmer's wit and humour, a consider-
able share of which was inherited by
his son Archibald. . In early life the
latter went to Rome to study art, and •
remained in Italy nine years. He
walked the whole way from Rome,
but, while passing through France,
the revolutionary war broke out,
and he was apprehended and thrown
into prison, where he lay for nine
months. He subsequently studied
painting under David. Returned to
Scotland, he pursued his art in a
somewhat desultory manner, not
being under the necessity of apply-
ing himself to it with that patient and
continuous devotion which is essen-
tial to attaining high eminence in any
profession. He painted when, where,
and whom he pleased ; and sometimes
pursued a very eccentric course with
his sitters. One gentleman's por-
trait he painted in such a manner
as to give special prominence to a
large wart upon his face. A lady
who insisted on sitting to him, he put
off with the ungallant remark that
she " would ruin him for yellow."

Notwithstanding his eccentricity, Skir-
ving was an extremely clever artist,
and his crayon drawings have rarely
been surpassed for vigour and bril-
liancy. He executed probably the best
head of Burns, with whom he was inti-
mate ; and the portrait of John Ren-
nie, which Mr. Holl lias rendered
with great skill, will give a good idea
of Skirving's power as a delineator of
character. Skirving and Rennie were
intimate friends, although in most re-
spects so unlike each other. Yet
Skirving had as true a genius in him,
and might have secured as great a
reputation in his own walk, as his
friend Rennie, had he worked as pa-
tiently and industriously. As he
grew older, he became more eccentric
and sarcastic. He dressed oddly,
in a broad-brimmed white hat, with-
out any neckcloth. He was at the
Earl of Wemyss's house at Gosford
one day, when the Countess was con-
versing with him as to the acquire-
ments of her daughters in art. The
young ladies were meanwhile occu-
pied in making grimaces at the odd
man behind his back, forgetting that
they were standing opposite a mirror,
in which he could see all their move-
ments. " The young ladies," observed
the painter, " may have studied art,
but I never saw such ugly faces as
those they make," pointing to the
glass before him. Allan Cunningham
relates the story of Skirving's calling
on Chantrey while he was finishing the
bust of Bird, the artist. " Well !—
and who is that?" asked Skirving.
" Bird, the eminent painter." " Paint-
er ! — and what does he paint ?"
" Ludicrous subjects, Sir." " Ludi-
crous subjects ! — Have you sat ?"
" Yes — he has had one sitting ; but
when he heard that a gentleman with
a white hat, who wore no neckcloth,
had arrived from the North, he said,
* Go — go ; I know of a subject mure
ludicrous still : Mr. Skirving is come !'"
This odd, but clever artist died at
Inveresk, near Edinburgh, in 1819,
at the advanced age of seventy.

CHAP. XI. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 279

engraving is made, is 011 the whole the most lifelike repre-
sentation of the man as he lived. In person he was large,
tall, and commanding ; and strength was one of the attri-
butes belonging to his family. But physical endurance
lias its limits, and we fear that Mr. Kemrie taxed his
powers hey ond what they would fairly bear. He maybe
said to have died in harness, in the height of his fame,
after threescore years, forty of which had been spent in
hard work ; still his death was premature, and in the case
of a man of such useful gifts, was much to be lamented.
But he himself held that life was made for work, and he
could never bear to be idle. Work was with him not
only a pleasure, — it was almost a passion. He some-
times made business appointments at as early an hour as
five in the morning, and would continue incessantly
occupied until late at night. It is clear that the most
vigorous constitution could not long have borne up under
such a tear and wTear of vital energy as this.

He was very orderly, punctual, and systematic, and
hruce was enabled to get through a very large amount
of business. No matter how numerous were the claims
upon his time, nothing was neglected nor hurried. His
reports were models of what such documents should be.
They set forth all the facts bearing upon the topic under
consideration in great detail ; but with much plainness,
force, and clearness. His harbour reports were espe-
cially masterly ; in them he elaborately stated all the
known facts as to the prevailing wrinds, currents, and
tides, usually drawing very logical and conclusive in-
ferences as to the particular plan which, under the cir-
cumstances, he considered it the most desirable to adopt.
In his estimates he was careful to conceal nothing,
stating the full sum which in his judgment the work
under consideration would cost; nor would he under-
state the amount by one farthing in order to tempt
projectors to begin any undertaking on which he was
consulted.

280 RENNIE'S LAST W011KS— TAUT VII.

He took the highest ground in his dealings with con-
tractors. He held that the engineer was precluded by
his position from mixing himself up with their business,
and that if he dabbled in shares or contracts, either
openly or underhand, half his moral influence was gone,
and his character liable to be seriously compromised.
Writing to Play fair at Edinburgh, in 1816, he said—
" Engineers should be entirely independent of these
connexions — not dabblers in shares — and free alike of
contractors and contracts." By holding scrupulously
to this course, Mr. Eennie established a reputation for
truthfulness, honesty, and uprightness, not less honour-
able and exalted than his genius as an architect and
engineer was illustrious.

He was a man of powerful and equally balanced mind-
not so clever, as profound ; not brilliant, but calm, serene,
and solid, like one of his own structures. While he lay
on his deathbed, his last letters to his assistants urged
upon them attention, punctuality, and despatch — qualities
which he himself had illustrated so well in his own life.
In his self-education he had overlooked no branch of
science cultivated in his day ; and in those which bore
more especially upon his own calling, his knowledge was
well-arranged, complete, and accurate.

Withal he was an exceedingly modest, unpretending,
and retiring man. His great aim was to do the thing he
was appointed to do in the best possible manner. He
thought little of fame, but a great deal of character
and duty. If his time was so entirely pre-occupied that
he could not personally devote the requisite attention to
any new undertaking brought before him, he would de-
cline to enter upon it, and recommended the employment
of some other leading engineer. He considered it his duty
himself to go into the minutest details of every business
on which he was consulted. He left as little as possible
to subordinates, making his calculations and estimates
himself ; and he wrote and even copied his own reports ;

CHAP. XI. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 281

deeming no point, however apparently unimportant,
beneath his careful attention and study.

Hence great reliance was placed upon his judgment by
those who consulted him ; and the accurate though com-
paratively reserved manner in which he expressed himself
before Committees of Parliament gave all the greater
weight to his evidence. " What I liked about Rennie,"
says one who knew him well, " was his severe truthful-
ness." When under examination on such occasions, he
could always give a strong, clear reason, in support of
any scheme he recommended, based upon his own careful
preliminary study of the whole subject. But when asked
any question outside the line of his actual knowledge, he
had the honesty to say at once, " I do not know." He
would not guess nor attempt to give ingenious answers
to show his cleverness, nor act the special pleader in the
witness-box, but confine himself solely to what he posi-
tively knew.

In the course of his professional career, Mr. Rennie ex-
perienced the great advantage which he had derived from
his early training as a millwright. His practical know-
ledge enabled him to select the best men to carry out his
designs, and he took pride and pleasure in directing them
how to do their work in the most efficient manner. His
manufactory was indeed a school, in which some of the
best mechanics of the day received a thorough training in
machine work ; and many of his workmen, like himself,
eventually raised themselves to the rank of large em-
ployers of skilled labour. Mr. Eennie was never ashamed
to put his hand to any work where he could teach a
lesson or facilitate despatch, and to the end of his
career he continued as " handy " as he had been at the
beginning.

A curious illustration of his expertness at smith-
work occurred during a journey into Scotland, when on
his way to visit the Earl of Eglmtoii at Eglinton
Castle. He went by the stage-coach, in company

282 HENNIE'S LAST W011KS—

with some Ayrshire farmers and one or two rather im-
portant " Paisley boddies." ] When travelling over ;i
very bad piece of the road, the jolting was such as to
break the axletree of the coach, and it came to a stand
on a solitary moor, with not a house in sight. Mr. Rennie
asked the coachman if there was any blacksmith near at
hand, and was told there was one a mile or two oil'.
" Well, then, help me to carry the parts of the axle there,
and I'll see to its being mended." The blacksmith, how-
ever, was not at home ; but Mr. Rennie forthwith lit the
forge fire, blew the bellows, and with the rather clumsy
assistance of one of his fellow-passengers, he very soon
welded the axle in a workmanlike manner, helped to
carry it back to the coach, and after the lapse of a few
hours the vehicle was again wheeling along the road
towards its journey's end. Mr. Rennie' s fellow-pas-
sengers, who had been communicative and friendly during
the earlier part of the journey, now became very reserved,
and the " boddies " especially held themselves aloof from
" the blacksmith," who had so clearly revealed his calling
by the manner in which he had mended the broken axle.
Arrived at their journey's end for the day, the travellers
separated ; Mr. Rennie proceeding onwards to Eglinton
Castle. Next morning, when sitting at breakfast with his
noble host, a servant entered to say that a person outside
desired to have a word with the Earl. " Show him in."
The person entered. He proved to be one of Mr. Rennie's
fellow-travellers ; and great indeed were his surprise and
confusion at finding the identical " blacksmith " of the
preceding day breakfasting with my Lord ! The Earl
was much amused when Mr. Rennie afterwards described
to him the incident of the mending of the broken axle.

One of his few hobbies was for old books ; and if he
could secure a few minutes' leisure at any time, he would
wander amongst the old book-stalls in search of rare

1 Paisley Boddie — a name applied in the West of Scotland to a person
belonging to Paisley.

CHAP. XI. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 283

volumes. Froissart's and Monstrelet's ' Chronicles ' were
amongst his favourites, and we find him on one occasion
sending a present of duplicate copies to his friend Whid-
bey, accompanied with the wish that he might derive as
much pleasure from their perusal as he himself always
did from reading " honest John Froissart." He also
commissioned his friends, when travelling abroad, to
pick up old books for him; and in 1820 we find him
indulging his " extravagance," as he termed it, so far as
to request Sir William Jolliffe to bring 300/. worth of
old books for him from Paris.

Although Mr. Eennie realized a competency by the
practice of his profession, he did not accumulate a large
fortune. The engineer was then satisfied with a compa-
ratively moderate rate of pay,1 and Mr. Rennie's charge
of seven guineas for an entire day's work was even
objected to by General Brownrigg, the head of the Ord-
nance Department at the time. " Why, this will never
do," said the General, looking over the bill ; " seven
guineas a-day ! Why, it is equal to the pay of a Field
Marshal ! " " Well," replied Mr. Rennie, " I am a Field
Marshal in my profession ; and if a Field Marshal in
your line had answered your purpose, I suppose you
would not have sent for me ! " " Then you refuse to
make any abatement ? " " Not a penny," replied the
engineer ; and the bill was paid.

Mr. Rennie was blamed in his time for the costliness
of his designs, and it was even alleged of him that he
carried his love of durability to a fault. But there is no
doubt that the solidity of his structures proved the
best economy in the long run. Elevated by his genius
and his conscientiousness above the thoughts of imme-

1 We do not wonder to find Mr.
1 {el 11 iic complaining of the small re-
muneration of 350Z. awarded to him
by the Kennct and Avon Canal Com-

his bill against the Manchester Water-
works Company, for his year and a-
halfs advice and service, amounting
to only 159?. 7s., his charge to tiicm

paiiy for constructing their canal for a whole day's labour being only
works; and we arc surprised to find W. (is.

284 KENNIE'S LAST WORKS. PART VII.

diate personal gain, no consideration would induce him
to recommend or countenance in any way the construc-
tion of cheap or slight work. He held that the engineer
had not merely to consider the present but the future
in laying down and carrying out his plans. Hence his
designs of docks and harbours were usually framed so as
to be capable of future extension ; and his bridges were
built not only for his own time, but with a view to the uses
of generations to come. In fine, Mr. Rennie was a great
and massive, yet a perfectly simple and modest man ; and
though his engineering achievements may in some mea-
sure have been forgotten in the eulogies bestowed upon
more recent works, they have not yet been eclipsed, nor
indeed equalled ; and his London bridges — not to men-
tion his docks, harbours, breakwater, and drainage of
the Lincoln Fens — will long serve as the best exponents
of his genius.

The death of this eminently useful man was felt
to be a national loss, and his obsequies were honoured
by a public funeral. His remains were laid near those
of Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral, the
dome of which overlooks his finest works. The same
motto might apply to him as to the great architect near
whose remains his lie — " Si monumentum quaeris, cir-
cumspice."

OF THE

I UNIVERSITY )

r OF

<&£L!fQRN\L

•\'ed> by W.Holt after ih& jjortrcu'^t, by Scunutel Lam' .

• .• • • M ray Tiber* \

LIFE OF THOMAS TELFORD.

GLASGOW BRIDGE. [By K P Leitch.]

LIFE OF THOMAS TELFORD.

CHAPTER I.

ESKDALE.

THOMAS TELFORD was born in one of the most solitary
nooks of the narrow valley of the Esk, in the eastern
part of the county of Dumfries, in Scotland. Eskdale
rims north and south, its lower end having been in former
times the western march of the Scottish border. Near
the entrance to the dale is a pillar set upon a high
hill, some eight miles to the eastward of the Gretna
( i iven station of the Caledonian Railway, — which many
travellers to and from Scotland may have observed, — a
monument to the late Sir John Malcolm, Governor of
Bombay, one of the distinguished natives of the dis-
trict. It looks far over the English border-lands which
stretch away towards the south, and marks the entrance
to the mountainous parts of the valley which lie to the
north. From that point upwards it gradually be-
comes narrower, the road winding along the river's
banks, in some places high above the stream, dark-
brown with peat water, which swiftly rushes over the
rocky bed below. A few miles from the lower end of
Eskdale lies the little capital of the district, the town
of Langholm ; and there, in the market-place, stands
another monument to the virtues of the Malcolm family
in the statue erected to the memory of Admiral Sir
Pulteney Malcolm, a distinguished naval officer. Above
Langholm the country becomes more hilly and moor-

288

ESKDALE.

TART VII I.

land.

In many places only a narrow strip of haugh

land by the river's side is
left available for cultiva-
tion ; until at length the
dale contracts so much
that the hills descend to
the very road, and there are
only to be seen their steep
heathery sides sloping up
towards the sky on either
hand, and a narrow stream
plashing and winding
along the bottom of the
valley among the rocks at
their feet.

From this brief descrip-
tion of the character of
Eskdale scenery, it may
readily be supposed that
the district is very thinly
peopled, and that it never
could have been capable of
supporting a large num-
ber of inhabitants. In-
deed, previous to the union
of the crowns of England
and Scotland, the prin-
cipal branch of industry
that existed in the Dale
was of a lawless kind. The
people living on the two
sides of the border looked
upon each other's cattle as
their own, provided only
they had the strength to
"lift" them. They were,
in truth, even during the

TELFORD'S NATIVE DISTRICT

CHAP. I. KSKDALE. 289

time of peace, a kind of outcasts, against whom the
united powers of England and Scotland were often
employed. On the Scotch side of the Esk were the
Jolmstoiies and Armstrongs, and on the English the
Graemes of Netherby ; but both clans were alike wild
and lawless. It was a popular border saying that
" Elliots and Armstrongs ride thieves all ;" and an old
historian says of the Graemes that " they were all stark
moss-troopers and arrant thieves; to England as well as
Scotland outlawed." The neighbouring chiefs were no
better : Scott of Buccleugh, from whom the modern
Duke is descended, and Scott of Harden, the ancestor of
the novelist, were both renowned freebooters.

There stand at this day 011 the banks of the Esk,
only a few miles from the English border, the ruins of
an old fortalice, called Gilnockie Tower, in a situation
which in point of natural beauty is scarcely equalled
even in Scotland. It was the stronghold of a chief
popularly known in his day as Johnnie Armstrong.1
He was a mighty freebooter in the time of James V.,
and the terror of his name is said to have extended as
far as Xewcastle-upon-Tyne, between which town and
his castle on the Esk he was accustomed to levy black-
mail, or "protection and forbearance money," as it
\vas called. The King, however, determining to put
down by the strong hand the depredations of the march
men, made a sudden expedition along the borders ; and
Johnnie Armstrong having been so ill-advised as to
make his appearance with his followers at a place
called Carlenrig, in Etterick Forest, between Hawick
and Langholm, James ordered him to instant execu-
tion. Had Johnnie Armstrong, like the Scotts and
KITS and Johnstones of like calling, been imprisoned

1 Sir Walter Scott, in his notes to j country adjacent to this day hold the
i- 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Bor- memory of Johnnie Armstrong in

the

der,' says that the common people of

the high parts of Liddlesdale and the

VOL. II.

very high respect.

290

ESKDALE.

PART VITT.

beforehand, he might possibly have survived to found
a British peerage ; but as it was, the genius of the Arm-
strong dynasty was for a time extinguished, only, how-
ever, to reappear, after the lapse of a few centuries, in
the person of the eminent engineer of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, the inventor of the Armstrong gun.

The two centuries and a half which have elapsed since
then have indeed effected extraordinary changes.1 The
energy which the old borderers threw into their feuds
has not become extinct, but survives under more be-
nignant aspects, exhibiting itself in efforts to enlighten,
fertilize, and enrich the country which their wasteful
ardour before did so much to disturb and impoverish.
The heads of the Buccleugh and Elliot family now sit in
the British House of Lords. The descendant of Scott of
Harden has achieved a world- wide reputation as a poet
and novelist; and the representative of the Graemes
of Netherby — whose country seat now sits so peacefully
amidst its woods upon the English side of the border,
overlooking Lower Esk — is one of the most venerable
and respected of British statesmen. The border men,

1 It was long before the ] Deforma-
tion flowed into the secluded valley
of the Esk ; but when it did, the
energy of the Borderers displayed
itself in the extreme form of their
opposition to the old religion. The
Eskdale people became as resolute in
their covenanting as they had before
been in their freebooting ; and the
moorland fastnesses of the moss-
troopers became the haunts of the
persecuted ministers in the reign of
the second James. A little above
Lang-holm is a hill known as " Peden's
View," and the well in the green hol-
low at its foot is still called " Peden's
Well " — that place having been the
haunt of Alexander Peden, the " pro-
phet." His hiding-place was among
the alder-bushes in the hollow, while
from the hill-top he could look up
the valley, and see whether the John-
stones of Wester Hall were coming.
Quite at the head of the same valley,

at a place called Craighaugh, on Esk-
dale Muir, one Hislop, a young cove-
nanter, was shot by Johnstone's men,
and buried where he fell; a gray
slabstone still marking the place of
his rest. Since that time, however,
quiet has reigned in Eskdale, and its
small population have gone about
their daily industry from one genera-
tion to another in peace. Yet, though
secluded and apparently shut out by
the surrounding hills from the outer
world, there is not a throb of the
nation's heart but pulsates along the
valley; and when the author visited
it, some two years since, he found
that a wave of the great Volunteer
movement had flowed into Eskdale ;
and the "lads of Langholm" were
drilling and marching under their
chief, young Mr. Malcolm of the
Burnfoot, with even more zeal than
| in the populous and far more exposed
I towns and cities of the south.

CHAP. I. ESKDALE. 291

who used to make such furious raids and forays —
have now come to regard each other, across the ima-
ginary line which divides them, as friends and neigh-
bours ; and they meet as competitors for victory only at
agricultural meetings, where they strive for prizes for
the biggest turnips or the most effective reaping-ma-
chines ; whilst the men who followed their Johnstone
or Armstrong chiefs as prickers or hobilers to the fray
have, like Telford, crossed the border with powers
of road-making and bridge-building which have proved
a source of increased civilization and well-being to the
population of the entire United Kingdom.

The hamlet of Westerkirk, with its parish church and
school, lies in a narrow part of the valley, a few miles
above Langholm. Westerkirk parish is long and narrow,
its boundaries being the hill-tops on either side of the
dale. It is about seven miles long and two broad, with
a population of about 600 persons of all ages. Yet
this number is quite as much as the district is enabled
to support, as is proved by its remaining as nearly as
possible stationary from one generation to another.1
But what becomes of the natural increase of families ?
" Oh, they swarm off! " was the explanation given to us

1 The names of the families in the
valley remain very nearly the same
as they were three hundred years ago
— the Johnstones, Littles, Scotts, and

Adew ! Grossars, Niksonis, and Bells,
Oft have we fairne owrthreuch the fells :
Adew ! Robsons, Howis, and Pylis,
That in our craft hes mony wills :

Langhofn7; | ^lis' ^-umbells, and Aimestranges ;

the ongs, Bells, Wins, | J^J^^ig-j,

and Graemes lower down towards i The Scotts of Eisdale, and the Gramis,

Canobie and Netherby. It is interest- i i haf na time to tell your nameis."

ing to find that Sir David Lindesay, in ;

his curious drama published in ' Pin- Telford, or Telfer, is an old name

krrton's Scotish Poems ' (vol. ii., p. in the same neighbourhood, com-

156), gives these as among the names | memorated in the well known border

of the borderers some three hundred ballad of ' Jamie Telfer of the fail-

years since. One Common Thift, Dodhead.' Sir W. Scott says, in the

when sentenced to condign punish- j 'Minstrelsy,' that "there is still a

ment, thus remembers his Border j family of Telfers, residing near Lang-

friends in his dying speech :— holm, who pretend to derive their

" Adew ! my bruther Annan theives, | descent from the Telfers of the Dod-

That holpit me in my mischeivis ; i head."

u 2

292 TELFORD'S PARENTAGE. PART VIII.

by a native of the valley. " If they remained at home,"
said he, " we should all be sunk in poverty, scrambling
with each other amongst these hills for a bare living.
But our peasantry have a spirit above that : they will
not consent to sink ; they look up ; and our parish schools
give them a power of making their way in the world,
each man for himself. So they swarm off — some to
America, some to Australia, some to India, and some,
like Telford, work their way across the border and up
to London, though he is the only one from this valley
who has yet reached Westminster Abbey."

One would scarcely have expected to find the birth-
place of the builder of the Menai Bridge and other great
national works in so obscure a corner of the kingdom.
Possibly it may already have struck the reader with
surprise, that not only were all the engineers described in
the preceding pages self-taught in their professions, but
they were brought up mostly in remote country places,
far from the active life of great towns and cities. But
genius is of no locality, and springs alike from the farm-
house, the peasant's hut, or the herd's shieling. Strange
indeed it is that the men who have built our bridges,
docks, lighthouses, canals, and railways, should nearly
all have been country-bred boys : Edwards and Brindley
the sons of small farmers ; Smeaton, brought up in his
father's country house at Austhorpe ; Rennie, the son of
a farmer and freeholder ; ^nd Stephenson, brought up in a
village, an engine-tenter's son. But Telford, even more
than any of these, was a purely country-bred boy, and
was born and brought up in a valley so secluded that it
could not even boast of a cluster of houses of the dimen-
sions of a village.

Telford' s father was a herd on the sheep-farm of
Grlendinning. The farm consists of green hills, lying
along the valley of the Meggat, a little burn, which
descends from the moorlands on the east, and falls into

RD'S BIRTHPLACE. 1
[By R. P. Leitcb.]

the Esk near the hamlet of
Wester kirk. John Telford's
cottage was little better
than a shieling, consisting
of four mud walls, spanned
by a thatched roof. It stood upon a knoll near the
lower end of a deep gully worn in the hillside by the
torrents of many winters. The ground stretches away
from it in a long sweeping slope up to the sky, and is
green to the top, except wiiere the bare grey rocks in
some places crop out to the day. From the knoll may
be seen miles on miles of hills up and down the valley,
winding in and out, sometimes branching off into smaller
glens, each with its gurgling rivulet of peaty-brown water
flowing down from the mosses above. Only a narrow
strip of arable land is here and there visible along the

1 The engraving represents the valley of the Meggat, showing the cottages of
Glendinning in the distance.

294 THE UNBLAMEABLE SHEPHERD, PART VIII.

bottom of the dale, all above being sheep-pasture, moors,
and rocks. At Grlendinning you seem to have got almost
to the world's end. There the road ceases, and above it
stretch trackless moors, the solitude of which is only
broken by the wimpling sound of the burns on their way
to the valley below, the hum of bees gathering honey
among the heather, the whirr of a blackcock on the
wing, the plaintive cry of the ewes at lambing-time, or
the sharp bark of the shepherd's dog gathering the flock
together for the fauld.

In this cottage on the knoll Thomas Telford was born
on the 9th of August, 1757, and before the year was
out he was already an orphan. The shepherd, his
father, died in the month of November, and was buried
in Westerkirk churchyard, leaving behind him his widow
and her only child altogether unprovided for. We may
here mention that one of the first things which that
child did, when he had grown up to manhood and could
" cut a headstone," was to erect one with the following
inscription, hewn and lettered by himself, over his
father's grave : —

" IN MEMOKY OF JOHN TELFORD, WHO, AFTER LIVING 33 YEARS AN
UNBLAMEABLE SHEPHERD, DIED AT GLENDINNING, NOVEMBER, 1757", —

a simple but poetical epitaph, which Wordsworth himself
might have written.

The widow had a long and hard struggle with the
world before her ; but she encountered it bravely. She
had her boy to work for, and, destitute though she was,
she had him to educate. She was helped, as the poor so
often are, by those of her own condition, and there is no
sense of degradation in receiving such help. One of the
risks of benevolence is its tendency to lower the recipient
to the condition of an alms-taker. Doles from poors'-
boxes have this enfeebling effect ; but a poor neigh-
bour giving a destitute widow a help in her time of
need is felt to be a friendly act, and is alike elevating to
the character of both. Though misery such as is wit-

CHAP. I. TELFORD'S MOTHER. 295

nessed in large towns was quite unknown in the valley,
there was poverty ; but it was honest as well as hopeful,
and no one felt ashamed of it. The farmers of the dale
were very primitive l in their manners and habits, and
being a warm-hearted, though by no means a demon-
strative race, they were kind to the widow and her
fatherless boy. They took him by turns to live with
them at their houses, and gave his mother occasional
employment. In spring-time she milked the ewes, in
summer she made hay, and in harvest she went a-shearing ;
so that she not only contrived to live, but to be cheerful.
The house to which the widow and her son removed,
at the Whitsuntide following the death of her husband,
was at a place called The Crooks, about midway between

COTTAGE AT THE CROOKS. [By Percival Skelton.]

Glendinning and Westerkirk. It was a thatched cot-
house, with two ends ; in one of which lived Janet
Telford (though more commonly known- by her own
name of Janet Jackson) and her son Tom, and in the
other her neighbour Elliot ; one door being common to
both.

Young Telford grew up a healthy boy, and he was so
full of fun and humour that he became known in the

1 It may be mentioned as a curious j one of which was in the house of Sir

iaet that about the time of Telford 's ' James Johnstone of Wester Hall, and

birth there were only two tea-kettles the other in that of Mr. Malcolm of

in the whole parish of Westerkirk, the Burnibot.

290 TELFORD AT SCHOOL. PART YITT.

valley by the name of " Laughing Tarn.'' When he
was old enough to herd sheep he went to live with a
relative, a shepherd like his father, and he spent most
of his time with him in summer on the hill-side amidst
the silence of nature. In winter he lived with one or
other of the neighbouring farmers. He herded their
cows or ran errands, receiving for recompense his meat,
a pair of stockings, and five shillings a year for clogs.
These were his first wages, and as he grew older they
were gradually increased.

But Tom must now be put to school, and, happily,
small though the parish of Westerkirk was, it possessed
the advantage of that admirable institution the parish
school. To the orphan boy the merely elementary
teaching there provided was an immense boon. To
master this was the first step of the ladder he was after-
wards to mount ; his own industry, energy, and ability
must do the rest. To school accordingly he went, still
working a-field or herding cattle during the summer
months. Perhaps his own "penny fee" helped to pav
the teacher's hire ; but it is supposed that his uncle
Jackson defrayed the principal part of the expense of
his instruction. It was not much that lie learnt ; but
in acquiring the arts of reading, writing, and figures, he
learnt the beginnings of a great deal.

Apart from the question of learning, there was another
manifest advantage to the poor boy in mixing freely at
the parish school with the sons of the neighbouring
farmers and proprietors. Such intercourse has an influ-
ence upon a youth's temper, manners, and tastes, which
is quite as important in the education of character as
the lessons of the master himself ; and Telford often,
in after-life, referred with pleasure to the benefits
which he thus derived from his early school friendships,
Amongst those to whom he was accustomed to look
back with most pride, were the two elder brothers of the
Malcolm family, both of whom rose to high rank in the
service of their country ; William Telford, a youth of

CHAP. T.

WESTERKIRK SCHOOL.

297

great promise, a naval surgeon, who died young ; an<l
the brothers William and Andrew Little, the former of
whom settled down as a farmer in Eskdale, and the
latter, a surgeon, lost his eyesight when on service on the

«

WESTERKIRK CHURCH AND SCHOOL.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing.]

coast of Africa. Andrew Little afterwards established
himself as a teacher at Langholm, where he educated,
amongst others, General Sir Charles Pasley, Dr. Irving,
the Custodier of the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh,
and. others known to fame beyond the bounds of their
native valley. Well might Telford say, when an old
man, full of years and honours, on sitting down to
write his autobiography, "I still recollect with pride
and pleasure my native parish of Westerkirk, on the
banks of the Esk, where I was born."

LANGHOLM—

V11I.

CHAPTEK II.

LANGHOLM — TELFORD LEARNS THE TRADE OF A STONEMASON.

THE time arrived when young Telford must be put to
some regular calling. Was he to be a shepherd like his
father and his uncle, or was he to be a farm-labourer,
or put apprentice to a trade ? There was not much
choice ; but at length it was determined to bind him to
a stonemason. In Eskdale that trade was for the most
part confined to the building of drystone walls, and there
was very little more art employed in it than an ordinarily
neat-handed labourer could manage. It was eventually
determined to send the youth — and he was now a strong
lad of about fifteen — to a mason at Lochmaben, a small
town across the hills to the eastward, where a little more
building and of a better sort — such as farm-houses, barns,
and road-bridges — was carried on, than in his own im-
mediate neighbourhood. There he remained only a
few months ; for his master using him badly, the high-
spirited youth would not brook it, and ran away, taking
refuge with his mother at The Crooks, very much to her
dismay.

What was now to be done with Tarn ? He was willing
to do anything or go anywhere rather than back to
his Lochmaben master. In this emergency his cousin
Thomas Jackson, the factor or land-steward at Wester
Hall, offered to do what he could to induce Andrew
Thomson, a small mason at Langholm, to take Telford for
the remainder of his apprenticeship ; and to him he went
accordingly. The business carried on by his new master
was of a very humble sort. Telford, in his autobiography,

CHAP. II. TELFORD A MASON'S APPRENTICE. 299

states that most of the farmers' houses in the district then
consisted of " one storey of mud walls, or rubble stones
bedded in clay, and thatched with straw, rushes, or
heather ; the floors being of earth, and the fire in the
middle, having a plastered creel chimney for the escape
of the smoke ; and, instead of windows, small open-
ings in the thick mud walls admitted a scanty light."
The farm-buildings were of a similarly wretched de-
scription.

The principal owner of the landed property in the
neighbourhood was the Duke of Buccleugh ; and shortly
after the young Duke Henry succeeded to the title and
estates in 1767, he introduced considerable improvements
in the farmers' houses and farm-steadings, and the dwell-
ings of the peasantry, as well as of the roads through
Eskdale. In. this way a demand sprang up for masons'
labour, and Telford's master had no want of regular
employment for his hands. Telford had the benefit of this
increase in the building operations of the neighbourhood ;
not only in raising rough walls and farm enclosures, but
in erecting bridges across rivers wherever regular roads
for wheel carriages were substituted for the horse-tracks
formerly in use.

During the greater part of his apprenticeship Telford
lived in the little town of Langholm, taking frequent
opportunities of visiting his mother at The Crooks on
Saturday evenings, and accompanying her to the parish-
church of Westerkirk on Sundays. Langholm was then
a very poor town, being no better in that respect than
the district that surrounded it. It consisted chiefly of
mud hovels, covered with thatch — the principal building
in it being the Tolbooth, a stone and lime structure,
the upper part of which was used as a justice-hall and
the lower part as a gaol. There were, however, a few
good houses in the little town occupied by people
of the better class, and in one of these lived an

300 TELFOIIB'R EARLY READING. PART VIII.

elderly lady, Miss Pasley,1 one of the family of the
Pasleys of Craig. As the town was so small that
everybody in it knew everybody else, the ruddy-
cheeked, laughing mason's apprentice soon became gene-
rally known to all the townspeople, and amongst others
to Miss Pasley. AVhen she heard that he was the
poor orphan boy from up the valley, the son of the hard-
working widow woman, Janet Jackson, so " eident " and
so industrious, her heart warmed to the mason's appren-
tice, and she sent for him to her house. That was a
proud day for Tarn ; and when he called upon her, he
was not more pleased with Miss Pasley 's kindness than
delighted at the sight of her little library of books,
which contained more volumes than he had ever before
seen. He had by this time acquired a strong taste
for reading, and indeed exhausted all the little book
stores of his friends. His joy may therefore be ima-
gined when Miss Pasley volunteered to lend him some
books from her own library ! Of course the young
mason eagerly and thankfully availed himself of the
privilege ; and thus, while working as an apprentice
and afterwards as a journeyman, he gathered his first
stores of information in British literature, in which he
was accustomed to the close of his life to take such
pleasure. He almost always had some book with
him, which he would snatch a few minutes to read
during the intervals of his work ; and in the winter
nights he occupied his spare time in poring over the
volumes that came in his way, usually with no better
light than what was afforded by the cottage fire. On
one occasion Miss Pasley lent him 'Paradise Lost,' and
he took the book with him to the hill-side to read.
His delight was such that it fairly taxed his powers
of expression. He could only say "I read and read,

Aunt of Sir Charles Pasley, lately deceased.

CHAP. II. TELFOHD A JOURNEYMAN MASON. 301

and glowred ; then read, and read again." He was
also a great admirer of Burns, whose writings so in-
flamed his mind that at the age of twenty-two, when
barely out of his apprenticeship, we find him breaking
out in verse.1

By diligently reading all such books as he could
borrow from friends and neighbours, Telford made con-
siderable progress in his learning ; and, what with his
scribbling of " poetry " and various attempts at com-
position, he had become so good and legible a writer
that he was often called upon by his less-educated fel-
lows to pen letters for them to their distant friends.
He was always willing to help them in this way ; and,
the other working people of the town making use of his
services in the same manner, all the little domestic and
family histories of the place soon became familiar to him.
One evening a Langholm man asked Tom to write
a letter for him to his son in England ; and when the
young scribe read over what had been written to the old
man's dictation, the latter, at the end of almost every
sentence, exclaimed, " Capital ! capital ! " and at the close
he said, " Well ! I say, Tarn ! Werricht himsel' couldna
ha' written a better ! " — the said Wright being a well-
known lawyer or " writer " in Langholm.

His apprenticeship over, Telford went on working
as a journeyman at Langholm, his wages at the time
being only eighteenpence a-day. What was called the
New Town was then in course of erection, and there
are houses still pointed out in it, the walls of which
Telford helped to put together. In the town are three
arched door-heads of a more ornamental character than

1 In his * Epistle to Mr. Walter torious career : —

Ruddiman' first published in ' Ruddi- u Nor the tentie curious la(l

man's \\a-kly Magazine m 1^9, Who o'er the ingle hangs his head,

occur the following lines addressed to Alld begs of neighbours books to read ;

Burns, in which ielford incidentally Yor hence arise

sketches himself at the time, and Thy country's sons, who far are spread,

hints at his own subsequent meri- Baith bold and wise."

302 LAXGHOLM BRIG. TAUT VIII.

the rest, of Telford' s hewing ; for he was already be-
ginning to set up his pretensions as a craftsman, and took
pride in pointing to the superior handiwork which pro-
ceeded from his chisel. About the same time the bridge
connecting the Old with the New Town was built across
the Esk at Langholm, and upon that structure
he was also employed. Many of the stones in it
were hewn by his hand, and on several of the
blocks forming the land-breast his tool mark is
still to be seen.
Not long after the bridge was finished, an unusually
high flood or spate swept down the valley. The Esk
was " roaring red frae bank to brae," and it was gene-
rally feared that the new brig would be carried away.
Andrew Thomson, the master mason, was from home
at the time, and his wife, Tibby, knowing that he was
bound by his contract to maintain the fabric for a
period of seven years, was in a state of great alarm.
She ran from one person to another, wringing her
hands and sobbing, " Oh ! we'll be ruined — we'll all be
ruined ! " In her distress she thought of Telford, in
whom she had great confidence, and called out, " Oh !
where's Tammy Telfer — where's Tammy ? " He was
immediately sent for. It was evening, and he was soon
found at the house of Miss Pasley. When he came
running up, Tibby exclaimed, " Oh, Tammy ! they've
been on the brig, and they say it's shakin' ! It '11 be
doon ! " " Never you heed them, Tibby," said Telford,
clapping her on the shoulder, "there's nae fear o' the
brig. I like it a' the better that it shakes — it proves it's
weel put thegither." Tibby's fears, however, were not
so easily allayed ; and insisting that she heard the brig
" rumlin," she ran up — so the neighbours afterwards used
to say of her — and set her back against the parapet as if
to hold it together. At this, it is said, " Tarn hedged and
leuch ;" and Tibby, observing how easily he took it, at
length grew more calm. It soon became clear enough

CHAP. II.

TELFORD A JOURNEYMAN MASON.

303

that the bridge was sufficiently strong ; for the flood sub-
sided without doing it any harm, and it has stood the
furious spates of nearly a century uninjured.

Telford acquired considerable general experience
about the same time as a house-builder, though the
structures on which he was engaged were of a humble
order, being chiefly small farm-houses on the Duke
of Buccleugh's estate, with the usual out-buildings.
Perhaps the most important of the jobs on which
he was employed was the manse of Westerkirk, where

VALLEY OF ESKDJU.E. WESTERKTRT TN THE DISTANCE.
[By Percival Skelton, c.fter his original Drawing.]

lie was comparatively at home. The hamlet stands
on a green hill-side at the entrance to the valley of
the Meggat. It consists of the kirk, the minister's
manse, the parish-school, and a few cottages, every
occupant of which was known to Telford. It is backed
by the purple moors, up which he loved to wander
in his leisure hours and read the poems of Fergusson
and Burns. The river Esk gurgles along its rocky
bed in the bottom of the dale, separated from the
kirkyard by a steep green field ; whilst near at hand,

304

POETICAL ATTEMPTS.

PART VII 1.

behind the manse, stretch the fine woods of Wester
Hall, where Telford was often wont to roam. We can
scarcely therefore wonder that, amidst such pastoral
scenery, the descriptive poetic faculty of the country
mason should have become so decidedly and strongly
developed. It was while working at Westerkirk manse
that Telford sketched the first draft of his descriptive
poem, entitled ' Eskdale,' which was published in the
'Poetical Museum' l in 1784.

These early poetical efforts were at least useful as
stimulating his self-education. For the practice of poeti-
cal composition, while it cultivates the sentiment of
beauty in thought and feeling, is probably the best of
all exercises in the art of writing correctly, gramma-
tically, and expressively. By drawing a man out of
his ordinary calling, too, it often furnishes him with a
power of happy thinking which may in after life be a
fountain of the purest pleasure ; and this, we believe,
proved to be the case with Telford, even though he
ceased in later years to pursue the special cultivation
of the art.

1 The ' Poetical Museum,' Hawick,
p. 267. * Eskdale ' was afterwards
reprinted by Telford when living at
Shrewsbury, when he added a few
lines by way of conclusion. The
poem describes very pleasantly the
fine pastoral scenery of the district : —

" Deep 'mid the green sequester'd glens be-
low,

Where murmuring streams among the
alders flow,

Where flowery meadows down their mar-
gins spread,

And the brown hamlet lifts its humble

head-
There, round his little fields, the peasant
strays,

And sees his flock along the mountain
graze ;

And, while the gale breathes o'er his
ripening grain,

And soft repeats his upland shepherd's
strain,

And western suns with mellow radiance

P%,
And gild his straw-roofd cottage with

their ray,
Feels Nature's love his throbbing heart

employ,
Nor envies towns their artificial joy."

The features of the valley are very
fairly described. Its early history is
then rapidly sketched ; next its period
of border strife, at length happily
allayed by the union of the kingdoms,
under which the Jolmstones, Pasleys,
and others, men of Eskdale, achieve
honour and fame. Nor did he forget
to mention Armstrong, the author of
the 'Art of Preserving Health,' who
seems to have been educated in the
valley ; and Mickle, the translator of
the ' Lusiad,' whose father was minis-
ter of the parish of Langholm; both
of whom Telford took a natural pride
in as native poets of Eskdale.

CHAP. IF. MASON AT EDINBURGH. 305

Shortly after, when work became slack in the district,
Telford undertook to do small jobs on his own account
—such as the hewing of gravestones and ornamental
doorheads. He prided himself especially upon his
hewing, and from the specimens of his workmanship
which are still to be seen in the churchyards of Lang-
holm and Westerkirk, he had evidently attained con-
siderable skill. On some of these pieces of masonry
the year is carved — 1779, or 1780. One of the most
ornamental is that set into the wall of Westerkirk church,
being a monumental slab, with an inscription and mould-
ing, surmounted by a coat of arms, to the memory of
James Pasley of Craig.

He had now learnt all that his native valley could
teach him of the art of masonry ; and, bent upon self-
improvement and gaining a larger experience of life
as well as knowledge of his trade, he determined to
seek employment elsewhere. He accordingly left Esk-
dale for the first time, in 1780, and sought work in
Edinburgh, where the New Town was then in course
of erection on the elevated land, formerly green fields,
extending along the north bank of the " Nor' Loch." A
bridge had been thrown across the Loch in 1769, the
stagnant pond or marsh in the hollow had been filled
up, and Princes Street was rising as if by magic. Skilled
masons were in great demand for the purpose of carrying
out these and the numerous other architectural improve-
ments which were in progress, and Telford had no diffi-
culty in obtaining abundant employment. He remained
at Edinburgh for about two years, during which he had
the advantage of taking part in first-rate work and main-
taining himself comfortably, whilst he devoted much of
his spare time to drawing, in its application to architec-
ture. He took the opportunity of visiting and carefully
studying the fine specimens of ancient work at Holyrood
House and Chapel, the Castle, Heriot's Hospital, and the
numerous curious illustrations of middle age domestic

VOL. II. X

306 SETS OUT FOR LONDON. PART V ITT.

architecture with which the Old Town abounds. He also
made several journeys to the beautiful old chapel of
Kosslyn, in the highly ornamented Gothic style, situated
some miles to the south of Edinburgh, making careful
drawings of the more important parts of that building.

When he had thus improved himself " and studied
all that was to be seen in Edinburgh, in returning to
the western border," he says, " I visited the justly cele-
brated Abbey of Melrose." There he was charmed by
the delicate and perfect workmanship still visible even
in the ruins of that fine old Abbey ; and with his
folio filled with sketches and drawings, he made his
way back to Eskdale and the humble cottage at The
Crooks. But not to remain there long. He merely
wished to pay a parting visit to his mother and rela-
tions before starting upon a longer journey. " Having
acquired," he says in his Autobiography, " the rudiments
of my profession, I considered that my native country
afforded few opportunities of exercising it to any extent,
and therefore judged it advisable (like many of my
countrymen) to proceed southward, where industry might
find more employment and be better remunerated."

Before setting out he called upon all his old friends and
acquaintances in the dale — the neighbouring farmers,
who had befriended him and his mother when struggling
with poverty — his schoolfellows, many of whom were
preparing to migrate, like himself, from their native
valley — and the many friends and acquaintances he had
made whilst working as a mason in Langholm. Every-
body knew that Tarn was going south, and all wished him
Grod speed. At length the leave-taking was over, and he
set out for London in the year 1782, when twenty-five
years of age. He had, like the little river Meggat, on the
banks of which he was born, floated gradually on towards
the outer world : first from the nook in the valley, to
Westerkirk school ; then to Langholm and its little circle ;
and now, like the Meggat, which flows with the Esk into

CHAP. II.

TELFORD'S JOURNEY TO LONDON.

307

the ocean, he was about to be borne away into the wide
world. Tarn, however, had confidence in himself, and
no one had fears for him. As the neighbours said, wisely
wagging their heads, "Ah, he's an auld-farran chap is
Tarn ; he'll either mak a spoon or spoil a horn ; any
how, he's gatten a good trade at his fingers' ends."

Telford had made all his previous journeys on foot ;
but this one he rode on horseback. It happened that
Sir James Johnstone, the laird of Wester Hall, had occa-
sion to send a horse from Eskdale to a member of his
family in London ; but he had some difficulty in finding
a person to take charge of it. It occurred to Mr. Jack-
son, the laird's factor, that this was a capital opportunity
for his cousin Tom, the mason ; and it was accordingly
arranged that he should ride the horse to town. When
a boy, he had learnt rough-riding sufficiently well for
the purpose ; and the better to fit him for the hardships
of the road, Mr. Jackson lent him his buckskin breeches.
Thus Tom set out from his native valley well mounted,
with his little bundle of "traps" buckled behind him,
and, after a prosperous journey, duly reached London,
and delivered up the horse as he had been directed.
Long after, Mr. Jackson used to tell the story of his
cousin's first ride to London with great glee, and he
always took care to wind up with — " but Tarn forgot to
send me back my breeks ! "

LOWER VALLEY OF THE MEGGAT, THE CROOKS IN THE DISTANCE.
[By Percival Skelton.]

x 2

308 TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON. PART VIII.

CHAPTEE III.

TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON, AND FOREMAN OF
MASONS AT PORTSMOUTH.

A COMMON working man, whose sole property consisted
in his mallet and chisels, his leathern apron and his
industry, might not seem to amount to much in " the
great world of London." But, as Telford afterwards
used to say, very much depends on whether the man has
got a head, with brains in it of the right sort, upon his
shoulders. In London the weak man is simply a unit
added to a vast floating crowd, and may be driven
hither and thither, if he do not sink altogether ; whilst
the strong man will strike out, keep his head above
water, and make a course for himself, as Telford did.
There is indeed a wonderful impartiality about London.
There the capable person usually finds his place. When
work of importance is required, nobody cares to ask
where the man who can do it best comes from, or what
he has been ; but what he is, and what he can do. Nor
did it ever stand in Telford' s way that his father had
been a poor shepherd in Eskdale, and that he himself had
begun his London career by working for weekly wages
with his mallet and chisel.

After duly delivering up the horse, Telford pro-
ceeded to present a letter with which he had been
charged by his friend Miss Pasley on leaving Lang-
holm. It was addressed to her brother, Mr. John Pasley,
an eminent London merchant — brother also of Sir
Thomas Pasley, and uncle of the Malcolms. Miss
Pasley requested his influence on behalf of the young

CHAP. III.

A HEWER AT SOMERSET HOUSE.

309

mason from Eskdale, the bearer of the letter. Mr. Pasley
received his countryman kindly, and furnished him with
letters of introduction to Sir William Chambers, the
architect of Somerset House, then in course of erec-
tion. It was the finest architectural work in progress
in the metropolis, and Telford, desirous of improving
himself by experience of the best kind, wished to be
employed upon it. It did not, indeed, need any in-
fluence to obtain work there, for good hewers were in
great demand ; but our mason thought it well to make
sure, and accordingly provided himself beforehand with
the letter of introduction to the architect. He was
employed immediately, and set to work amongst the
hewers, receiving the usual wages for his work.

Mr. Pasley also furnished him with a letter to Mr.
Robert Adam,1 another distinguished architect of the
time ; and Telford seems to have been much gratified
by the civility which he received from him. Sir Wil-
liam Chambers he found haughty and reserved, pro-
bably being too much occupied to bestow attention on
the Somerset House hewer, whilst Adam he described
as affable and communicative. " Although I derived
no direct advantage from either," Telford says, " yet
so powerful is manner, that the latter left the most
favourable impression ; while the interviews with both
convinced me that my safest plan was to endeavour
to advance, if by slower degrees, yet by independent
conduct."

There was a good deal of fine hewer's work about
Somerset House, and from the first Telford aimed at
taking the highest place as an artist and tradesman in

1 Robert and John Adam were
architects of considerable repute in
their day. Among their London erec-
tions were the Adelphi Buildings, in
the Strand; Lansdowne House, in
Berkeley Square ; Caen Wood House,

near Hampstead (Lord Mansfield's);
Portland Place, Regent's Park; and
numerous West End streets and man-
sions. The screen of the Admiralty
and the ornaments of Drapers' Hall
were also designed by them.

310

TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON. PART VIII.

that line.1 Diligence, carefulness, and observation will
always carry a man onward and upward; and before
long we find that Telford had succeeded in advancing
himself to the rank of a first-class mason. Judging
by his letters written about this time to his friends
in Eskdale, he seems to have been very cheerful and
happy ; and his greatest pleasure was in calling up
recollections of his native valley. He was full of kind
remembrances for everybody. " How is Andrew, and
Sandy, and Aleck, and Davie ? " he would say ; and
" remember me to all the folk of the nook." He seems
to have made a round of the persons from Eskdale in or
about London before he wrote, as his letters were full
of messages from them to their friends at home ; for in
those days postage was dear, and as much as possible was
necessarily packed within the compass of a working man's
letter. In one, written after more than a year's ab-
sence, he says he envies the visit which a young surgeon
of his acquaintance was about to pay to the valley ;
" for the meeting of long absent friends," he adds, " is
a pleasure to be equalled by few other enjoyments here
below."

He had now been more than a year in London,
during which he had acquired much practical information
both in the useful and ornamental branches of architec-
ture. Was he to go on as a working mason ? or what
was to be his next move ? He had been quietly making
his observations upon his companions, and had come
to the conclusion that they very much wanted spirit,
and, more than all, fore-thought. He found very
clever workmen about him with no idea whatever
beyond their week's wages. For these they would

1 Long after Telford had become
famous, he was passing over Water-
loo Bridge one day with a friend,
when, pointing to some finely-cut
stones in the corner nearest the bridge,

he said : " You see those stones there ;
forty years since I hewed and laid
them, when working on that building
as a common mason."

CHAP. III. A HEWER AT SOMERSET HOUSE. 311

make every effort : they would work hard, exert them-
selves to keep them up to the highest point, and very
readily " strike " to secure an advance ; but as for the
next week, or the next year, he thought them exceed-
ingly careless. On the Monday mornings they began
" clean ;" and on Saturdays there was the week's earn-
ings to spend. Thus they lived from one week to another
—their limited notion of " the week " seeming to bound
their existence.

Telford, on the other hand, looked upon the week as
only one of the storeys of a building ; and upon the
succession of weeks, running on through years, he thought
that the complete life structure should be built up. He
thus describes one of the best of his fellow-workmen
at that time — the only individual he had formed an
intimacy with : " He has been six years at Somerset
House, and is esteemed the finest workman in London,
and consequently in England. He works equally in stone
and marble. He has excelled the professed carvers in
cutting Corinthian capitals and other ornaments about
this edifice, many of which will stand as a monument to
his honour. He understands drawing thoroughly, and
the master he works under looks on him as the principal
support of his business. This man, whose name is Mr.
Hatton, may be half a dozen years older than myself at
most. He is honesty and good nature itself, and 'is
adored by both his master and fellow-workmen. Not-
withstanding his extraordinary skill and abilities, he has
been working all this time as a common journeyman,
contented with a few shillings a-week more than the
rest ; but I believe your uneasy friend has kindled a
spark in his breast that he never felt before." *

In fact, Telford had formed the intention of inducing
this admirable fellow to join him in commencing busi-
ness as builders on their own account. " There is nothing

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Laugholm, dated London, July, 1783.

312

TELFOKD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON, PART VIII.

done in stone or marble," he says, " that we cannot do in
the completest manner." Mr. Bobert Adam, to whom the
scheme was mentioned, promised his support, and said
he. would do all in his power to recommend them. But
the great difficulty was money, which neither of them
possessed ; and Telford, with grief, admitting that this
was an " insuperable bar," the scheme went no further.

About this time Telford was consulted by Mr. Pul-
teney l respecting the alterations making in the mansion
at Wester Hall, and was often with him on this business.
We find him also writing down to Langholm for the
prices of roofing, masonry, and timber-work, with a
view to preparing estimates for a friend who was build-
ing a house in that neighbourhood. Although deter-
mined to reach the highest excellence as a manual
worker, it is clear that he was already aspiring to be
something more. Indeed, his steadiness, perseverance,
and general ability pointed him out as one well worthy
of promotion.

How he achieved his next step we are not informed ;
but we find him, in July, 1784, engaged in superin-
tending the erection of a house, after a design by Mr.
Samuel Wyatt, intended for the residence of the Com-
missioner (now occupied by the Port Admiral) at
Portsmouth Dockyard, together with a new chapel,

1 Mr., afterwards Sir William Pul-
teney, was the second son of Sir
James Johnstone, of Wester Hall, and
assumed the name of Pulteney on his
marriage to Miss Pulteney, niece of
the Earl of Bath and of General Pul-
teney, by whom he' succeeded to a
large fortune ; lie afterwards succeeded
to the baronetcy of his elder brother
James, who 'died without issue in
1797. Sir William Pulteney repre-
sented Cromarty, and afterwards
Shrewsbury, where he usually re-
sided, in seven successive Parliaments.
He was a great patron of Telford's, as
we shall afterwards find. The story

is told in Eskdale that Miss Pulteney
had danced at a public ball with the
elder brother, Sir James, and after-
wards expressed such admiration of
him that it was repeated to him, with
the hint that he might do worse than
offer his hand to the heiress. " There
is only one slight difficulty," said he,
" I have got a wife already ; but," he
added, "if she would like a John-
stone, there's my brother Will — a
much better looking fellow than I
am." How it may have been brought
about is not stated, but Will did
make up to the heiress, and married
her, assuming the name of her family.

CHAP. III. AND FOREMAN OF MASONS AT PORTSMOUTH. 313

and several buildings connected with the Yard. Tel-
ford took care to keep his eyes open to all the other
works going forward in the neighbourhood, and he
states that he had frequent opportunities of observing
the various operations necessary in the foundation and
construction of graving-docks, wharf-walls, and such
like, which were amongst the principal occupations of
his after-life.

The letters written by him from Portsmouth to his
Eskdale correspondents about this time were cheerful and
hopeful, like those he had sent from London. His principal
grievance was that he received so few from home, but he
supposed that opportunities for forwarding them by hand
had not occurred, postage being so dear as scarcely then
to be thought of. To tempt them to correspondence
he sent copies of the poems which he still continued to
compose in the leisure of his evenings : one of these was
a ' Poem on Portsdown Hill.' As for himself, he was
doing very well. The buildings were advancing satis-
factorily ; but, " above all," said he, " my proceedings
are entirely approved by the Commissioners and officers
here — so much so that they would sooner go by my
advice than my master's, which is a dangerous point,
being difficult to keep their good graces as well as his.
However, I will contrive to manage it."

The following is his own account of the manner in
which he was usually occupied during the winter months
while at Portsmouth Dock : — " I rise in the morning
at 7 (February 1st), and will get up earlier as the days
lengthen until it come to 5 o'clock. I immediately set
to work to make out accounts, write on matters of busi-
ness, or draw, until breakfast, which is at 9. Then I go
into the Yard about 10, see that all are at their posts,
and am ready to advise about any matters that may
require attention. This, and going round the several

Letter to Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Portsmouth, July 23rd, 1784.

314 TELFORD AT PORTSMOUTH PART VIII.

works, occupies until about dinner-time, which is at 2 ;
and after that I again go round and attend to what may
be wanted. I draw till 5 ; then tea ; and after that I write,
draw, or read until half after 9 ; then comes supper and
bed. This is my ordinary round, unless when I dine or
spend an evening with a friend ; but I do not make
many friends, being very particular, nay, nice to a de-
gree. My business requires a great deal of writing and
drawing, and this work I always take care to keep under
by reserving my time for it, and being in advance of
my work rather than behind it. Then, as knowledge is
my most ardent pursuit, a thousand things occur which
call for investigation which would pass unnoticed by
those who are content to trudge only in the beaten path.
I am not contented unless I can give a reason for every
particular method or practice which is pursued. Hence
I am now very deep in chemistry. The mode of making
mortar in the best way led me to inquire into the nature
of lime. Having, in pursuit of this inquiry, looked into
some books on chemistry, I perceived the field was
boundless ; but that to assign satisfactory reasons for
many mechanical processes required a general know-
ledge of that science. I have therefore borrowed a
MS. copy of Dr. Black's Lectures. I have bought his
4 Experiments on Magnesia and Quicklime,' and also
Fourcroy's Lectures, translated from the French by one
Mr. Elliot, of Edinburgh. And I am determined to
study the subject with unwearied attention until I attain
some accurate knowledge of chemistry, which is of no
less use in the practice of the arts than it is in that of
medicine." He adds, that he continues to receive the
cordial approval of the Commissioners for the manner in
which he performs his duties, and says, "I take care to
be so far master of the business committed to me as that
none shall be able to eclipse me in that respect." At

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Limgliolm, dated Portsmouth Dockyard,
Feb. 1, 1786.

CHAP. III. AS FOREMAN OF MASONS. 315

the same time he states he is taking great delight in
Freemasonry, and is about to have a lodge-room at
the George Inn fitted up after his plans and under
his direction. Nor does he forget to add that he has
his hair powdered every day, and puts on a clean shirt
three times a week. The Eskdale mason is evidently
getting on, as he deserves. Yet he says that " he
would rather have it said of him that he possessed one
grain of good nature or good sense than shine the finest
puppet in Christendom." " Let my mother know that
I am well," he writes to Andrew Little, " and that I
will print her a letter soon." i For it was a practice of
this good son, down to the period of his mother's
death, no matter how much burdened he was with
business, to set apart occasional times for the careful
penning of a letter in printed characters, that she might
be the more easily able to decipher it with her old and
dimmed eyes by her cottage fireside at The Crooks.
As a mail's real disposition usually displays itself most
strikingly in small matters — like light, which gleams
the most brightly when seen through narrow chinks — it
will probably be admitted that this trait, trifling though
it may appear, was truly characteristic of the simple and
affectionate nature of the hero of our story.

The buildings at Portsmouth were finished by the end
of 1786, when Telford's duties at that place being at an
end, and having no engagement beyond the termination
< >f the contract, he prepared to leave, and began to look
about him for other employment.

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Portsmouth Dockyard,
Feb. 1, 1786.

16 TELFORD BECOMES COUNTY SURVEYOR. PART VIII.

CHAPTER IV.

BECOMES SURVEYOR FOR THE COUNTY OF SALOP.

MR. PULTENEY, member for Shrewsbury, was the owner
of extensive estates in that neighbourhood by virtue
of his marriage with the niece of the last Earl of Bath.
Having resolved to fit up the Castle there as a residence,
he bethought him of the young Eskdale mason, who had,
some years before, advised him as to the repairs of the
Johnstone mansion at Wester Hall. Telford was soon
found, and engaged to go down to Shrewsbury to
superintend the necessary alterations. Their execution
occupied his attention for some time, and during their
progress he was so fortunate as to obtain the appoint-
ment of Surveyor of Public Works for the county of
Salop, most probably through the influence of his patron.
Indeed, Telford was known to be so great a favourite
with Mr. Pulteney that at Shrewsbury he usually went
by the name of " Young Pulteney."

Much of his attention was from this time occupied
with the surveys and repairs of roads, bridges, and gaols,
and the supervision of all public buildings under the
control of the magistrates of the county. He was also
frequently called upon by the corporation of the borough
to furnish plans for the improvement of the streets and
buildings of that fine old town ; and many alterations
were carried out under his directions during the period
of his residence there.

While the Castle repairs were in course of execution,
he was called upon by the justices to superintend the
erection of a new gaol, the plans for which had
already been prepared and settled. The benevolent

CHAP, IV. INTERVIEWS WITH JOHN HOWARD. 317

Howard, who devoted himself with such zeal to gaol im-
provement, on hearing of the intentions of the magis-
trates, made a visit to Shrewshury for the purpose of
examining the plans ; and the circumstance is thus ad-
verted to by Telford in one of his letters to his Eskdale
correspondent : — " About ten days ago I had a visit
from the celebrated John Howard, Esq. I say /, for he
was on his tour of gaols and infirmaries ; and those of
Shrewsbury being both under my direction, this was, of
course, the cause of my being thus distinguished. I
accompanied him through the infirmary and the gaol.
I showed him the plans of the proposed new buildings,
and had much conversation with him on both subjects.
In consequence of his suggestions as to the former, I
have revised and amended the plans, so as to carry out
a thorough reformation ; and my alterations having been
approved by a general board, they have been referred
to a committee to carry out. Mr. Howard also took ob-
jection to the plan of the proposed gaol, and requested
me to inform the magistrates that, in his opinion, the
interior courts were too small, and not sufficiently venti-
lated ; and the magistrates, having approved his sugges-
tions, ordered the plans to be amended accordingly. You
may easily conceive how I enjoyed the conversation of
this truly good man, and how much I would strive to
possess his good opinion. I regard him as the guardian
angel of the miserable. He travels into all parts of
Europe with the sole object of doing good, merely for
its own sake, and not for the sake of men's praise. To
give an instance of his delicacy, and his desire to avoid
public notice, I may mention that, being a Presbyterian,
he attended the meeting-house of that denomination in
Shrewsbury on Sunday morning, on which occasion I
accompanied him ; but in the afternoon he expressed a
wish to attend another place of worship, his presence in
the town having excited considerable curiosity, though
his wish was to avoid public recognition. Nay, more,

318

TELFORD'S LIFE AT SHREWSBURY.

PART VIII.

he assures me that he hates travelling, and was born to
be a domestic man. He never sees his country-house

t/

but he says within himself, ' Oh ! might I but rest here,
and never more travel three miles from home ; then
should I be happy indeed ! ' But he has become so
committed, and so pledged himself to his own conscience
to carry out his great work, that he says he is doubtful
whether he will ever be able to attain the desire of his
heart — life at home. He never dines out, and scarcely
takes time to dine at all : he says he is growing old, and
has no time to lose. His manner is simplicity itself.
Indeed, I have never yet met so noble a being. He is
going abroad again shortly on one of his long tours of
mercy." 1 The journey to which Telford here refers was
Howard's last. In the following year he left England
to return no more ; and the great and good man died
at Cherson, on the shores of the Black Sea, less than
two years after his interview with the young engineer
at Shrewsbury.

Telford writes to his Langholm friend at the same time,
that he is working very hard, and studying to improve
himself in branches of knowledge in which he feels him-
self deficient. He is practising very temperate habits :
for half a year past he has taken to drinking water only,
avoiding all sweets, and eating no " nick-nacks." He
has " so wens and milk " (oatmeal flummery) every night
for his supper. His friend having asked his opinion ol
politics, he says he really knows nothing about them ;
he had been so completely engrossed by his own busi-
ness that he has not had time to read even a newspaper.
But, though an ignoramus in politics, he has been
studying liine, which is more to his purpose. If his
friend can give him any information about that, he will
promise to read a newspaper now and then in the en-
suing session of Parliament, for the purpose of forming

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury Castlo, 21st
Feb., 1788.

CHAP. IV. HIS STUDIES. 319

some opinion of politics : he adds, however, " not if it
interfere with my business — mind that ! " His friend
had told him that he proposed translating a system of
chemistry. " Now you know," said he, " that I am
chemistry mad ; and if I were near you, I would make
you promise to communicate any information on the
subject that you thought would be of service to your
friend, especially about calcareous matters and the mode
of forming the best composition for building with, as
well above as below water. But not to be confined to
that alone, for you must know I have a book for the
pocket,1 which I always carry with me, into which I
have extracted the essence of Fourcroy's Lectures, Black
on Quicklime, Scheele's Essays, Watson's Essays, and
various points from the letters of my respected friend
Dr. Irving,2 So much for chemistry. But I have also
crammed into it facts relating to mechanics, hydrostatics,
pneumatics, and all manner of stuff, to which I keep
continually adding, and it will be a charity to me if you
will kindly contribute your mite." 3 He says it has
been, and will continue to be, his aim to endeavour to
unite those " two frequently jarring pursuits, literature
and business ;" and he does not see why a man should
be less efficient in the latter capacity because he has
well informed, stored, and humanized his mind by the
cultivation of letters. There was both good sense and
sound practical wisdom in this view of Telford.

While the gaol was in course of erection, after the im-
proved plans suggested by Howard, a variety of important
matters occupied the county surveyor's attention. During

1 This practice of noting down in- being printed in the appendix to the

formation, the result of reading and 4to. ' Life of Telford ' published by his

observation, was continued by Mr. • executors in 1838. Pp. 663-90.

Telford until the close of his life ; his j 2 A medical man, a native of Esk-

last pocket memorandum book, con- dale, of great promise, who died com-

taining a large amount of valuable j paratively young,

information on mechanical subjects — | 3 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,

a sort of engineer's vade mecum — ' Langholm.

320

TELFORD'S POETICAL COMPOSITIONS. PART VITI.

the summer of 1788 he says he is very much occupied,
having about ten different jobs on hand : roads, bridges,
streets, drainage- works, gaol, and infirmary. Yet he
had time to write verses, copies of which he forwarded
to his Eskdale correspondent, inviting his criticism.
Several of these were elegiac lines, somewhat exag-
gerated in their praise of the deceased, though doubt-
less sincere. One poem was in memory of George
Johnstone, Esq., a member of the Wester Hall family,
and another on the death of William Telford, an Esk-
dale farmer's son, an intimate friend and schoolfellow of
our engineer.1 These, however, were but the votive
offerings of private friendship, persons more immediately
about him knowing nothing of his stolen pleasures in
versemaking. He continued to be shy of strangers, and
was very " nice," as he calls it, as to those whom he
admitted to his bosom.

Two circumstances of considerable interest occurred
in the course of the same year (1788), which are worthy
of passing notice. The one was the fall of the church
of St. Chad's, at Shrewsbury ; the other was the dis-
covery of the ruins of the Roman city of Uriconium,
in the immediate neighbourhood. The church of St.
Chad's was about four centuries old, and stood greatly

1 It would occupy unnecessary
space to cite these poems. The fol-
lowing, from the verses in memory of
William Telford, relates to schoolboy
days. After alluding to the lofty
Fell Hills, which formed part of the
sheep farm of his deceased friend's
father, the poet goes on to say : —

" There, 'mongst those rocks I'll form a
rural seat,

And plant some ivy with its moss corn-
pleat ;

I'll benches form of fragments from the
stone,

Which, nicely pois'd, was by our hands
o'erthrown, —

A simple frolic, but now dear to me,
Because, my Telford, 'twas performed

with thee.

There, in the centre, sacred to his name,
I'll place an altar, where the lambent

flame
Shall yearly rise, and eveiy youth shall

join
The willing voice, and sing the enraptured

line,
But we, my friend, will often steal

away

To this lone seat, and quiet pass the day ;
Here oft recall the pleasing scenes we

knew

In early youth, when every scene was ne\v,
When rural happiness our moments blest,
And joys untainted rose in every breast."

( 'HAP. IV. FALL OF ST. CHAD'S CHURCH. 321

in need of repairs. The roof let in the rain upon
the congregation, and the parish vestry met to settle
the plans for mending it ; but they could not agree
about the mode of procedure. In this emergency Tel-
ford was sent for by the churchwardens, and requested
to advise them what was best to be done. He accord-
ingly examined the building, and found that not only the
roof but the walls of the church were in a most decayed
state. It appeared that, in consequence of graves having
been dug in the loose soil close to the shallow founda-
tion of the north-west pillar of the tower, it had sunk so
as to endanger the whole structure. " I discovered,"
says he, " that there were large fractures in the walls,
on tracing which I found that the old building was in a
most shattered and decrepit condition, though until then
it had been scarcely noticed. Upon this I declined
giving any recommendation as to the repairs of the roof
unless they would come to the resolution to secure the
more essential parts, as the fabric appeared to me to be
in a very alarming condition. I sent in a written report
to the same effect." The parish vestry again met, and
the report was read ; but the meeting exclaimed against
so extensive a proposal, imputing mere motives of self-
interest to the surveyor. " Popular clamour," says
Telford, " overcame my report. ' These fractures,' ex-
claimed the vestrymen, ' have been there from time imme-
morial ; ' and there were some otherwise sensible persons,
who remarked that professional men always wanted to
carve out employment for themselves, and that the whole
of the necessary repairs could be done at a comparatively
small expense." 2 Telford at length left the meeting,
advising that, if they wished to discuss anything besides
the alarming state of the church, they had better adjourn
to some other place, where there was no danger of its
falling on their heads. The suggestion was received

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 16th July, 1788. 2 Ibid.
VOL. IT. Y

322 EXCAVATIONS AT WROXETER. TART VIII.

with ridicule, and the vestry called in another person, a
mason of the town, directing him to cut away the injured
part of the pillar, in order to underbuild it. On the
second evening after the commencement of these opera-
tions, the sexton was alarmed at the fall of lime-dust and
mortar when he attempted to toll the great bell, on which
he immediately desisted and left the church. Early
next morning (on the 9th of July), while the workmen
were waiting at the church door for the key, the bell
struck four, and the vibration at once brought down
the tower, which overwhelmed the nave, demolishing
all the pillars along the north side, and shattering the
rest. " The very parts I had pointed out," says Telford,
" were those which gave way, and down tumbled the
tower, forming a very remarkable ruin, which astonished
and surprised the vestry, and roused them from their
infatuation, though they have not yet recovered from
the shock." l

The other circumstance to which we have above re-
ferred was the discovery of the Roman city of Uriconium,
near Wroxeter, about five miles from Shrewsbury, in the
year 1788. The situation of the place is extremely beau-
tiful, the river Severn flowing along its western margin,
and forming a barrier against what were once the hostile
districts of West Britain. For many centuries the dead
city had slept under the irregular mounds of earth which
covered it, like those of Mossul and Nineveh. Farmers
raised heavy crops of turnips and grain from the surface ;
and they scarcely ever ploughed or harrowed the ground
without turning up Roman coins or pieces of pottery.
They also observed that in certain places the corn was
more apt to be scorched in dry weather than in others —
a sure sign to them that there were ruins underneath ;
and their practice, when they wished to find stones for
building, was to set a mark upon the scorched places

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 16th July, 1788.

CHAP. IV. MANAGEMENT OF FELONS. 323

when the corn was on the ground, and after harvest to
dig down, sure of finding the store of stones which they
wanted for walls, cottages, or farm-houses. In fact, the
place came to be regarded in the light of a quarry, rich
in ready-worked materials for building purposes. About
this time a quantity of stone was wanted for the purpose
of erecting a blacksmith's shop, and on digging down
upon one of the marked places, the labourers came
upon some ancient works of a more perfect appearance
than usual. Curiosity was excited — antiquarians made
their way to the spot — rand lo ! they pronounced the ruins
to be neither more nor less than a Roman bath, in a
remarkably perfect state of preservation. Mr. Telford
was requested to apply to Mr. Pulteney, the lord of the
manor, to prevent the destruction of these interesting
remains, and also to permit the excavations to proceed,
with a view to the buildings being completely explored.
Tin's was readily granted, and Mr. Pulteney authorised
Telford himself to conduct the necessary excavations
at his expense. This he promptly proceeded to do,
and the result was, that an extensive hypocaust apart-
ment was brought to light, with baths, sudatorium,
dressing-room, and a number of tile pillars — all forming
parts of a Roman floor — sufficiently perfect to show
the manner in which they had been constructed and
used.1

Among Telford' s less agreeable duties about the same
time was that of keeping the felons at work. He had
to devise the ways and means of employing them without
risk of their escaping, which gave him much trouble
and anxiety. " Really," he says, " my felons are a very
troublesome family. I have had a great deal of plague
from them, and I have not yet got things quite in the
train that I could wish. I have had a dress made for

1 The discovery formed the subject
of a paper read before the Society of
Antiquaries in London on the 7th of

May, 1789, published in the ' Archa>
ologia,' together with a drawing of the
remains supplied by Mr. Telford.

Y 2

324

DISTASTE FOR MUSIC.

PART VIII.

them of white and brown cloth, in such a way that they
are pyebald. They have each a light chain about one
leg. Their allowance in food is a penny loaf and a half-
penny worth of cheese for breakfast ; a penny loaf, a
quart of soup, and half a pound of meat for dinner ; and
a penny loaf and a halfpenny worth of cheese for supper ;
so that they have meat and clothes at all events. I
employ them in removing earth, serving masons or brick-
layers, or in any common labouring work on which they
can be employed ; during which time, of course, I have
them strictly watched."

Much more pleasant was his first sight of Mrs. Jordan
at the Shrewsbury theatre, where he seems to have
been worked up to a pitch of rapturous enjoyment. She
played for six nights there at the race time, during which
there were various other entertainments. On the second
day there was what was called an Infirmary Meeting,
or an assemblage of the principal county gentlemen in
the infirmary, at which, as county surveyor, Telford
was present. They proceeded thence to church to hear a
sermon preached for the occasion ; after which there was
a dinner, followed by a concert. He attended all. The
sermon was preached in the new pulpit, which had just
been finished after his designs, in the Gothic style ; and
he confidentially informed his Langholm correspondent
that he believed the pulpit secured greater admiration
than the sermon. With the concert he was completely
disappointed, and he then became convinced that he could
have no ear for music. Other people seemed very much
pleased ; but for the life of him he could make nothing
of it. The only difference that he recognised between
one tune and another was that there was a difference of
noise. " It was all very fine," he says, " I have no
doubt ; but I would not give a song of Jock Stewart l for

1 An Eskdale crony. His son,
Colonel Jonas Stewart, rose to emi-
nence in the East India Company's

service, having been for many years
Resident at Gwalior and Indore.

CHAP. IV.

TELFORD'S DUTY TO HIS MOTHER.

325

the whole of them. The melody of sound is thrown away
upon me. One look, one word of Mrs. Jordan, has more
effect upon me than all the fiddlers in England. Yet I
sat down and tried to be as attentive as any mortal could
be. I endeavoured, if possible, to get up an interest in
what was going on ; but it was all of no use. I felt no
emotion whatever, excepting only a strong inclination
to go to sleep. It must be a defect ; but it is a fact, and
I cannot help it. I suppose my ignorance of the subject,
and the want of musical experience in my youth, may
be the cause *of it." l

Telford's mother was still living in her old cottage at
The Crooks. Since he had parted from her he had written
many printed letters to keep her informed of his pro-
gress ; and he never wrote to any of his friends in
the dale without including some message or other to his
mother. Like a good and dutiful son, he had taken care
out of his means to provide for her comfort in her de-
clining years. " She has been a good mother to me," he
said, " and I will try and be a good son to her." In a
letter written from Shrewsbury about this time, enclosing
a ten pound note, seven pounds of which was to be given
to his mother, he said, " I have from time to time written
William Jackson [his cousin] and told him to furnish
her with whatever she wants to make her comfortable ;
but there may be many little things she may wish to
have, and yet not like to ask him for. You will there-
fore agree with me that it is right she should have a
little cash to dispose of in her own way. . . I am not
rich yet ; but it will ease my mind to set my mother above
the fear of want. That has always been my first object ;
and next to that, to be the somebody which you have always
encouraged me to believe I might aspire to become.
Perhaps after all there may be something in it ! "

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,
miirholm, dated 3rd Sept., 1788.

2 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,

Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 8th
October, 1789.

326 TELFORD'S POLITICS. PART VIII.

He now seems to have occupied much of his leisure
hours in miscellaneous reading. Amongst the numerous
books which he read, he expressed the highest admi-
ration for Sheridan's ' Life of Swift.' But his Lang-
holm friend, who was a great politician, having invited
his attention to politics, Telford's reading gradually
extended in that direction. Indeed the exciting events
of the French Revolution then tended to make all
men more or less politicians. The capture of the
Bastille by the people of Paris in 1789 passed like
an electric thrill through Europe. Then 'followed the
Declaration of Eights ; after which, in the course of six
months, all the institutions which had before existed in
France were swept away, and the reign of justice was
fairly inaugurated upon earth! In the spring of 1791
the first part of Paine' s ' Eights of Man ' appeared, and
Telford, like many others, read it, and was at once carried
away by it. Only a short time before, he had admitted
with truth that he knew nothing of politics ; but no
sooner had he read Paine than he felt completely en-
lightened. He now suddenly discovered how much
reason he and everybody else in England had for being
miserable. Whilst residing at Portsmouth he had quoted
to his Langholm friend the lines from Cowper's ' Task,'
then just published, beginning " Slaves cannot breathe
in England ;" but lo ! Mr. Paine had filled his imagination
with the idea that England was nothing but a nation of
bondmen and aristocrats. To his natural mind the
kingdom had appeared to be one in which a man had
pretty fair play, could think and speak, and do the
thing he would, — tolerably happy, tolerably prosperous,
and enjoying many blessings. He himself had felt free
to labour, to prosper, and to rise from manual to head
work. No .one had hindered him ; his personal liberty
had never been interfered with ; and he had freely em-
ployed his earnings as he thought proper. But now the
whole thing appeared a delusion. Those rosy-cheeked

CHAP. IV.

TELFOBD'S POLITICS.

327

old country gentlemen who came riding in to Shrews-
bury to quarter sessions, and were so fond of their young
Scotch surveyor — occupying themselves in building
bridges, maintaining infirmaries, making roads, and regu-
lating gaols — those county magistrates and members of
parliament, aristocrats all, were the very men who,
according to Paine, were carrying the country headlong
to ruin.

If Telford could not offer an opinion on politics before,
because he " knew nothing about them," he had now no
such difficulty. Had his advice been asked about the
foundations of a bridge, or the security of an arch, he
would have read and studied much before giving it ; he
would have carefully inquired into the chemical qualities
of different kinds of lime — into the mechanical prin-
ciples of weight and resistance, and such like ; but he had
no such hesitation in giving an opinion about the foun-
dations of a constitution of more than a thousand years'
growth. Here, like other young politicians, with Paine's
book before him, he felt competent to pronounce a
decisive judgment at once. " I am convinced," said he,
writing to his Laiigholm friend, " that the situation of
Great Britain is such, that nothing short of some signal
revolution can prevent her from sinking into bankruptcy,
slavery, and insignificancy." He held that the national
expenditure was so enormous,1 arising from the corrupt
administration of the country, that it was impossible the
u bloated mass " could hold together any longer ; and as
he could not expect that " a hundred Pulteneys," such as
his employer, could be found to restore it to health, the
conclusion he arrived at was that ruin was " inevitable." 2

1 It was then under seventeen mil-
lions sterling, or about a fourth of
what it is now.

2 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,
Langholm, dated 28th July, 1791.
Notwithstanding the theoretical ruin
of England which pressed so heavy
on his mind at this time, we find

Telford strongly recommending his
correspondent to send any good wrights
he can find in his neighbourhood to
Bath, where they would be enabled
to earn twenty shillings or a guinea
a week at piece-work — the wages paid
at Langholm for similar work being
only about half those amounts.

328

TELFOHD'S POLITICS.

PART VIII.

Fortunately for Telford, his intercourse with the towns-
people of Shrewsbury was so small that his views on
these subjects were never known ; and we very shortly
find him employed by the clergy themselves in building
a new church in the town of Bridgenorth. His patron
and employer, Mr. Pulteney, however, knew of his
extreme views, and the knowledge came to him quite
accidentally. He found that Telford had made use of
his frank to send through the post a copy of Paine' s
4 Rights of Man ' to his Langholin correspondent,1 where
the pamphlet excited as much fury in the minds of
some of the people of that town as it had done in that
of Telford himself. The " Langholin patriots " broke
out into drinking revolutionary toasts at the Cross, and
so disturbed the peace of the little town that some of
them were confined for six weeks in the county gaol.
Mr. Pulteney was very indignant at the liberty Telford
had taken with his frank, and a rupture between them
seemed likely to ensue ; but the former was forgiving, and
the matter went no further. It is only right to add, that
as Telford grew older and wiser, he became more careful
in jumping at conclusions on political topics. The events
which shortly occurred in France tended in a great
measure to heal his mental distresses as to the future of
England. When the " liberty " won by the Parisians
ran into riot, and the " Friends of Man " occupied
themselves in taking off the heads of those who differed
from them, he became wonderfully reconciled to the

1 The writer of a memoir of Tel-
ford, in the ' Encyclopedia Britannica,'
says : — " Andrew Little kept a pri-
vate and very small school at Lang-
holm. Telford did not neglect to
send him a copy of Paine's * Rights of
Man ;' and, as he was totally blind,
he employed one of his scholars to
read it in the evenings. Mr. Little
had received an academical education
before he lost his sight; and, aided
by a memory of uncommon powers,
he taught the classics, and particularly

Greek, with much higher reputation
than any other schoolmaster within
a pretty extensive circuit. Two of his
pupils read all the Iliad, and all or
the greater part of Sophocles. After
hearing a long sentence of Greek or
Latin distinctly recited, he could gene-
rally construe and translate it with
little or no hesitation. He was always
much gratified by Telford's visits,
which were not infrequent, to his
native district."

CHAP. IV. TELFORD'S VERSES. 329

enjoyment of the substantial freedom which, after all,
was secured to him by the English Constitution. At
the same time he was so much occupied in carrying out
his important works, that he found but little time to
devote either to political speculation or to verse-making.
Whilst living at Shrewsbury, he had his poem of
' Eskdale ' reprinted for private circulation. We have
also seen several MS. verses by him, written about the
same period, which do not appear ever to have been
printed. One of these — the best — is entitled ' Yerses
to the Memory of James Thomson, author of " Liberty,
a poem ;" ' another is a translation from Buchanan,
i On the Spheres;' and a third, written in April, 1792,
is entitled ' To Eobin Burns, being a postscript to
some verses addressed to him on the establishment of
tin Agricultural Chair in Edinburgh.' It would unne-
cessarily occupy our space to print these effusions ; and,
to tell the truth, they exhibit few if any indications of
poetic power. No amount of perseverance will make
a poet of a man in whom the divine gift is not born.
The true line of Telford's genius lay in building and
engineering, in which direction we now propose to
follow him.

SHREWSBURY CASTLE. [By Percival Skelton.]

330 TELFOKD ON MECHANICAL EXPERIENCE. PART Vlll.

CHAPTER V.

TELFORD'S FIRST EMPLOYMENT AS AN ENGINEER.

•

As surveyor for the county, Telford was frequently
called upon by the magistrates to advise them as to the
improvement of roads and the building or repairs of
bridges. His early experience of bridge-building in his
native district now proved of much service to him, and
he used often to congratulate himself, even when he had
reached the highest rank in his profession, upon the cir-
cumstances which had compelled him to begin his career
by working with his own hands. To be a thorough
judge of work, he held that a man must himself have
been practically engaged in it. " Not only," he said,
" are the natural senses of seeing and feeling requisite in
the examination of materials, but also the practised eye,
and the hand which has had experience of the kind and
qualities of stone, of lime, of iron, of timber, and even
of earth, and of the effects of human ingenuity in applying
and combining all these substances, are necessary for
arriving at mastery in the profession ; for, how can a
man give judicious directions unless he possesses personal
knowledge of the details requisite to effect his ultimate
purpose in the best and cheapest manner ? It has hap-
pened to me more than once, when taking opportunities
of being useful to a young man of merit, that I have
experienced opposition in taking him from his books and
drawings, and placing a mallet, chisel, or trowel in his
hand, till, rendered confident by the solid knowledge
which experience only can bestow, he was qualified to
insist on the due performance of workmanship, and to

CHAP. V. TELFORD A CHURCH BUILDER. 331

judge of merit in the lower as well as the higher depart-
ments of a profession in which no kind or degree of
practical knowledge is superfluous." l

The first bridge designed and built under Telford's
superintendence was one of no great magnitude, across the
river Severn at Montford, about four miles west of Shrews-
bury. It was a stone bridge of three elliptical arches, one
of 58 feet and two of 55 feet span each. The Severn at
that point is deep and narrow, and its bed and banks are
of alluvial earth. It was necessary to make the founda-
tions very secure, as the river is subject to high floods ;
but this was effectually accomplished by means of coffer-
dams. The building was substantially executed in red
sandstone, and proved a very serviceable bridge, forming
part of the great high road from Shrewsbury into Wales.
It was finished in the year 1792.

In the same year we find Telford engaged as an archi-
tect in preparing the designs and superintending the
construction of the new parish church of St. Mary Mag-
da len at Bridgenorth. It stands at the end of Castle
Street, near to the old ruined fortress perched upon the
bold red sandstone bluff on which the upper part of the
town is built. The situation of the church is very fine,
and an extensive view of the beautiful vale of the Severn
is obtained from it. Telford' s design is by no means
striking ; " being," as he said, " a regular Tuscan eleva-
tion ; the inside is as regularly Ionic : its only merit is
simplicity and uniformity ; it is surmounted by a Doric
t< > \ver, which contains the bells and a clock." A graceful
Gothic church would have been more appropriate to the
situation, and a much finer object in the landscape ; but
Gothic was not then in fashion — only a mongrel mixture
of many styles, without regard to either purity or grace-
fulness. The church, however, proved comfortable and

1 Telford's * Autobiography,' p. 3.

332 TELFORD'S JOURNEY TO BATH. PART VIII.

commodious, and these were doubtless the points to which
the architect paid most attention.

His completion of the church at Bridgenorth to
the satisfaction of the inhabitants brought Telford a
commission, in the following year, to erect a similar
edifice at Coalbrookdale. But in the mean time, to en-
large his knowledge and increase his acquaintance with
the best forms of architecture, he determined to make a
journey to London and through some of the principal
towns of the south of England. He accordingly visited
Gloucester, Worcester, and Bath, remaining several
days in the last-mentioned city. He was charmed be-
yond expression by his journey through the manufac-
turing districts of Gloucestershire. The whole seemed
to him a smiling scene of prosperous industry and middle
class comfort. But passing out of this " Paradise," as
he styles it, another stage brought him into a region
the very opposite. " We stopped," says he, " at a little
alehouse on the side of a rough hill to water the horses,
and lo ! the place was full of drunken blackguards, bel-
lowing out ' Church and King ! ' A poor ragged German
Jew happened to come up, whom those furious loyalists
had set upon and accused of being a Frenchman in dis-
guise. He protested that he was only a poor German
who 6 cut de corns/ and that all he wanted was to buy a
little bread and cheese. Nothing would serve them but
that he must be carried before the Justice. The great
brawny fellow of a landlord swore he should have
nothing in his house, and, being a constable, told him
that he would carry him to gaol. I interfered, and
endeavoured to pacify the assailants of the poor man ;
when suddenly the landlord, snatching up a long knife,
sliced off about a pound of raw bacon from a ham which
hung overhead, and, presenting it to the Jew, swore
that if he did not swallow it down at once he should not
be allowed to go. The man was in a worse plight than

CHAP. V. STUDIES ARCHITECTURE. 333

ever. He said he was a 'poor Shoe,' and durst not
eat that. In the midst of the uproar Church and King
were forgotten, and eventually I prevailed upon the
landlord to accept from me as much as enabled poor
little Moses to get his meal of bread and cheese ; and
by the time the coach started they seemed all perfectly
reconciled." l

Telford was much gratified by his visit to Bath, and
inspected its fine buildings with admiration. But he
thought that Mr. Wood, who, he says, " created modern
Bath," had left no worthy successor. In the buildings
then in progress he saw clumsy designers at work, " blun-
dering round about a meaning "- —if there was meaning
at all in their designs, which, indeed, he failed to see.
From Bath he went to London by coach, making the
journey in safety, " although," he says, " the collectors
had been doing duty on Hounslow Heath." During
his stay in London he carefully examined the prin-
cipal public buildings by the light of the experience
which he had gained since he last saw them. He also
spent a good deal of his time in studying rare and
expensive works on architecture — the use of which he
could not elsewhere procure — at the libraries of the
Antiquarian Society and the British Museum. There
he perused the various editions of Yitruvius and Pal-
ladio, as well as Inigo Jones's ' Parentalia.' He
found a rich store of ancient architectural remains in
the British Museum, which he studied with great care :
antiquities from Athens, Baalbec, Palmyra, and Her-
culaneum ; " so that," he says, " what with the informa-
tion I was before possessed of, and that which I have
now accumulated, I think I have obtained a tolerably
good general notion of architecture."

From London he proceeded to Oxford, where he

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 10th March,
1793.

334 TELFORD'S STUDY OF ARCHITECTURE. PART VHI.

carefully inspected its colleges and churches, afterwards
expressing the great delight and profit which he had
derived from his visit. He was entertained while there
by Mr. Robertson, an eminent mathematician, then
superintending the publication of an edition of the
works of Archimedes. The architectural designs of
buildings that most pleased him were those of Dr.
Aldrich, Dean of Christchurch about the time of Sir
Christopher Wren. He tore himself from Oxford with
great regret, proceeding by Birmingham on his way
home to Shrewsbury. " Birmingham," he says, " famous
for its buttons and locks, its ignorance and barbarism- —
its prosperity increases with the corruption of taste and
morals. Its nicknacks, hardware, and gilt gimcracks
are proofs of the former ; and its locks and bars,
and the recent barbarous conduct of its populace,1 are
evidences of the latter." His principal object in visit-
ing the place was to call upon a stained glass maker
respecting a window for the new church at Bridge-
north.

On his return to Shrewsbury, Telford proposed to
proceed with his favourite study of architecture ; but
this, said he, " will probably be very slowly, as I must
attend to my every day employment," namely, the
superintendence of the county road and bridge repairs,
and the direction of the convicts' labour. " If I keep
my health, however," he added, " and have no unfore-
seen hindrance, it shall not be forgotten, but will be
creeping on by degrees." An unforeseen circumstance,
though not a hindrance, did very shortly occur, which
launched Telford upon a new career, for which his un-
remitting study, as well as his carefully improved experi-
ence, eminently fitted him : we refer to his appointment
as engineer to the Ellesmere Canal Company.

1 Referring to the burning of Dr. Priestley's library.

CHAP. V. ENGINEER TO THE ELLESMERE CANAL. 335

The conscientious carefulness with which Telford had
performed the duties entrusted to him, and the skill with
which he directed the works placed under his charge,
secured the cordial approbation of the gentlemen of the
county. His straightforward and outspoken manner
had further obtained for him the friendship of many
of them. At the meetings of quarter-sessions his plans
had often to encounter considerable opposition, and,
when called upon to defend them, he did so with such
firmness, persuasiveness, and good temper, that he
usually carried his point. " Some of the magistrates
are ignorant," he wrote in 1789, " and some are obsti-
nate ; though I must say that on the whole there is a
very respectable bench, and with the sensible part I
believe I am on good terms." This was amply proved
some four years later, when it became necessary to
appoint an engineer to the Ellesmere Canal, on which
occasion the magistrates, who were mainly the promoters
of that undertaking, almost unanimously solicited their
Surveyor to accept the office.

Indeed, Telford had become a general favourite in the
county. He was cheerful and cordial in his manner,
though somewhat brusque. Though now thirty-five
years old, he had not lost the humorousness which had
procured for him the sobriquet of " Laughing Tarn."
He laughed at his own jokes as well as at others. He
was spoken of as jolly — a word then much more rarely
as well as more choicely used than it is now. Yet he
had a manly spirit, and was very jealous of his inde-
pendence. All this made him none the less liked by
free-minded men. Speaking of the friendly support
which he had throughout received from Mr. Pulteney,
he said, " His good opinion has always been a great
satisfaction to me ; and the more so, as it has neither
been obtained nor preserved by deceit, cringing, nor
flattery. On the contrary, I believe I am almost the

336 TELFORD'S EMPLOYMENT PART VIII.

only man that speaks out fairly to him, and who contra-
dicts him the most. In fact, between us, we sometimes
quarrel like tinkers ; but I hold my ground, and when
he sees I am right he quietly gives in."

Although Mr. Pulteney's influence had no doubt
assisted Telford in obtaining the appointment of sur-
veyor, it had nothing to do with the unsolicited invi-
tation which now emanated from the county gentlemen.
Telford was not even a candidate for the engineership,
and had not dreamt of offering himself, so that the pro-
posal came upon him entirely by surprise. Though he
admitted he had self-confidence, he frankly confessed
that he had not a sufficient amount of it to justify him
in aspiring to the office of engineer to one of the most
important undertakings of the day. The following is
his own account of the circumstance :—

" My literary project l is at present at a stand, and
may be retarded for some time to come, as I was last
Monday appointed sole agent, architect, and engineer to
the canal which is projected to join the Mersey, the Dee,
and the Severn. It is the greatest work, I believe, now
in hand in this kingdom, and will not be completed for
many years to come. You will be surprised that I have
not mentioned this to you before ; but the fact is that I
had no idea of any such appointment until an applica-
tion was made to me by some of the leading gentlemen,
and I was appointed, though many others had made
much interest for the place. This will be a great and
laborious undertaking, but the line which it opens is
vast and noble ; and coming as the appointment does
in this honourable way, I thought it too great an
opportunity to be neglected, especially as I have stipu-
lated for, and been allowed, the privilege of carrying
on my architectural profession. The work will re-

1 The preparation of some translations from Buchanan which he had con-
templated.

CHAP. V. AS ENGINEEH OF THE ELLESMERE CANAL.

337

(juire great labour and exertions, but it is worthy of
them all." 1

Telford's appointment was duly confirmed by the
next general meeting of the shareholders of the Elles-
mere Canal. An attempt was made to get up a party
against him, but it failed. " I am fortunate," he said,
" in being on good terms with most of the leading men,
both of property and abilities ; and on this occasion I
had the decided support of the great John Wilkinson,
king of the ironmasters, himself a host. I travelled in
his carriage to the meeting, and found him much dis-
posed to be friendly." The salary at which Telford

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,
Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 29th
September, 1793.

* flohn Wilkinson was the first of
the great ironmasters, of whom there
arc, iKiw so many. His father was a
small farmer in Cumberland, who
afterwards went to work at the iron
furnace and forge at Blackbarrow, in
Carnnel, where he became foreman of
the works. His two sons, John and
William, were employed there. The
first iron furnace and forge erected by
John was at a place called Wilson
House, in the same neighbourhood,
for the purpose of smelting the haema-
tite iron ore of Furness. The patent
which he took out for the manufac-
ture of box smoothing irons proved
very successful, and he gradually ex-
tended his operations. The two bro-
thers erected iron forges at Bersham,
near Chester, at Bradley, Brimbo,
Merthyr Tydvil, and other places ;
and became by far the largest iron
manufacturers of their day. John was
particularly celebrated for his cast-
ings and borings. Watt never could
get cylinders east true for his con-
densing steam-engines until Wilkinson
supplied them. He himself invented
and introduced a new boring machine,
since become common, which was a
great improvement on that formerly
in use. The Wilkinsons cast the
whole of the tubes, pipes, cylinders,
and ironwork required for the great
Paris waterworks— the most formid-

VOL, II.

able undertaking of the kind at that
day. The first iron vessel ever built
was erected by them at Willey in
South Wales, and traded upon the
Severn before the year 1790. John
Wilkinson retired late in life to his
native county with a handsome for-
tune, and he built the mansion of
Castlehead, in the parish of Cartmel,
where he died. When the brothers
gave up business, labourers were em-

ployed to break up the machinery at
the Welsh works with sledge-ham-
mers, in order that the materials might
be equally divided between them.
Many thought this an exceedingly
insane act ; yet it was not entirely so.
Both were extremely stubborn men,
and knew each other's temper; and
perhaps they concluded that, though
sledge-hammers might be veiy de-
structive when wielded by labourers
amongst their fine machinery, the
corrosive though more tedious process
of a Chancery suit, managed by skilful
lawyers, might be still more damaging

338

TELFORD'S EMPLOYMENT

PART VIII.

was engaged was 500/. a year, out of which he had to
pay one clerk and one confidential foreman, besides de-
fraying his own travelling expenses. It would not appear
that after making these disbursements much would remain
for Telford's own labour ; but in those days engineers
were satisfied with comparatively small pay, and did not
dream of making large fortunes. Though he intended
to continue his architectural business, he decided to give
up his county surveyorship and other minor matters,
which, he said, " give a great deal of very unpleasant
labour for very little profit ; in short they are like the
calls of a country surgeon." One part of his former
business which he did not give up was what related to
Mr. Pulteney and Lady Bath, with whom he continued
on intimate and friendly terms. He incidentally mentions
in a letter a graceful and charming act of her Ladyship.
On going into his room one day he found that, before
setting out for Buxton, she had left upon his table a
copy of Ferguson's ' Roman Republic,' in three quarto
volumes, superbly bound and gilt.

He now looked forward with anxiety to the commence-
ment of the canal, the execution of which would neces-
sarily call for great exertion on his part, as well as
unremitting attention and industry ; " for," said he,

to the interests of both; so the ma-
chinery was all broken up. John had
great faith in iron, and in its applica-
bility to nearly every purpose for
which durable material was required.
Having made his fortune by its manu-
facture, he determined that his body
should lie encased by his favourite
metal when he died. In his will he
directed that he should be buried
in his garden in an iron coffin with
an iron monument over him of twenty
tons weight ; and he was so buried
within thirty yards of his mansion at
Castlehead. He had the coffin made
long before his death, and used to take
pleasure in showing it to his visitors,
very much to the horror of many of
them. He would also offer a present

of an iron coffin to any one who might
desire to possess one. When he came
to be placed in his narrow bed, it was
found that the coffin he had provided
was too small, so he was temporarily
interred until another could be made.
When placed in the ground a second
time, the coffin was found to be
too near the surface ; accordingly
it was taken up, and an excavation
cut in the rock, after which it was
buried a third time ; and on the
Castlehead estates being sold in 1828,
the family directed the coffin again
to be taken up and removed to the
neighbouring chapel yard of Lindale,
where it now lies. A man is still
living at the latter place who assisted
at all the four interments.

CHAP. V. AS ENGINEER OF THK ELLESMERE CANAL.

330

" besides the actual labour which necessarily attends so
extensive a public work, there are contentions, jealousies,
and prejudices, stationed like gloomy sentinels from one
extremity of the line to the other. But, as I have heard
my mother say that an honest man might look the Devil
in the face without being afraid, so we must just trudge
along in the old way." l

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Lano-holin, dated Shrewsbury, 3rd November

Mi? MAGDALEN, BhIUGEXOK J i_i
[By Percival Skeltoa ]

z 2

340

THE ELLESMERE CANAL.

TAUT VIII.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ELLESMERE CANAL.

THE ELLESMERE CANAL consists of a series of naviga-
tions proceeding from the river Dee in the vale of Llan-
gollen. One branch passes northward, near the towns
of Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Nantwich, and the city of

Chester, to Ellesmere
Port on the Mersey ;
another, in a south-
easterly direction,
through the middle of
Shropshire towards
Shrewsbury on the
Severn ; and a third,
in a south-westerly
direction, by the town
of Oswestry, to the
Montgomeryshire
Canal near Llany-
mynech ; its whole
extent, including the
Chester Canal, incor-
porated with it, being about 112 miles.

The success of the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal had
awakened the attention of the landowners throughout
England, but more especially in the districts immediately
adjacent to the scene of the Duke's operations, as they
saw with their own eyes the extraordinary benefits
which had followed the opening up of the navigations.
The resistance of the landed gentry, which many of
these schemes had originally to encounter, had now com-

MAP OF ELLESMERS CANAL.

CHAP. VI. THE ACT OBTAINED. 341

pletely given way, and, instead of opposing canals, they
were everywhere found anxious for their construction.
The navigations hrought lime, coal, manure, and mer-
chandise almost to the farmers' doors, and provided
them at the same time with ready means of conveyance
for their produce to good markets. Farms in remote
situations were thus placed more on an equality with
those in the neighbourhood of large towns ; rents rose in
consequence, and the owners of land everywhere became
the advocates and projectors of canals. The dividends
paid by the first companies were also very high, and it
was well known that the Duke's property was bringing
him in immense wealth. There was, therefore, no diffi-
culty in getting the shares in new projects readily sub-
scribed for : indeed Mr. Telford relates that at the first
meeting of the Ellesmere projectors, so eager were the
public, that four times the estimated expense was sub-
scribed without hesitation. Yet this navigation passed
through a difficult country, necessarily involving very
costly works ; and as the district was but thinly inhabited,
it did not present a very inviting prospect of dividends.1
But the mania had fairly set in, and it was determined
that the canal should be made. And whether the invest-
ment repaid the immediate proprietors or not, it unques-
tionably proved of immense advantage to the population
of the districts through which it passed, and contributed
to enhance the value of most of the adjoining property.
The Act authorising the construction of the canal was
obtained in 1793, and Telford commenced operations
very shortly after his appointment in October of the
same year. His first business was to go carefully over
the whole of the proposed line, and make a careful work-
ing survey, settling the levels of the different lengths,
and the position of the locks, embankments, cuttings,
and aqueducts. In all matters of masonry work he felt

The Ellesmere Canal now pays about 4 per cent, dividend.

342

ELLESMERE CANAL WORKS.

PART VIII.

himself master of the necessary details ; but having had
comparatively small experience of earthwork, and none
of canal-making, he determined to take the advice of
Mr. William Jessop on that part of the subject ; and he
cordially acknowledges the obligations he was under to
that eminent engineer for the kind assistance which he
received from him on many occasions.

The heaviest and most important part of the works
occurred in carrying the canal through the rugged hill
country between the rivers Dee and Ceriog, in the vale
of Llangollen. From Nantwich to Whitchurch the
distance is 16 miles, and the rise 132 feet, involving
nineteen locks ; and from thence to Ellesmere, Chirk,
Pont-Cysylltau, and the river Dee, If mile above
Llangollen, the distance is 381 miles, and the rise
13 feet, involving only two locks. The latter part of
the undertaking presented the greatest difficulties ; as,
in order to avoid the expense of constructing numerous
locks, which would also involve serious delay and heavy
expense in working the navigation, it became necessary
to contrive means for carrying the canal on the same
level from one side of the respective valleys of the Dee
and the Ceriog to the other, and hence the magnificent
aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-Cysylltau, characterised by
Phillips as " among the boldest efforts of human inven-
tion in modern times." 1

The Chirk Aqueduct carries the canal across the
valley of the Ceriog, between Chirk Castle and the vil-
lage of that name. At this point the valley is above
700 feet wide ; the banks are steep, with a flat alluvial
meadow between them, through which the river flows.
The country is finely wooded. Chirk Castle stands on an
eminence on its western side, with the Welsh mountains
and Grlen Ceriog as a background ; the whole composing

1 ' A General History of Inland
Navigation, Foreign and Domestic,' &c.

By J. Phillips. Fourth edition. Lon-
don, 1803.

CHAP. VI.

CHIRK AQUEDUCT.

343

a landscape of great beauty, in the centre of which Tel-
ford's aqueduct forms a highly picturesque object.

CHIRK AQUEDUCT.
[By Percival Skelton, after bis original Drawing ]

The aqueduct consists of ten arches of 40 feet span
each. The level of the water in the canal is 65 feet above
the meadow, and 70 feet above the level of the river
Ceriog. The proportions of this work far exceeded every-
thing of the kind that had up to that time been attempted
in England. It was a very costly structure ; but Telford,
like Brindley, thought it better to incur a considerable
capital outlay in maintaining the uniform level of the
canal, than to raise and lower it up and down the sides of
the valley by locks at a heavy expense in works, and a still

344

CHIRK AQUEDUCT.

PART VIII.

greater cost in time and water. The aqueduct is a splendid
specimen of the finest class of masonry, and Telford

showed himself a master of his pro-
fession by the manner in which he
carried out the whole details of
the undertaking. The piers were
carried up solid to a certain height,
above which they were built hol-
low, with cross walls. The span-
drels also, above the springing of
the arches, were constructed with
longitudinal walls, and left hol-
low.1 The first stone was laid on
the 17th of June, 1796, and the
work was completed in the year
1801 ; the whole remaining in a
perfect state to this day.

The other great aqueduct on
the Ellesmere Canal, named Pont-Cysylltau, is of even

SECTION OF PIER.

1 Telford himself thus modestly
describes the merit of this original
contrivance : " Previously to this time
such canal aqueducts had been uni-
formly made to retain the water ne-
cessary for navigation by means of
puddled earth retained by masonry ;
and in order to obtain sufficient
breadth for this superstructure, the
masonry of the piers, abutments, and
arches was of massive strength ; and
after all this expense, and every ima-
ginable precaution, the frosts, by
swelling the moist puddle, frequently
created fissures, which burst the ma-
sonry, and suffered the water to escape
— nay, sometimes actually threw down
the aqueducts; instances of this kind
having occurred even in the works of
the justly celebrated Brindley. It
was evident that the increased pres-
sure of the puddled earth was the
chief cause of such failures : I there-
fore had recourse to the following
scheme in order to avoid using it.
The spandrels of the stone arches were
constructed with longitudinal walls,

| instead of being filled in with earth
(as at Kirkcudbright Bridge), and
across these the canal bottom was
formed by cast iron plates at each
side, infixed in square stone masonry.
These bottom plates had flanehes on
their edges, and were secured by nuts
and screws at every juncture. The
sides of the canal were made water-
proof by ashlar masonry, backed
with hard burnt bricks laid in Parker's
cement, on the outside of which was
rubble stone work, like the rest of
the aqueduct. The towing path had
a thin bed of clay under the gravel,
and its outer edge was protected by
an iron railing. The width of the
water-way is 11 feet ; of the masonry
on each side, 5 feet 6 inches ; and the
depth of the water in the canal, 5 feet.
By this mode of construction the
quantity of masonry is much dimin-
ished, and the iron bottom plate forms
a continuous tie, preventing the side-
walls from separation by lateral pres-
sure of the contained water." — ' Life
of Telford,' p. 40.

CHAP. VI. AQUEDUCT OF PONT-CYSYLLTAU. 345

greater dimensions, and a far more striking object in
the landscape. Sir Walter Scott spoke of it to Southey
as " the most impressive work of art he had ever
seen." * It is situated about four miles to the north
of Chirk, at the crossing of the Dee, in the romantic
vale of Llangollen. The north bank of the river is
very abrupt ; but on the south side the acclivity is
more gradual. The lowest part of the valley in which
the river runs is 127 feet beneath the water-level of
the canal ; and it became a question with the engineer
whether the valley was to be crossed, as originally
intended, by locking down one side and up the other
—which would have involved seven or eight locks on
each side — or by carrying it directly across by means
of an aqueduct. The execution of the proposed locks
would have been very costly, and the working of them
in carrying on the navigation would necessarily involve
a great waste of water, which was a serious objec-
tion, inasmuch as the supply was estimated to be no
more than sufficient to provide for the unavoidable
lockage and leakage of the summit level. Hence Tel-
ford's opinion was strongly in favour of an aqueduct ;
but, as we have already seen in the case of that at
Chirk, the height of the work was such as to render
it impracticable to construct it in the usual manner,
upon masonry piers and arches of sufficient breadth and
strength to afford room for a puddled water-way, which
would have been extremely hazardous as well as expen-
sive. He was therefore under the necessity of contriving
some more safe and economical method of procedure ; and
he again resorted to the practice which he had adopted
in the construction of the Chirk Aqueduct, but on a much
more formidable scale.

It will be understood that many years elapsed between
the period at which Telford was appointed engineer to

Selections from the Letters of Southey, vol. iii., p. 502.

346 THE ELLESMEKE CANAL. PAKT VIII.

the Ellesmere Canal and the designing of these gigantic
works. He had in the mean while been carefully gather-
ing experience from a variety of similar undertakings
on which he was employed, and bringing his observa-
tions of the strength of materials and the different forms
of construction to bear upon the plans under his con-
sideration for the great aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-
Cysylltau. In 1795 he was appointed engineer to the
Shrewsbury Canal, which extended from that town to
the collieries and ironworks in the neighbourhood of the
Wrekin, crossing the rivers Eoden and Tern, and Ketley
Brook, after which it joins the Dorrington and Shropshire
Canals. Writing to his Eskdale friend, Telford said :
" Although this canal is only eighteen miles long, yet
there are many important works in its course — several
locks, a tunnel about half a mile long, and two aqueducts.
For the most considerable of these last, I have just re-
commended an aqueduct of iron. It has been approved,
and will be executed under my direction, upon a prin-
ciple entirely new, and which I am endeavouring to
establish with regard to the application of iron." l

SIDE VIEW OF CAST IRON TROUGH.

It was the same principle which he applied to the
great aqueducts of the Ellesmere Canal now under con-
sideration. He had a model made of part of the pro-
posed aqueduct for Pont-Cysylltau, showing the piers,
ribs, towing-path, and side railing, with a cast iron

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 13th March,
1795.

CHAP. VI.

AQUEDUCT OF PONT-CYSYLLTAU.

347

trough for the canal. The model being approved, the
design was completed ; the ironwork was ordered for
the summit, and the masonry of the piers then pro-
ceeded. The foundation-stone was laid on the 25th July,
1 795, by Richard Myddelton, Esq., of Chirk Castle, M.P.,
and the work was not finished until the year 1803, — thus
occupying a period of nearly eight years in construction.

The aqueduct is approached on the south side by an
embankment 1500 feet in length, extending from the
level of the water-way in the canal until its perpen-
dicular height at the " tip " is 97 feet ; thence it is carried
to the opposite side of the valley, over the river Dee,
upon piers supporting nineteen arches, extending for
a length of 1007 feet. The height of the piers above
the low water in the river is 121 feet. The lower part
of each was built solid for 70 feet, all above being
hollow, for the purpose of saving masonry as well as
ensuring good workmanship. The outer walls of the
hollow portion are only two feet thick, with cross inner
walls. As each stone was exposed to inspection, and
as both Telford and his confidential foreman, Matthew
Davidson,1 kept a vigilant eye upon the work, scamping
was rendered impossible, and a first-rate piece of masonry
was the result.

Upon the top of the masonry was set
the cast iron trough for the canal, with its
towing-path and side-rails, all accurately
fitted and bolted together, forming a com-
pletely water-tight canal, with a water-way
of 11 feet 10 inches, of which the towing-
path, standing upon iron pillars rising
from the bed of the canal, occupied 4 feet
8 inches, leaving a space of 7 feet 2 inches
for the boat.2 The whole cost of this part of the canal

Section of Top of Pont-
Cysylltau Aqueduct.

1 Matthew Davidson had been Tel-
ford's fellow workman at Langholm,
and was reckoned an excellent mason.

He died at Inverness, where he had a
situation on the Caledonian Canal.
2 Mr. Hughes, C.E., in his * Me-

348

THE ELLESMEEE CANAL

TART VIII.

was 47,0 18£., which was considered by Telford a mode-
rate sum compared with what it must have cost if

VIEW OF POST-CYSYLLTAU AQUEDUCT.
QBy Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing ]

moir of William Jessop,' published in
4 Weale's Quarterly Papers on Engi-
neering,' points out the bold and ori-
ginal idea here adopted, of constructing
a water-tight trough of cast iron, in
which the water of the canal was to
be carried over the valleys, instead of
an immense puddled trough, in ac-
cordance, with the practice until that
time in use ; and he adds, " the im-
mense importance of this improve-
ment on the old practice is apt to be

lost sight of at the present day by
those who overlook the enormous size
and strength of masonry which would
have been required to support a pud-
dled channel at the height of 120
feet." Mr. Hughes, however, claims
for Mr. Jessop the merit of having
suggested the employment of iron,
though, in our opinion, without suffi-
cient reason. Mr. Jessop was, no
doubt, consulted by Mr. Telford on
the subject ; but the whole details of

the

CHAP. VI.

THE ELLESMERE CANAL.

349

executed after the ordinary manner. The aqueduct was
formally opened for traffic in 1805. "And thus," says.
Telford, "has been added a striking feature to the beau-
tiful vale of Llangollen, where formerly was the fastness
of Owen Glendower, but which, now cleared of its
entangled woods, contains a useful line of intercourse
between England and Ireland ; and the water drawn
from the once sacred Devon furnishes the means of
distributing prosperity over the adjacent land of the
Saxons." l

It is scarcely necessary to refer to the other works
upon this canal, some of which were of considerable
magnitude, though they may now appear dwarfed by
comparison with the works of subsequent engineers.
Thus, there "were two difficult tunnels cut through hard
rock, under the rugged ground which separates the
valleys of the Dee and the Ceriog. One of these is 500
and the other 200 yards in length. To ensure a supply
of water for the summit of the canal, the lake called Bala
Pool was dammed up by a regulating weir, and by its
means the water was drawn off at Llandisilio when re-
quired for the purposes of the navigation ; the navigable
feeder being six miles long, carried along the bank of
the Llangollen valley. All these works were skilfully
executed ; and when the undertaking was finished, Mr.
Telford may be said to have fairly established his repu-
tation as an engineer of first-rate ability.

We now return to Telford' s personal history during
this important period of his career. He had long pro-

the design, as well as the suggestion
of the use of iron (as admitted by Mr.
Hughes himself), and the execution of
the entire works, rested with the
acting engineer. This is borne out
by the report published by the Com-
pany immediately after the formal
opening of the Canal in 1805, in
which they state : " Having now de-
tailed the particulars relative to the

Canal, and the circumstances of the
concern, the committee, in concluding
their report, think it but justice due
to Mr. Telford to state that the works
have been planned with great skill
and science, and executed with much
economy and stability, doing him, as
well as those employed by him, infi-
nite credit. (Signed) BRIDGEWATER."
1 Life, p. 45.

350 REVISITS ESKDALE. PART VIII.

mised himself a visit to his dear Eskdale, and the many
friends he had left there ; but more especially to see his
infirm mother, who had descended far into the vale of
years, and longed to see her son once more before she
died. He had not forgotten her. He had printed many
letters to her, and had taken constant care that she should
want for nothing. She formed the burden of many of
his letters to Andrew Little. " Your kindness in visiting
and paying so much attention to her," said he, " is
doing me the greatest favour which you could possibly
confer upon me." He sends his friend money, which he
urges him to lay out in providing sundry little comforts
for his mother, who seems to have carried her spirit of
independence so far as to have expressed reluctance to
accept money even from her own son. " I must request,"
said he, " that you will purchase and send up what things
may be likely to be wanted, either for her or the person
who may be with her, as her habits of economy will
prevent her from getting plenty of everything, especially
as she thinks that I have to pay for it, which really hurts
me more than anything else." l He expresses an anxious
wish to see her ; but, what with one urgent matter of
business and another, he fears it will be November before
he can set out. He has to prepare a general statement as
to the navigation affairs for a meeting of the committee ;
he must attend the approaching Salop quarter sessions,
and after that a general meeting of the Canal Company ;
so that his visit must be postponed for yet another month.
" Indeed," said he, " I am rather distressed at the thoughts
of running down to see a kind parent in the last stage of
decay, on whom I can only bestow an affectionate look,
and then leave her : her mind will not be much consoled
by this parting, and the impression left upon mine will
be more lasting than pleasant."

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Larigholm, dated Shrewsbury, 16th Sept.,
1794. 2 lbid<

CHAP. VI. POEM OF ' ESKDALE.' 351

He did, however, contrive to run down to Eskdale in
the following November. His mother was alive, but
that was all. After doing what he could for her com-
fort, and providing that all her little wants were properly
attended to, he hastened back to his responsible duties in
connection with the Ellesmere Canal. When at Lang-
holm he called upon his former friends, and recounted
with them the incidents of their youth. He was declared
to be the same " canty " fellow as ever, and, though he
had risen greatly in the world, he was " not a bit set
up." He found one of his old fellow- workmen, Frank
Beattie, become the principal innkeeper of the place.
4 What have you made of your mell and chisels ? " asked
Telford. " Oh ! " replied Beattie, " they are all dis-
persed— perhaps lost." " I have taken better care of
mine," said Telford ; " I have them all locked up in a
room at Shrewsbury, as well as my old working clothes
and leather apron : you know one can never tell what
may happen." He was surprised, as most people are
who visit the scenes of their youth after a long absence,
to see into what small dimensions Langholm had shrunk.
That High Street, which before had seemed so big, and
that frowning gaol and court-house in the Market Place,
were now comparatively paltry to eyes that had been
familiar with Shrewsbury, Portsmouth, and London.
But he was charmed, as ever, with the sight of the heather
hills and the narrow winding valley —

Where deep and low the hamlets lie
Beneath their little patch of sky,
And little lot of stars.

On his return southward he was again delighted by the
sight of old Gilnockie Castle and the surrounding scenery.
As he afterwards wrote to his friend Little, "Broom-
holm was in all his glory." Probably one of the results
of this visit was the revision of the poem of ' Eskdale,'
which he undertook in the course of the following spring,
putting in some fresh touches and adding many new

352

TOUR IN WALES.

PART VJir.

lines, whereby the effect of the whole was considerably
improved. He had the poem printed privately, merely
for distribution amongst friends ; " being careful," as he
said, that " no copies should be smuggled and sold."
Later in the year we find him, on his way to London on
business, sparing a day or two for the purpose of visiting
the Duke of Buckingham's palace and treasures of art
at Stowe ; afterwards writing out an eight-page descrip-
tion of it for the perusal of his friend at Langholm. At
another time, when engaged upon the viaduct at Pont-
Cysylltau, he snatched a few days' leisure to run through
North Wales, of which he afterwards gave a glowing
account to his correspondent. He passed by Cader Idris,
Snowdon, and Penmaen Mawr. " Parts of the country we
passed through," he says, " very much resemble the lofty
green hills and woody vales of Eskdale. In other parts
the magnificent boldness of the mountains, the torrents,
lakes, and waterfalls, give a special character to the
scenery, unlike everything of the kind I had before seen.
The vale of Llanrwst is peculiarly beautiful and fertile.
In this vale is the celebrated bridge of Inigo Jones ; * but
what is a much more delightful circumstance, the in-
habitants of the vale are the most beautiful race of people
I have ever beheld ; and I am much astonished that this
never seems to have struck the Welsh tourists. The
vale of Llangollen is very fine, and not the least interest-
ing object in it, I can assure you, is Davidson's 2 famous
aqueduct, which is already reckoned amongst the wonders
of Wales. Your old acquaintance thinks nothing of
having three or four carriages at his door at a time."

It seems that, besides attending to the construction
of the works at this time, Telford had to organise the
conduct of the navigation at those points at which the
canal was open for traffic. By the middle of 179 7 he

1 See Vol. I., p. 252.

2 See note l, p. 347.

3 Letter to Mr. Andrew Meikle,

Langholm, dated Salop, 20th August,
1797.

CHAP. VI. POETICAL EXEKCISES. 353

states that twenty miles were in working condition,
along which coal and lime were conveyed in consider-
able quantities, to the profit of the Company and the
benefit of the public ; the price of these articles having
already in some places been reduced twenty-five, and
in others as much as fifty, per cent. " The canal affairs,"
he says in one of his letters, "have required a good
deal of exertion, though we are on the whole doing well.
But, besides carrying on the works, it is now necessary
to bestow considerable attention on the creating and
guiding of a trade upon those portions which are exe-
cuted. This involves various considerations, and many
contending arid sometimes clashing interests. In short,
it is the working of a great machine : in the first place,
to draw money out of the pockets of a numerous pro-
prietary to make an expensive canal, and then to make
the money return into their pockets by the creation of a
business upon that canal."

But, as if all this business were not enough, he was
occupied at the same time in writing a book upon the
subject of Mills. In the year 1796 he had undertaken
to draw up a paper on this topic for the Board of
Agriculture, and by degrees it had grown into a large
quarto volume, illustrated by upwards of thirty plates.
He was also reading extensively in his few leisure
moments; and among the solid works which he perused
we find him mentioning Robertson's ' Disquisitions on
Ancient India,' Stewart's ' Philosophy of the Human
Mind,' and Alison's ' Principles of Taste.' But, as a relief
from these graver studies, he seems, above all things, to
have taken peculiar pleasure in occasionally throwing
off a bit of poetry. Thus, when laid up at an hotel
in Chester by a blow on his leg, which disabled him
for some weeks, he employed part of his time in
writing his ' Verses on hearing of the Death of Eobert
Burns.' On another occasion, when on his way to Lon-
don, and detained for a night at Stratford-on-Avon, he

VOL. M. 2 A

354 THE ELLESMERE CANAL. TART VIII.

occupied the evening at his inn in composing some
stanzas, entitled ' An Address to the River Avon.'
And when on his way back to Shrewsbury, while
resting for the night at Bridgenorth, he amused him-
self with revising and copying out the verses for the
perusal of Andrew Little. " There are worse employ-
ments," he said, " when one has an hour to spare from
business ;" and he asked his friend's opinion of the com-
position. It seems to have been no more favourable
than the verses deserved ; for, in his next letter, Telford
says, " I think your observations respecting the verses
to the Avon are correct. It is but seldom I have time
to versify ; but it is to me something like what a fiddle
is to others. I apply to it in order to relieve my
mind, after being much fatigued with close attention to
business."

It is very pleasant to see the engineer relaxing him-
self in this way, and submitting cheerfully to unfavour-
able criticism, which is so trying to even the best of
tempers. The time, however, thus taken from his regular
work was not loss, but gain. Taking the character
of his occupation into account, it was probably the best
kind of relaxation he could have indulged in. With
his head full of bridges and viaducts, he thus kept his
, heart open to the influences of beauty in life and nature ;
and, at all events, the writing of verses, indifferent though
they might have been, proved of this value to him—
that it cultivated in him the art of writing better prose.

CHAP. VII. IRON AND OTHER BRIDGES,

CHAPTER VII.

IRON AND OTHER BRIDGES.

SHREWSBURY being situated in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the Black Country, of which coal and
iron are the principal products, Telford's attention was
naturally directed, at a very early period, to the employ-
ment of cast iron in bridge-building. The strength as
well as lightness of a bridge of this material, compared
with one of stone and lime, is of great moment where
headway is of importance, or the difficulties of defective
foundations have to be encountered. The metal can be
moulded in such precise forms and so accurately fitted
together as to give to the arching the greatest possible
rigidity ; whilst it defies the destructive influences of
time and atmospheric corrosion with nearly as much
certainty as stone itself.

The Italians and French, who took the lead in en-
gineering down almost to the end of last century, early
detected the value of this material, and made several
attempts to introduce it in bridge-building ; but their
efforts proved unsuccessful, chiefly because of the in-
ability of the early founders to cast large masses of iron,
and also because the metal was then more expensive
than either stone or timber. The first actual attempt to
build a cast iron bridge was made at Lyons in 1755,
and it proceeded so far that one of the arches was put
together in the builder's yard ; but the project was
abandoned as too costly, and timber was eventually
used.

It was reserved for English manufacturers to triumph

2 A 2

356 COALBROOKDALE IRON BRIDGE. PART VIII.

over the difficulties which had baffled the foreigners.
Shortly after the above ineffectual attempt had been
made, the construction of an iron bridge over the
Severn near Broseley formed the subject of discussion
among the iron-masters. It was proposed to substitute
a bridge in place of the ferry which then connected
the two banks of the river ; and Mr. John Wilkinson,
who had, as some thought, an extravagant, but, as
results have proved, a truly prophetic, appreciation
of the extensive uses to which iron might be applied,
strongly urged that the structure should be of that
material. Everybody knew of Mr. Wilkinson's hobby,
and of his prognostication that the time would come
when we should live in houses of iron, and even navi-
gate the seas in ships of iron. When he insisted upon
an iron bridge being built at Coalbrookdale, people said
he was "iron-mad." But as he was a powerful man
in his day — " the great iron-master " he was called—
his suggestion could not be dismissed without consi-
deration ; and the Bridge Company, which had been
formed, determined to take the opinion of Mr. Pritchard,
of Shrewsbury, on the subject. That architect's opinion
was favourable to the suggestion of the iron-master ;
and he was requested to supply a design of an iron
bridge, which was eventually adopted. The work
was erected, under contract, by Messrs. Eeynolds and
Darby, iron-masters at Coalbrookdale, in the year
1777. The bridge has only one semicircular arch of
100 feet span, each of the great ribs consisting of two
pieces only. Though it was on the whole a bold design,
and well executed, the error was committed of treating
the arch as one of equilibrium. There also seems to have
been some defect in the abutments, which were forced
inwards by the pressure of the earth behind them, and
the iron arch was thus partially fractured and raised
in the middle. Nevertheless, the first cast iron bridge

CHAP. VII. COALBROOKDALE IROX BRIDGE.

357

THE FIRST IKON i.-UtlDGE, COALBROOKDALE. [By E. M Wimperis.]

ever erected proved a very serviceable structure, and it
remains so to this day.

It is a curious circumstance that the next contriver of
an iron bridge was no other than the same Tom Paine
whose political writings Telford had so much admired.
While residing in America, Paine had proposed to build a
bridge of this material 400 feet in span over the Schuvl-
kill, and he came to England to take out a patent for
his invention,1 and to order a bridge after his plan, the
materials of which were manufactured at the Rother-
ham Iron-works. They were delivered in London, and
fitted together on a bowling-green at Paddington. But
the French Revolution breaking out, Paine hastened to

Specification of Patents, No. 1667, A.D. 1788.

358

WEAR BRIDGE, SUNDERLAND.

PART VIII.

Paris to join the " Friends of Man," leaving his bridge
in the hands of his creditors. His democratic associates
having incarcerated him in the Luxembourg prison, he
lay there for eleven months, but finally escaped to
America. In the mean time the materials had been pur-
chased for erection over the river Wear, at Sunderland,
where the second iron bridge in England was erected,
after a design by Mr. T. Wilson, in the year 1796. Mr.
Robert Stephenson has characterised this bridge as " a
structure which, as regards its proportions and the small
quantity of material employed in its construction, will
probably remain unrivalled." l Indeed, it was long-
regarded as the greatest triumph of the art. Its span

----

WEAR BRIDGE, AT SUJNDERLAND. [By Percival Skelton. ]

' Encyclopedia Britannica.' Art. : Iron Bridges.

CHAP. VII. BUILDWAS IRON BRIDGE. 359

is 236 feet, with a rise of 34 feet, the springing com-
mencing at 95 feet above the bed of the river ; and its
height is such as to allow vessels of 300 tons burden to
sail underneath without striking their masts.

The same year in which Paine' s bridge was erected
at Sunderland, Telford was building his first iron
bridge over the Severn at Buildwas, at a point about
midway between Shrewsbury and Bridgenorth. An
unusually high flood having swept away the old
bridge in the year 1.795, Telford was called upon, as
surveyor for the county, to supply the plan of a new
one. Being on intimate terms with Mr. Wilkinson, who
had strongly supported his appointment as engineer
to the Ellesmere Canal, he was well aware of his san-
guine views as to the capabilities of iron. He had also
carefully examined the bridge at Coalbrookdale ; and
while he had noted the defects in its construction, he
fully appreciated its remarkable merits. The conclusion
at which he arrived was, to build the proposed bridge
at Buildwas of this material ; and as the waters came
down with great suddenness and fury from the Welsh
mountains, he determined to construct it of only one
arch, so as to afford the largest possible water-way.
He had some difficulty in inducing the Coalbrookdale
iron-masters, who undertook the casting of the material,
to depart from the plan of the earlier structure ; but
he persisted in his own design, which was eventually
carried out. It consisted of a single arch of 130 feet
span, the segment of a very large circle, calculated to
resist that tendency of the abutments to slide inwards
which had been the defect of the Coalbrookdale bridge ;
the flat arch being itself sustained and strengthened by
an outer ribbed one on each side, springing lower than
the former and also rising higher, somewhat after the
manner of timber-trussing. Although the span of the
new bridge was 30 feet wider than the Coalbrook-
dale bridge, it contained less than half the quantity of

300

BUILDWAS IRON BRIDGE.

I'ART VITT.

iron ; Buildwas bridge containing 173, whereas the other
contained 378 tons. The new structure was, besides,
extremely elegant in form ; and when the centres were
struck, the arch and abutments stood perfectly firm, and
have remained so until this day. But the ingenious yet
simple design of this bridge will be better explained
by the following representation than by any description
in words.1

BUILDWAS BRIDGE. [By .Peicival .Skelton ]

This, however, had not been Telford's first employment
of iron in bridge-building ; for we found him writing to
his friend at Langholm — the year before Paine' s arching
was erected at Sunderland and his own at Buildwas — that
he had recommended an iron aqueduct for the Shrews-
bury Canal, "on a principle entirely new," and which
he was " endeavouring to establish with regard to the

1 Mr. Telford gives the following
further details: "Each of the main
ribs of the flat arch consists of three
pieces, and at each junction they are
secured by a grated plate, which con-
nects all the parallel ribs together
into one frame. The back of each
abutment is in a wedge-shape, so as
to throw off laterally much of the

pressure of the earth. Under the
bridge is a towing path on each side
of the river. The bridge was cast in
an admirable manner by the Coal-
brookdale iron-masters in the year
1796, under contract with the county
magistrates. The total cost wsis
6034?. 13s. 3d."— ' Life,' p. 30.

CHAP. VII. IRON LOCKS AND GATES. 361

application of iron." This iron aqueduct had now been
cast and fixed ; and it was found to effect so great a
saving in masonry and earthwork, that he wTas afterwards
induced to apply the same principle, as we have already
seen, in different forms, in the magnificent aqueducts of
Chirk and Pont-Cysylltau.

The uses of cast iron in canal construction became
more obvious with every year's successive experience ;
and Telford was accustomed to introduce it in many cases
where formerly only timber or stone had been employed.
On the Ellesmere, and afterwards on the Caledonian Canal,
he introduced cast iron lock-gates, which were found to
answer admirably, being more durable than timber,
and not liable like it to shrink and expand with alter-
nate dryness and wet. The turnb ridges which he in-
troduced upon his canals, instead of the old drawbridges,
were also of cast iron ; and in some cases even the locks
themselves were of the same material. Thus, on a
part of the Ellesmere Canal opposite Beeston Castle, in
Cheshire, where a couple of locks, together rising 1 7 feet,
having been built on a stratum of quicksand, were re-
peatedly undermined, the idea of constructing the entire
locks of cast iron was suggested ; and this extraordinary
application of the new material was successfully accom-
plished, with entirely satisfactory results.

But Telford' s principal application of cast iron was
in the construction of road bridges, in which he
proved himself a master. His experience in these struc-
tures had now become very extensive. During the
time that he held the office of surveyor to the county
of Salop, he erected no fewer than forty-two, five of
which were of iron. Indeed, his success in iron bridge-
building so much emboldened him, that in 1801, when
Old London Bridge had become so rickety and incon-
venient that it was found necessary to take steps to

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 18th March,
1795.

362

TELFORD'S PROJECTED BRIDGE

PABT VIII.

rebuild or remove it, he proposed the daring plan of a
cast iron bridge of a single arch of not less than 600 feet
span, the segment of a circle 1450 feet in diameter. In
preparing this design we find that he was associated with
a Mr. Douglas, to whom many allusions are made in his
private letters.1 The design of this bridge seems to have
arisen out of a larger subject — the improvement of the

1 Douglas was first mentioned to
Telford, in a letter from Mr. Pasley,
as a young man, a native of Big-
holmes, Eskdale, who had, after serv-
ing his time there as a mechanic,
emigrated to America, where he
showed such proofs of mechanical
genius that he attracted the notice
of Mr. Listen, the British Minister,
who paid his expenses home to
England, that his services might not
be lost to his country, and at the
same time gave him a letter of intro-
duction to the Society of Arts in
London. Telford, in a letter to An-
drew Little, dated 4th December,
1797, expresses a desire "to know
more of this Eskdale Archimedes."
Shortly after, we find Douglas men-
tioned as having invented a brick-
machine, a shearing-machine, and a
ball for destroying the rigging of
ships ; for the two former of which he
secured patents. Telford having by
this time got rid of his revolutionary
sympathies, expressed the hope that
Douglas's destructive ball might prove
of service against the French war-
ships. In a subsequent letter, dated
Salop, 6th March, 1798, he says :
" We are subscribing most liberally
here to oppose these terrible French-
men, wrho seem to want more worlds
to subdue,, not considering how diffi-
cult it is to govern what they already
possess. I have already disapproved
of our meddling with them at all
with regard to their own affairs ; but
I am equally averse to their settling
ours. They prove rather troublesome
neighbours, and very much assume
the attitude of our old sturdy beggars.
Upon the whole, I should feel well
satisfied if Douglas would destroy
their floating camps and flat-bottomed

boats." In 1799 Telford says he is
employing Douglas to do some work
for him in connection with the water-
work's. In 1802 Douglas seems to
have suddenly absconded, and Telford
writes his friend at Langholm : —
" James Douglas has played us a
pliskey. However, by good manage-
ment, I think there will not be any
great loss — but no thanks to him.
Where he is gone, I know not."
Telford heard nothing more of his
coadjutor who had thus left him
in the lurch until the year 1815,
when he thus writes to Mr. William
Little, postmaster at Langholm : —
" At Inverness," says he, " 1 was sur-
prised at receiving a letter from James
Douglas, announcing his successful
career in France. I am not surprised
at it : he was peculiarly fitted for that
country. I had never heard of him
since he left Mr. Pasley and myself
in the lurch, which action, with good
reason, soured the mind of that most
excellent of men even to me ; although
it was through him I was forced into
the connection, and my injury was
far greater than his. But of this no
more. I wish Douglas may deserve
the success which his natural talents
merit, although they might have been
exercised in a more respectable man-
ner. But he was always too impa-
tient for distinction and wealth; in
the race for which, in this country,
he found too many able competitors."
It appears that Douglas introduced
in France machinery for the improved
manufacture of woollen cloth, and,
being patronised by the Government,
he succeeded in realising considerable
wealth, which, however, he did not
live to enjoy.

CHAP. VII. OYEH THE THAMES AT LONDON. 363

port of London. In a private letter of Telford's, dated
the 13th May, 1800, lie says :—

" I have twice attended the Select Committee on the
Port of London, Lord Hawkesbury chairman. The subject
has now been agitated for four years, and might have
been so for as many more, if Mr. Pitt had not taken the
business out of the hands of the General Committee and
got it referred to a Select Committee. Last year they
recommended that a system of docks should be formed
in a large bend of the river opposite Greenwich, called
the Isle of Dogs, with a canal across the neck of the bend.
This part of the contemplated improvements is already
commenced, an(J is proceeding as rapidly as the nature
of the work will admit. It will contain ship docks for
large vessels, such as East and West Iiidiamen, whose
draught of water is considerable.

" There are now two other propositions under con-
sideration. One is to form another system of docks at
\Vnpping, and the other to take down London Bridge,
rebuild it of such dimensions as to admit of ships of 200
tons passing under it, and form a new pool for ships of
such burden between London and Blackfriars Bridges,
with a set of regular wharves on each side of the river.
This is with the view of saving lighterage and plunderage,
and bringing the great mass of commerce so much nearer
to the heart of the City. This last part of the plan has
been taken up in a great measure from some statements
I made while in London last year, and I have been called
before the Committee to explain. I had previously pre-
pared a set of plans and estimates for the purpose of
showing how the idea might be carried out ; and thus a
considerable degree of interest has been excited on the
subject. It is as yet, however, very uncertain how far
the plans will be carried out. It is certainly a matter of
great national importance to render the port of London
as perfect as possible."

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langliolin, dated London, 13th May, 1800.

364

TELFOIID'S PROJECTED BRIDGE

I'AKT VIII.

Later in tlie same year lie writes that his plans and
propositions have been approved and recommended to
be carried out, and he expects to have the execution of
them. " If they will provide the ways arid means," says
he, " and give me elbow-room, I see my way as plainly
as mending the brig at the auld burn." In November,
1801, he states that his view of London Bridge, as pro-
posed by him, has been published, and admitted to be
one of the finest plates lately produced. On the 14th of
April, 1802, he writes, "I have got into mighty favour
with the Royal folks. I have received notes written by
order of the King, the Prince of Wales, Duke of York',
and Duke of Kent, about the bridge print, and in future
it is to be dedicated to the King."

TELFORD'S PROPOSED ONE-ARCHED BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES.

The bridge in question was one of the boldest of Tel-
ford's designs. He proposed by his one arch to provide
a clear headway of 65 feet above high water. The arch
was to consist of seven cast iron ribs, in segments as large
as possible, and they were to be connected by diagonal
cross-bracing, disposed in such a manner that any part of
the ribs and braces could be taken out .and replaced
without injury to the stability of the bridge or inter-
ruption to the traffic over it. The roadway was to be

CHAP. VII. OVER THE THAMES AT LONDON. 365

45 feet wide in the centre, increasing to double that
width at the abutments. It was to contain 6500 tons of
iron, arid the cost of the whole was to be 262, 289/.

The originality of the design was greatly admired,
though there were many who received with incredulity
the proposal of bridging the Thames by a single arch,
and it was sarcastically said of Telford that he might as
well think of " setting the Thames on fire." Before any
outlay was incurred in its construction, it was deter-
mined to submit the design to the most eminent scien-
tific and practical men of the day ; after which evidence
was taken at great length before a Select Committee
which sat on the subject. Amongst those examined on
the occasion were the venerable James Watt of Bir-
mingham, Mr. John Eemiie, Professor Hutton of Wool-
wich, Professors Play fair and Robison of Edinburgh,
Mr. Jessop, Mr. Southern, and Dr. Maskelyne. Their
evidence will still be found interesting as indicating the
state at which constructive science had at that time
arrived in England.1 There was a considerable diver-
sity of opinion amongst the witnesses, as might have been
expected ; for experience was as yet very limited as to
the resistance of cast iron to extension and compression.
Some of them anticipated immense difficulty in casting
pieces of metal of the necessary size and exactness, so as
to secure that the radiated joints should be all straight
and bearing. Others laid down certain ingenious theories
of the arch, which did not quite square with the plan
proposed by the engineer. But, as was candidly observed
by Professor Playfair in concluding his report — "It
is not from theoretical men that the most valuable in-
formation in such a case as the present is to be expected.
When a mechanical arrangement becomes in a certain
degree complicated, it baffles the efforts of the geometer,
and refuses to submit to even the most approved methods

1 The evidence is fairly set forth in ' Cresy's Encyclopedia of Civil Engi-
neerin' ). 475.

366 BEWDLEY BRIDGE. PART VJIT.

of investigation . Thi s holds good particularly of bridges,
where the principles of mechanics, aided by all the
resources of the higher geometry, have not yet gone
further than to determine the equilibrium of a set of
smooth wedges acting on one another by pressure only,
and in such circumstances as, except in a philosophical
experiment, can hardly ever be realised. It is, there-
fore, from men educated in the school of daily practice
and experience, and who to a knowledge of general
principles have added, from the habits of their profession,
a certain feeling of the justness or insufficiency of any
mechanical contrivance, that the soundest opinions on a
matter of this kind can be obtained."

It would appear that the Committee came to the
general conclusion that the construction of the proposed
bridge was practicable and safe ; for the river was con-
tracted to the requisite width, and the preliminary works
were actually begun. Mr. Stephenson says the design
was abandoned, owing more immediately to the difficulty
of constructing the approaches .with such a headway,
which would have involved the formation of extensive
inclined planes from the adjoining streets, and thereby
led to serious inconvenience, and depreciation of much
valuable property on both sides of the river.1 From
that time we hear no more of the subject in Telford's
private letters.

Besides his iron bridges, Telford was busily engaged,
at this early period of his career, in designing and
erecting bridges of stone of considerable magnitude and
importance. In the spring of 1795 a thaw, after a long
continued fall of snow, caused a sudden flood to sweep
down the Severn, which carried away many bridges—
amongst others one at Bewdley, in Worcestershire. Tel-
ford was called upon to supply a design for a new struc-
ture. He was very busily occupied on similar works

1 Article on Iron Bridges, in the ' Encyclopedia Britannica.' Edinburgh,

1857.

CHAP. VIT.

BEWDLEY BRIDGE.

307

about the same time — amongst others, in planning a new
bridge for the town of Bridgenorth ; " in short," he says,
" I have been at it night and day." So uniform a success
had heretofore attended the execution of his designs,
that his reputation as a bridge-builder was universally
acknowledged. " Last week," he says, " Davidson and
I struck the centre of an arch of 76 feet span, and this
is the third which has been thrown this summer, none
of which have shrunk a quarter of an inch."

Bewdley Bridge is a handsome and substantial piece
of masonry. The streets upon each side being on low
ground, it wras
necessary to pro-
vide land arches
at both ends for
the passage of
the flood waters ;
and as the Se- 1
vern was navi-
gable at the
point crossed, it
was considered
necessary to
provide much
greater width in
the river arches
than had been
the case in the former structure. The arches were
three in number — one of 60 feet span and two of
52 feet, the land arches being 9 feet span. The
works were proceeded with and the bridge was com-
pleted during the summer of 1798, Telford writing to
his friend, in December of that year — " We have had
a remarkably dry summer and autumn ; after that an
early fall of snow and some frost, followed by rain.
The drought of the summer was unfavourable to our
canal working ; but it has enabled us to raise Bewdley

BEWDLEY BRIDGE. [By Percival Bkelton.]

368

TONGUELAND BRIDGE.

TAUT VIII.

Bridge as if by enchantment. We have thus built a
magnificent bridge over the Severn in one season,
which is no contemptible work for John Simpson l and
your humble servant, amidst so many other great un-
dertakings. John Simpson is a treasure — a man of
great talents and integrity. I met with him here by
chance, employed and recommended him, and he 1ms
now under his charge all the works of any magnitude
in this great and rich district."

Another of our engineer's early stone bridges, which
may be mentioned in this place, was erected by him in
1805, over the river Dee at Tongueland in the county
of Kirkcudbright. It is a bold and picturesque bridge,
situated in a lovely locality. The river is very deep at
high water there, the tide rising no less than 20 feet ;

TOKGUELAXD BRIDGE.
[3y R. P. Leitch, after a Drawing by J. 3 Smiles.]

1 His foreman of masons at Bewdley Brid^u, and afterwards his assistant in
Humorous important works,

CHAP. VII.

TELFORD'S GENERAL BUSINESS.

369

and as the banks were steep and rocky, he determined
to bridge the stream by a single arch of 112 feet span.
The rise being considerable, high wingwalls and deep
spandrels were requisite ; but the weight of the struc-
ture was much lightened by the expedient which he
adopted of perforating the wings, and building a number
of longitudinal walls in the spandrels, instead of filling
them with earth or inferior masonry, as had until then
been the usual practice. The ends of these walls, con-
nected and steadied by the insertion of tee-stones, were
built so as to abut against the back of the arch-stones
and the cross walls of each abutment. Thus great
strength as well as lightness was secured, and a very
graceful and at the same time substantial bridge was
provided for the accommodation of the district.1

In his letters written about this time, Telford seems to
have been very full of employment, which required him
to travel about a great deal. " I have become," said he,
" a very wandering being, and am scarcely ever two days
in one place, unless detained by business, which, how-
ever, occupies my time very completely." At another
time he says, " I am tossed about like a tennis ball : the

1 The work is thus described in
Robert Chambers's ' Picture of Scot-
land ' : — " Opposite Compston there
is a magnificent new bridge over the
Uee. It consists of a single arch, the
span of which is 112 feet; and it is
built of vast blocks of freestone
brought from the Isle of Arran. The
cost of this work was somewhere about
70001. sterling; and it may be men-
tioned, to the honour of the Stewartry,
that this sum was raised by the pri-
vate contributions of the gentlemen of
the district. From Tongueland Hill,
in the immediate vicinity of the
bridge, there is a view well worthy of
a painter's eye, and which is not in-
ferior in beauty and magnificence to
any in Scotland. The distant horizon
is bounded by the everlasting ocean
and the mountains of Man, which
are seen in their whole extent. The

VOL. II.

centre of the picture is occupied by
the high and rocky island of Little
Bess, the woods of St. Mary's Isle, the
town of Kirkcudbright, with its raised
and castellated outline, and the wind-
ings of the Dee, which flows to the
foot of the eminence upon which the
spectator is supposed to stand. On
the left, the Bay of Kirkcudbright and
the course of the river are bounded by
a long range of wooded hills, for the
beauty of which we are mainly in-
debted to the patriotic improvements
of Basil Lord Daer, the eldest brother
of the late Earl of Selkirk. The right
of the picture, again, is filled by a
similar range of hills, extending along
the west side of the bay, and ter-
minating in the ornamented grounds
of Compston, which are seen to the
greatest advantage from Tongueland
Hill."

2 B

370 IKON AND OTHER BRIDGES. PART YTII.

other day I was in London, since that I have been in
Liverpool, and in a few days I expect to be in Bristol.
Such is my life ; and to tell you the truth, I think it suits
my disposition."

One of the projects on which he was engaged at this
time was a plan for supplying the town of Liverpool
with water, conveyed through pipes, in the same manner
as had long before been adopted in London. He was
much struck by the activity and enterprise apparent in
that town compared with Bristol. " Liverpool," he said,
" has taken firm root in the country by means of the
canals : it is young, vigorous, and well situated. Bristol
is sinking in commercial importance : its merchants are
rich and indolent, and in their projects they are always
too late. Besides, the place is badly situated. There
will probably arise another port somewhere near the
Severn ; but Liverpool will nevertheless continue of
the first commercial importance, and their water will be
turned into wine. We are making rapid progress in this
country — I mean from Liverpool to Bristol, and from
Wales to Birmingham. This is an extensive and rich
district, abounding in coal, lime, iron, and lead. Agri-
culture too is improving, and manufactures are advancing
at rapid strides towards perfection. Think of such a
mass of population, industrious, intelligent, and ener-
getic, in continual exertion ! In short, I do not believe
that any part of the world, of like dimensions, ever
exceeded Great Britain, as it now is, in regard to the
production of wealth and the practice of the useful
arts." l

At the same time, he thought there was a prospect
for Ireland too, amidst all this improvement. " There
is a board of five members, appointed by Parliament, to
act as a board of control over all the inland navigations,
&c., of Ireland. One of the members is a particular

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 13th July, 1799.

CHAP. YIT. TELFOWS FRIENDSHIPS, 371

friend of mine, and at this moment a pupil, as it were,
anxious for information. This is a noble object : the
field is wide, the ground new and capable of vast im-
provement. To take up and manage the water of a fine
island is like a fairy tale, and, if properly conducted, it
would render Ireland truly a jewel among the nations." T
It does not, however, appear that Telford was ever
employed by the board to carry out the grand scheme
which thus fired his engineering imagination.

Mixing freely with men of all classes, our engineer
seems to have made many new friends and acquaint-
ances about this time. Whilst on his journeys north
and south, he frequently took the opportunity of look-
ing in upon the venerable James Watt, at his house
at Heathfield, near Birmingham, — " the steam-engine
man from Glasgow, a great and good man," he terms
him. At London, he says, he is " often with old Brodie
and Black, each the first in his profession, though they
walked up together to the great city on foot,2 more than
half a century ago — Gloria ! " About the same time
we find Telford taking interest in the projects of a
deserving person, named Holwell, a coal-master in
Staffordshire, and assisting him to take out a patent for
boring wooden pipes ; " he being a person," says Telford,
" little known, and not having capital, interest, or con-
nections, to bring the matter forward. I have had the
machine at work for about a year, and it answers the
purpose well."

He also kept up his literary friendships and preserved
his love for poetical reading. At Shrewsbury, one of

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,
Langholm, dated Liverpool, 9th Sep-
tember, 1800.

2 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little,
Langholm, dated Salopian Coffee
House, Charing Cross, London, 26th
February, 1799. Mr. Brodie was
originally a blacksmith. He was a

and introduced many improvements
in iron work. He invented stoves for
chimneys, ships' hearths, &c. He
had above a hundred men working in
his London shop, besides carrying on
an iron work at Coalbrookdale. He
afterwards established a woollen manu-
factory near Peebles.

man of great ingenuity and industry,

2 15 2

372 TELFORD'S LITERARY PURSUITS. PART VIII.

his most intimate friends was Dr. Darwin, son of the
author of the ' Botanic Garden.' At Liverpool, he
made the acquaintance of Dr. Currie, and was favoured
with a sight of his manuscript of the ' Life of Burns,'
then in course of publication. Curiously enough, Dr.
Currie had found amongst Burns' s papers a copy of
some verses, addressed to the poet, which Telford recog-
nised as his own, written many years before whilst
working as a mason at Langholm. Their purport was
to urge Burns to devote himself to the composition of
poems of a serious character, such as the ' Cotter's
Saturday Night.' With Telford' s permission, several
extracts from his Address to Burns were published in
1800 in Currie's Life of the poet. Another of his lite-
rary friendships, formed about the same time, was thai,
with Thomas Campbell, then a very young man, whose
' Pleasures of Hope ' had just made its appearance.
Telford, in one of his letters, says, " I will not leave a
stone unturned to try to serve the author of that charm-
ing poem." In a subsequent communication l he says,
" The author of the ' Pleasures of Hope ' has been here
for some time. I am quite delighted with him. He is
the very spirit of poetry. On Monday I introduced him
to the King's librarian, and I imagine some good may
result to him from the introduction."

In the midst of his plans of docks, canals, and bridges,
he writes letters about the peculiarities of Goethe's
poems and Kotzebue's plays, Buonaparte's campaign in
Egypt, and the merits of sundry new books recently
published. He confesses, however, that he has now
very little leisure for reading, but has purchased the
' Encyclopedia Britannica,' which he finds " a perfect
treasure, containing everything, and being always at
hand." He gives his correspondent an idea of the
manner in which his time is engrossed. " A few days

J)aU«l London, 14th April, 1802.

CHAP. VII. TELFORD'S OCCUPATIONS. 373

since, I attended a general assembly of the canal pro-
prietors in Shropshire. I have to be at Chester again
in a week, upon an arbitration business respecting the
rebuilding of the county hall and gaol ; but previous
to that I must visit Liverpool, and after that proceed
into Worcestershire. So you see what sort of a life I
have of it. It is something like Buonaparte, when in
Italy, fighting battles at fifty or a hundred miles dis-
tance every other day. However, plenty of employ-
ment is what every professional man is seeking after,
and my various occupations now require of me great
exertions, which they certainly shall have so long as life
and health are spared to me." *

Amidst all his engagements, Telford found time to
make particular inquiry about many poor families
formerly known to him in Eskdale, for some of whom
he paid house-rent, whilst he transmitted the means of
supplying others with coals, meal, and other necessaries,
during the severe winter months, — a practice which
he continued to the close of his life.

1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 30th November, 1791).

374 SCOTCH INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS. PART VIII.

CHAPTE1I VIII.

HIGHLAND KOADS AND BRIDGES.

IN our introduction to the Life of Rennie, we gave a
rapid survey of the state of Scotland about the middle
of last century. We found a country without roads, fields
lying uncultivated, mines unexplored, and all branches of
industry languishing, in the midst of an idle, miserable,
and haggard population. Fifty years passed, and the
state of the Lowlands had become completely changed.
Eoads had been made, canals dug, coal-mines opened up,
iron works established ; manufactures were extending in.
all directions ; and Scotch agriculture, instead of being the
worst, was admitted to be the best in the island.

" I have been perfectly astonished," wrote Romilly
from Stirling, in 1793, " at the richness and high cul-
tivation of all the tract of this calumniated country
through which I have passed, and which extends quite
from Edinburgh to the mountains where I now am. It
is true, however, that almost everything which one sees
to admire in the way of cultivation is due to modern
improvements ; and now and then one observes a few
acres of brown moss, contrasting admirably with the
corn-fields to which they are contiguous, and affording
a specimen of the dreariness and desolation which, only
half a century ago, overspread a country now highly
cultivated and become a most copious source of human
happiness." }

It must, however, be admitted, that the industrial
progress to which we have above referred was confined

1 Romilly 's * Autobiography.'

CAHP. VIII.

HIGHLAND KOADS.

375

mainly to the Lowlands, and had scarcely penetrated the
mountainous regions lying towards the north-west. The
rugged nature of that part of the country interposed a
formidahle barrier to improvement, and the district had
thus remained very imperfectly opened up. The only
practicable roads were those which had been made by
the soldiery after the rebellions of 1715 and '45, through
counties which before had been inaccessible eKcept by
dangerous footpaths across high and rugged mountains.
One was formed along the Great Glen of Scotland, in
the line of the present Caledonian Canal, connected
with the Lowlands by the road through Glencoe by
Tyndrum down the western banks of Loch Lomond ;
another, more northerly, connected Fort Augustus with
Dunkeld by Blair Athol ; whilst a third, still further to
the north and east, connected Fort George with Cupar-
in-Angus by Badenoch and Braemar. These roads were
about eight hundred miles in extent, and maintained at
the public expense. But they were laid out for pur-
poses of military occupation rather than for the con-
venience of the districts which they traversed. Hence
they were comparatively little used, and the Highlanders,
in passing from one place to another, for the most
part continued to travel by the old cattle tracks along
the mountain sides. But the population were so poor
and so spiritless, and industry was as yet in so back-
ward a state all over the Highlands, that the want of
communication was little felt. The state of agricul-
ture may be inferred from the fact that an instrument
called the cas-chrom ' — literally, the " crooked-foot " —

1 The cas-chrom was a rude com-
bination of a lever for the removal of
rocks, a spade to cut the earth, and a
foot-plough to turn it. We annex an
illustration of this curious and now
obsolete instrument. It weighed about
eighteen pounds. In working it, the
upper part of the handle, to which the
left hand was applied, reached the

workman's shoulder, and being slightly
elevated, the point, shod with iron,
was pushed into the ground horizon-
tally; the soil being turned over by
inclining the handle to the furrow
side, at the same time making the
heel act as a fulcrum to raise the
point of the instrument. In turning
up unbroken ground, it was first em-

376

HIGHLAND POVERTY.

PART VIII.

the use of which had been forgotten for hundreds of
years in every other country in Europe, was almost the
only tool employed in tillage in those parts of the High-
lands which were separated by impassable roads from
the rest of the United Kingdom. The country lying on
the west of the Great Glen was absolutely without a
road. The native population were by necessity peaceful.
Old feuds were restrained by the strong arm of the law,
if indeed the spirit of the clans had not been completely
broken by the upshot of the rebellion of Forty-five.
But the people had not yet learnt to bend their backs,
like the Sassenach, to the stubborn soil, and they sat
gloomily by their turf-fires at home, or wandered away
to settle in other lands beyond the seas. It even began
to be feared that the country would become entirely
depopulated ; and it became a matter of national concern
to devise methods of opening up the district so as to
develope its industry and afford improved means of suste-
nance for its population. The poverty of the inhabitants
rendered the attempt to construct roads — even had they
desired them — beyond their scanty means ; but the
ministry of the day entertained the opinion that by con-
tributing a certain proportion of the necessary expense,
the proprietors of Highland estates might be induced to
advance the remainder ; and on this principle the con-
struction of the new roads in those districts was under-
taken.

THE CAS-CHBOM.

ployed with the heel uppermost, with
pushing strokes to cut the breadth of
the sward to be turned over ; after
which, it was used horizontally as
above described. We are indebted to
a Parliamentary Blue Book for our
representation of this interesting relic
of ancient agriculture. It is given in
the appendix to the ' Ninth Report of
the Commissioners for Highland Roads
and Bridges,' ordered by the House of
Commons to be printed, 19th April,
1821.

CHAP. VIII.

TELFORD'S SURVEY OF SCOTLAND.

377

Iii 1802 Mr. Telford was called upon by the Govern-
ment to make a survey of Scotland, and report as to
the measures which were necessary for the improvement
of the roads and bridges of that part of the kingdom,
and also on the means of promoting the fisheries on the
east and west coasts, with the object of better opening
up the country and preventing further extensive emi-
gration. Previous to this time he had been employed
by the British Fisheries Society — of which his friend
Sir William Pulteney was Governor — to inspect the
harbours at their several stations, and to devise a plan
for the establishment of a fishery on the coast of Caith-
ness. He accordingly made an extensive tour of Scot-
land, examining, amongst other harbours, that of
Annan ; from which he proceeded northward by Aber-
deen to Wick and Thurso, returning to Shrewsbury by
Edinburgh and Dumfries.1 He accumulated a large
mass of data for his report, which was sent in to the
Fishery Society, with charts and plans, in the course of
the following year.

In July, 1802, he was requested by the Lords of the
Treasury, most probably in consequence of the preceding
report, to make a further survey of the interior of the
Highlands, the result of which he communicated in his
report presented to Parliament in the following year.
Although full of important local business, "kept run-
ning," as he says, " from town to country, and from
country to town, never when awake, and perhaps not
always when asleep, have my Scotch surveys been
absent from my mind." He had worked very hard at

1 He was accompanied on this tour
by Colonel Dixon, with whom he re-
turned to his house at Mount Annan,
in Dumfries. Telford says of him:
" The Colonel seems to have roused
the county of Dumfries from the
lethargy in which it has slumbered
for centuries. The map of the county,

the mineralogical survey, the new
roads, the opening of lime works, the
competition of ploughing, the im-
proving harbours, the building of
bridges, are works which bespeak the
exertions of no common man." — Let-
ter to Mr. Andrew Little, dated
Shrewsbury, 30th November, 1801.

378 WANT OF HIGHLAND BRIDGES. PART VIII.

his report, and hoped that it might be productive of
some good.

The report was duly presented, printed,1 and ap-
proved, and it formed the starting-point of a system of
legislation with reference to the Highlands which ex-
tended over many years, and had the effect of completely
opening up that romantic but rugged district of country,
and extending to its inhabitants the advantages of im-
proved intercourse with the other parts of the kingdom.
Mr. Telford pointed out that the military roads which
had been made there were altogether insufficient, and
that the use of them was in many places very much
circumscribed by the want of bridges over some of the
principal rivers. For instance, the route from Edin-
burgh to Inverness, by the Central Highlands, was
seriously interrupted at Duiikeld, where the Tay is
broad and deep, and not always easy to be crossed by
means of a boat. The route to the same place by the
east coast was in like manner broken at Fochabers,
where the rapid Spey could only be crossed by a dan-
gerous ferry.

The difficulties encountered by the Bar, in travelling
the north circuit about this time, are well described by
Lord Cockburn in his ' Memorials.' " Those who are
born to modern travelling," he says, " can scarcely be
made to understand how the previous age got on. The
state of the roads may be judged of from two or three
facts. There was no bridge over the Tay at Dunkeld,
or over the Spey at Fochabers, or over the Findhom at
Forres. Nothing but wretched pierless ferries, let to
poor cottars, who rowed, or hauled, or pushed a crazy
boat across, or more commonly got their wives to do it-
There was no mail-coach north of Aberdeen till, I think,
after the battle of Waterloo. What it must have been

Ordered to be printed 5th of April, 1803.

CHAP. VIII. WANT OF HIGHLAND ROADS. 379

a few years before my time may be judged of from
Bozzy's ' Letter to Lord Braxfield,' published in 1780.
He thinks that, besides a carriage and his own carriage-
horses, every judge ought to have his sumpter-horse,
and ought not to travel faster than the waggon which
carried the baggage of the circuit. I understood from
Hope that, after 1784, when he came to the Bar, he and
Braxfield rode a whole north circuit ; and that, from the
Findhorn being in a flood, they were obliged to go up
its banks for about twenty-eight miles to the bridge of
Dulsie before they could cross. I myself rode circuits
when I was Advocate-Depute between 1807 and 1810.
The fashion of every Depute carrying his own shell on
his back, in the form of his own carriage, is a piece of
very modern antiquity." ]

North of Inverness, matters were still worse, if pos-
sible. There was no bridge over the Beauley or the
Conan. The drovers coming south swam the rivers
with their cattle. There being no roads, there was little
use for carts. In the whole county of Caithness there
was scarcely a farmer who owned a wheel-cart. Burdens
were conveyed usually on the backs of ponies, but quite
as often on the backs of women.2 The interior of the
county of Sutherland being almost inaccessible, the only
track lay along the shore, amongst rocks and sand,
covered by the sea at every tide. " The people lay
scattered in inaccessible straths and spots among the
mountains, where they lived in family with their pigs
and kyloes (cattle), in turf cabins of the most miserable
description ; they spoke only Gaelic, and spent the whole
of their time in indolence and sloth. Thus they had
gone on from father to son, with little change, except
what the introduction of illicit distillation had wrought,
and making little or no export from the country beyond

Memorials of his Time,' by I of Sir John Sinclair, Bart.,' vol. i., p,

Henry Cockburn, pp. 341-3.

2 ' Memoirs of the Life and Writings

339.

380 HIGHLAND ROADS AND BRIDGES. PART VIII.

the few lean kyloes, which paid the rent and produced
wherewithal to pay for the oatmeal imported." l

Telford' s first recommendation was, that a bridge
should be thrown across the Tay at Dunkeld, to connect
the improved lines of road proposed to be made on each
side of the river. He regarded this measure as of the
first importance to the Central Highlands ; and as the
Duke of Athol was willing to pay one-half of the cost of
the erection, if the Government would defray the other—
the bridge to be free of toll after a certain period — it ap-
peared to the engineer that this was a reasonable and just
mode of providing for the contingency. In the next
place, he recommended a bridge over the Spey, which
drained a great extent of mountainous country, and,
being liable to sudden inundations, was very dangerous
to cross. Yet this ferry formed the only link of com-
munication between the whole of the northern counties.
The site pointed out for the proposed bridge was ad-
jacent to the town of Fochabers, and here also the Duke
of Gordon and other county gentlemen were willing to
provide one-half the means for its erection.

Mr. Telford further described in detail the roads
necessary to be constructed in the north and west High-
lands, with the object of opening up the western parts
of the counties of Inverness and Ross, and affording a
ready communication from the Clyde to the fishing-
lochs in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Skye. As to
the means of executing these improvements, he suggested
that Government would be justified in dealing with the
Highland roads and bridges as exceptional and extra-
ordinary works, and extending the public aid towards
carrying them into effect, as but for such assistance the
country must remain, perhaps for ages to come, imper-
fectly connected. His report further embraced certain
improvements in the harbours of Aberdeen and Wick,

1 Extract of a letter from a gentleman residing in Sutherland, quoted in
' Life of Telford,' p. 465.

CHAP. VIII. RECEPTION OF TELFORP'S REPORT. 381

and a description of the country through which the
proposed line of the Caledonian Canal would necessarily
pass — a canal which had long been the subject of in-
quiry, but had not as yet emerged from a state of mere
speculation.

The new roads and bridges, and other improvements
suggested by the engineer, excited much interest in the
north. The Highland Society voted him their thanks by
acclamation ; the counties of Inverness and Ross followed ;
and he had letters of thanks and congratulation from
many of the Highland chiefs. " If they will persevere,"
says he, " with anything like their present zeal, they will
have the satisfaction of greatly improving a country that
has been too long neglected. Things are greatly changed
now in the Highlands. Even were the chiefs to quarrel,
de'il a Highlandman would stir for them. The lairds
have transferred their affections from their people to
flocks of sheep, and the people have lost their veneration
for the lairds. It seems to be the natural progress of
society ; but it is not an altogether satisfactory change.
There were some fine features in the former patriarchal
state of society ; but now clanship is gone, and chiefs and
people are hastening into the opposite extreme. This
seems to me to be quite wrong."

In the same year Telford was elected a member of the
Iloyal Society of Edinburgh, on which occasion he was
proposed and supported by three professors ; so that the
former Edinburgh mason was rising in the world and
receiving due honour in his own country. The effect of
his report was such, that in the session of 1803 a Parlia-
mentary Commission was appointed, under whose direc-
tion a series of practical improvements was commenced,
which issued in the construction of not less than 92Q
additional miles of roads and bridges throughout the
Highlands, one-half of the cost of which was defrayed by

Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, LangUolui, dated Salop, 18th February, 1803.

MAP OF TEL.FORD'3 ROADS.

CHAP. VIII. DUNKELT) BRIDGE. 383

the Government and the other half by local assessment.
But in addition to these main lines of communication,
numberless county roads were formed by statute labour,
under local road Acts and by other means ; the land-
owners of Sutherland alone having formed nearly 300
miles of district roads at their own cost.

By the end of the session of 1803 Telford received his
instructions from Mr. Yansittart as to the survey he was
forthwith to enter upon, with a view to commencing
practical operations ; and he again proceeded to the High-
lands to lay out the roads and plan the bridges which
were most urgently needed. The district of the Solway
was, at his representation, included, with the object of
improving the road from Carlisle to Portpatrick — the
nearest point at which Great Britain meets the Irish
coast, and where the sea passage forms only a sort of
wide ferry.

It would occupy too much space, and indeed it is alto-
gether unnecessary, to describe in detail the operations
of the Commission and of their engineer in opening up
the communications of the Highlands. Suffice it to say,
that one of the first things taken in hand was the con-
nection of the new lines of road by means of bridges at
the more important points ; such as at Dunkeld over the
Tay, and near Dingwall over the Conan and Orrin.
That at Dunkeld was the most important, as being the
portal to the Central Highlands ; and at the second
meeting of the Commissioners Mr. Telford submitted his
plan and estimates of the proposed bridge. In. conse-
quence of some difference with the Duke of Athol as
to his share of the expense — which proved to be greater
than he had taken into account — some delay occurred in
the commencement of the work ; but at length it was
fairly begun, and after being three years in hand the
structure was finished and opened for traffic in 1809.

The bridge is a handsome one of five river and two
land arches. The span of the centre arch is 90 feet,

384

HIGHLAND BRIDGES,

PART VIII.

of the two adjoining it 84 feet, and of the two side
arches 74 feet ; affording a clear waterway of 446 feet.
The total breadth of the roadway and footpaths is 28 feet
6 inches. The cost of the structure was about 14,000/.,
one-half of which was defrayed by the Duke of Athol.
It forms a fine feature in a landscape not often sur-
passed, presenting within a comparatively small compass
a great variety of character and beauty.

DDNKELD BRIDGE.
Percival Skelton, after a sketch by J. 8. Smiles.]

The communication by road north of Inverness was
also perfected by the construction of a bridge of five arches
over the Beauley, and another of the same number over
the Conan, the central arch being 65 feet span ; and the
formerly wretched bit of road between these points having
been put in good repair, the town of Ding wall was there-
upon rendered easily approachable from the south. At
the same time a beginning was made with the construc-
tion of new roads through the districts most in need of
them. The first contracted for was the Locli-na-Gaiil

CHAP. VIII. CKA1G-ELLACH1E BRIDGE. 385

road, from Fort William to Arasaig, on the western coast,
nearly opposite the island of Egg. Another was begun
from Loch Oich, on the line of the Caledonian Canal,
across the middle of the Highlands, through Glengarry,
to Loch Hourn on the western sea. Other roads were
opened north and south ; through Morvern to Loch Moi-
dart ; through Glen Morrison and Glen Sheil, and through
the entire Isle of Skye ; from Dingwall, eastward, to Loch-
carron and Loch Torridon, quite through the county of
Ross ; and from Dingwall, northward, through the county
of Sutherland as far as Tongue on the Pentland Frith ;
whilst another line, striking off at the head of the Dornoch
Frith, proceeded along the coast in a north-easterly direc-
tion to Wick and Thurso, in the immediate neighbourhood
of John o' Groats. There were numerous other subordi-
nate lines, which it is unnecessary to specify in detail ;
but some idea may be formed of their extent, as well as
of the rugged character of the country through which
they were carried, when we state that they involved the
construction of no fewer than twelve hundred bridges.
Several important bridges were also erected at other
points to connect existing roads, such as those at Ballater
and Potarch over the Dee ; at Alford over the Don ; and
at Craig-Ellachie over the Spey.

The last-named bridge is a remarkably elegant struc-
ture, thrown over the Spey at a point where the river,
rushing obliquely against the lofty rock of Craig-Ellachie,1
has formed for itself a deep channel not exceeding fifty
yards in breadth. Only a few years before, there had not
been any provision for crossing this river at its lower
parts except the very dangerous ferry at Fochabers. The
Duke of Gordon had, however, erected a suspension bridge
at that town, and the inconvenience was in a great

1 The names of Celtic places are
highly descriptive. Thus Craig-Ella-
chie literally means, the rock of sepa-
ration ; Badenoch, bushy or woody ;

the lake of nests ; Balknockan, the
town of knolls ; Dalnasealg, the hunt-
ing dale ; AWn dater, the burn of
the horn-blower ; and so on.

Cairngorm, the blue cairn ; Lochinet,

VOL. II. 2 C

386

CKAIG-ELLACHIE BRIDGE.

PART VIII.

measure removed. Its utility was so generally felt, that
the demand arose for a second bridge across the river ;
for there was not another by which it could be crossed
for a distance of nearly fifty miles up Strath Spey. It
was a difficult stream to span by a bridge at any place,
in consequence of the violence with which the floods
descended at particular seasons. Sometimes, even in
summer, when not a drop of rain had fallen, the flood
would come down the Strath in great fury, sweeping
everything before it ; this remarkable phenomenon being
accounted for by the prevalence of a strong south-westerly
wind, which blew the loch waters from their beds into the
Strath, and thus suddenly filled the valley of the Spey.1
The same phenomenon, similarly caused, is also frequently
observed in the neighbouring river, the Findhorn, cooped
up in its deep rocky bed, where the water sometimes
comes down in a wave six feet high, like a liquid wall,
sweeping everything before it. To meet such a con-
tingency, it was deemed necessary to provide abundant
waterway, and to build a bridge offering as little resist-
ance as possible to the passage of the Highland floods.
Telford accordingly designed for the passage of the river
at Craig-Ellachie a light cast iron arch of 150 feet span,
with a rise of 20 feet, the arch being composed of four
ribs, each consisting of two concentric arcs forming
panels, which are filled in with diagonal bars. The
roadway is 15 feet wide, and is formed of another arc of
greater radius, attached to which is the iron railing ; the
spandrels being filled by diagonal ties, forming trellis-
work. Mr. Robert Stephenson took objection to the two
dissimilar arches, as liable to subject the structure, from
variations of temperature, to very unequal strains. Never-
theless this bridge, as well as many others constructed
by Mr. Telford after a similar plan, has stood perfectly

1 Sir Thomas Dick Lander has
vividly described the destructive cha-
racter of the Spey-side inundations in

his capital book on the ' Morayshire
Floods.'

CHAP. VIII.

CRAIG-ELLACHIE BRIDGE.

387

well, and to this day remains a very serviceable structure.
Its appearance is highly picturesque. The scattered pines
and beech trees on the side of the impending moun-
tain, the meadows along the valley of the Spey, and the
western approach road to the bridge cut deeply into the
face of the rock, combine, with the slender appearance
of the iron arch, in rendering this spot one of the most
remarkable in Scotland.1

CRAIG-ELLACHIE BEIDGE. [ By Percival Skelton ]

An iron bridge of a similar span to that at Craig-
Ellachie had previously been constructed across the
head of the Dornoch Frith at Bonar, near the point
where the waters of the Shin join the sea. The very
severe trial which this structure sustained from the
tremendous blow of an irregular mass of fir-tree logs,

1 'Report of the Commissioners on Highland Roads and Bridges.' Ap-
pendix to ' Life of Telford,' p. 400.

2 c 2

388 HIGHLAND TRAFFIC. PAKT VIII.

consolidated by ice, as well as, shortly after, from the blow
of a schooner which drifted against it on the opposite
side, and had her two masts knocked off by the collision,
gave him every confidence in the strength of this form
of construction, and he accordingly repeated it in several
of his subsequent bridges, though none of them are com-
parable in beauty with that of Craig-Ellachie.

Thus, in the course of eighteen years, 920 miles of
capital roads, connected together by no fewer than 1200
bridges, were added to the road communications of the
Highlands, at an expense defrayed partly by the localities
immediately benefited, and partly by the nation. The
effects of these twenty years' operations were such as
follow the making^ of roads everywhere — development
of industry and increase of civilization. In no districts
were the benefits derived from them more marked than
in the remote northern counties of Sutherland and
Caithness. The first stage-coaches that ran northward
from Perth to Inverness were tried in 1806, and became
regularly established in 1811 ; and by the year 1820
no fewer than forty arrived at the latter town in the
course of every week, and the same number departed
from it. Others were established in various directions
through the Highlands, which became as accessible as
any English county.

Agriculture made rapid progress. The use of carts
became practicable, and manure was no longer carried
to the field on women's backs. Sloth and idleness
disappeared before the energy, activity, and industry
which were called into life by the improved com-
munications ; better built cottages took the place of
the old mud biggins with a hole in the roof to let
out the smoke ; the pigs and cattle were treated to a
separate table ; the dunghill was turned to the outside
of the house ; tartan tatters gave place to the produce
of Manchester and Glasgow looms ; and very soon few
young persons were to be found who could not both

CHAP. VIII. MORAL AND SOCIAL RESULTS. 389

read and write English. But not less remarkable were
the effects of the road-making upon the industrial hahits
of the people. Before Telford went into the Highlands,
they did not know how to work, having never been
accustomed to labour continuously and systematically.
Telford himself thus describes the moral influences of his
Highland contracts : — " In these works," says he, " and
in the Caledonian Canal, about three thousand two
hundred men have been annually employed. At first,
they could scarcely work at all ; they were totally unac-
quainted with labour ; they could not use the tools.
They have since become excellent labourers, and of
the above number we consider about one-fourth left us
annually, taught to work. These undertakings may,
indeed, be regarded in the light of a working academy,
from which eight hundred men have annually gone
forth improved workmen. They have either returned
to their native districts with the advantage of having
used the most perfect sort of tools and utensils (which
alone cannot be estimated at less than ten per cent, on
any sort of labour), or they have been usefully distri-
buted through the other parts of the country. Since
these roads were made accessible, wheelwrights and
cartwrights have been established, the plough has been
introduced, and improved tools and utensils are gene-
rally used. The plough was not previously employed ;
in the interior and mountainous parts they used crooked
sticks, with iron on them, drawn or pushed along. The
moral habits of the great masses of the working classes
are changed *, they see that they may depend on their
own exertions for support : this goes on silently, and is
scarcely perceived until apparent by the results. I con-
sider these improvements among the greatest blessings
ever conferred on any country. About two hundred
thousand pounds has been granted in fifteen years. It
has been the means of advancing the country at least a
century/'

390 TELFOKD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS. TART VITI.

CHAPTER IX.

TELFORD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS.

No sooner were the Highland roads and bridges in
progress than attention was directed to the improve-
ment of the harbours around the coast. Very little
had as yet been done for them beyond what nature
had effected. Happily, there was a public fund at dis-
posal— the accumulation of rents and profits derived
from the estates forfeited in consequence of the rebellion
of 1745 — which was available for the purpose. The sup-
pression of the rebellion produced good in many ways.
It broke the feudal spirit, which had lingered in the
Highlands long after it had ceased in every other part
of Britain ; it led to the effectual opening up of the
country by a system of good roads ; and now the accu-
mulated rents of the defeated Jacobite chiefs were about
to be applied to the improvement of the Highland
harbours for the benefit of the industrial population.

The harbour of Wick was one of the first to which
Mr. Telford's attention was directed. It will be re-
membered that Mr. Rennie had reported on the subject
of its improvement as early as the year 1793, and his
plans were not adopted only because their execution was
beyond the means of the locality at that time. The place
had now, however, become of increased importance.
It was largely frequented by Dutch fishermen during
the herring season ; and it was hoped that, if they could
be induced to form a settlement there by improving the
accommodation of the harbour, their example might
exercise a beneficial influence upon the population gene-
rally. Mr. Telford reported that, by the expenditure

CHAP. IX. WICK HARBOUK. 391

of about 5 8 DO/., a capacious and well-protected tide-
basin might be formed, capable of containing about two
hundred herring-busses. The Commission adopted his
plan, and voted the requisite funds for carrying out the
works, which were begun in 1808. The new station was
named Pulteney Town, in compliment to Sir William
Pulteney, the Governor of the Fishery Society ; and
the harbour was built at a cost of about 12,000/., of
which 8500/. was granted from the balance of forfeited
estates. A handsome stone bridge, erected over the river
Wick in 1805, after the design of our engineer, con-
nects these improvements with the older town : it is
formed of three arches, having a clear waterway of 156
feet. The money was well expended, as the result
proved ; and Wick is now, we believe, the greatest
fishing station in the world. The place has increased
from the dimensions of a little poverty-stricken village
to those of a large and thriving town, which swarms
during the fishing season with lowland Scotchmen, fair
Northmen, broad-built Dutchmen, and kilted High-
landers. The bay is then frequented by upwards of
a thousand fishing boats, and the take of herrings in
some years amounts to more than a hundred thousand
barrels. The harbour has of late years been con-
siderably improved to meet the growing requirements
of the herring trade, the principal additions having been
carried out, in 1823, by Mr. Bremner,1 a native engineer
of great ability.

1 Hugh Millar, in his 'Cruise of
the Betsy,' attributes the invention of
columnar pier-work to Mr. Bremner,
whom he terms " the Brindley of
Scotland." He has acquired great
fame for his skill in raising sunken
ships, having warped the Great Bri-

work is still to be seen quite perfect.
The most solid mode of laying stone

on land is in flat courses ; but in open
pier work the reverse process is
adopted. The blocks are laid on
end in columns, like upright beams
jammed together. Thus laid, the

tain steamer off the shores of Dun- I wave which dashes against them is

drum Bay. But we believe Mr. j broken, and spends itself on the inter-

Telford had adopted the practice of j stices ; whereas, if it struck the broad

columnar pier-work before Mr. Brem- solid blocks, the tendency would be

ner, in forming the little harbour of to lift them from their beds and set

Folkestone, built in 1808, where the j the work afloat; and in a furious

392

TELFORD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS.

FART VITI.

Improvements of a similar kind were carried out by
the Fishery Board at various other parts of the coast,
and many snug arid convenient harbours were provided
at the principal fishing stations in the Highlands and
Western Islands. Where the local proprietors were
themselves found actively at work expending money in
carrying out piers and harbours, the Board assisted them
with grants to enable them to complete the works in the
most substantial manner and after the most approved
plans. Thus, along that part of the bold northern coast
of the mainland of Scotland which projects into the
German Ocean, many old harbours were improved or
new ones constructed — as at Peterhead, Frazerburgh,
Banff, Cullen, Burgh Head, and Nairn. At Fortrose, in the
Murray Frith ; at Dingwall, in the Cromarty Frith ; at
Portmaholmac, within Tarbet Ness, the remarkable head-
land of the Frith of Dornoch ; at Kirkwall, the principal
town and place of resort in the Orkney Islands, so well
known from Sir Walter Scott's description of it in the
4 Pirate ;' at Tobermory, in the island of Mull ; and at
other points of the coast, piers were erected and other

storm such blocks- would be driven
about almost like pebbles. The re-
bound from flat surfaces is also very
heavy, and produces violent commo-

tion; whereas these broken, upright,
columnar-looking piers seem to ab-
sorb the fury of the sea, and render its
wildest waves comparatively innocuous.

FOLKESTONE HARBOUR. [By Percival Skelton ]

CHAP. IX. PETERHEAD HARBOUR, 393

improvements carried out to suit the convenience of the
growing traffic and trade of the country.

The principal works were those connected with the
harbours situated upon the line of coast extending from
the harbour of Peterhead, in the county of Aber-
deen, round to the head of the Murray Frith. The
shores there are exposed to the full force of the seas
rolling in from the Northern Ocean ; and safe harbours
were especially necessary for the protection of the
shipping passing from north to south. Wrecks had
become increasingly frequent, and harbours of refuge
were loudly called for. At one part of the coast as
many as thirty wrecks had occurred within a very
short time, chiefly for want of shelter. The situation
of Peterhead was peculiarly well adapted for a haven
of refuge, and the improvement of its port was early
regarded as a matter of national importance. Not far
from it, on the south, are the famous Bullars or Boilers
of Buchan — bold rugged rocks, some 200 feet high,
against which the sea beats with great fury, boiling and
churning in the deep caves and recesses with which they
are perforated. Peterhead stands on the most easterly
part of the entire mainland of Scotland, the town stand-
ing" on the north-east side of the bay, and being connected
with the country on the north-west by an isthmus only
800 yards in breadth. In Cromwell's time the port pos-
sessed no more than twenty tons of boat tonnage, and its
only harbour was a small basin dug out of the rock.
Even down to the close of the sixteenth century the
place was but an insignificant fishing village. It is now
a town bustling with trade, having long been the prin-
cipal seat of the whale fishery, 1500 men of the port
being engaged in that pursuit alone ; and it sends out
ships of its own building to all parts of the world, its
handsome and commodious harbours being accessible at
all winds to vessels of almost the largest burden.

It may be mentioned that about sixty years since

PETEEHEAD. [By B, P. Leitcb.]

the port was formed by the island called Keith Island,
situated a small distance eastward from the shore, be-
tween which and the mainland an arm of the sea for-
merly passed. A causeway had, however, been formed
across this channel, thus dividing it into two small bays ;
after which the southern one had been converted into
a harbour by means of two rude piers erected along
either side of it. The north inlet remained without any
pier, and being very inconvenient and exposed to the
north-easterly winds, it was little used.

The first works carried out at Peterhead were of a

CHAP. IX.

PETERHEAD HARBOUR.

395

comparatively limited character, the old piers of the
south harbour having been built by Smeaton ; but im-
provements proceeded apace with the enterprise and
wealth of the inhabitants. Mr. Rennie, and after him
Mr. Telford, fully reported as to the capabilities of the
port and the best means of improving it. Mr. Rennie
recommended the deepening of the south harbour and
the extension of the jetty of the west pier, at the same
time cutting off all projections of rock from Keith
Fsland on the eastward, so as to render the access

PETEKHEAD HARBOUR. Abrrdeeaahirs

more easy. The harbour, when thus finished, would, he
estimated, give about 17 feet depth at high water of
spring tides. He also proposed to open a communica-
tion across the causeway between the north and south
harbours, and form a wet dock between them, 580 feet
long and 225 feet wide, the water being kept in by
gates at each end. He further proposed to provide an
entirely new harbour, by constructing two extensive
piers for the effectual protection of the northern part
of the channel, running out one from a rock north of
the Green Island, about 680 feet long, and another

396 PETERHEAD HARBOUR. PART VITI.

from the Eoan Head, 450 feet long, leaving an opening
between them of 70 yards. This sagacious design un-
happily could not be carried out at the time for want
of funds ; but it may be said to have formed the ground-
work of all that has been subsequently done for the
improvement of the port of Peterhead.

It was resolved, in the first place, to commence opera-
tions by improving the south harbour, and protecting it
more securely from south-easterly winds. The bottom
of the harbour was accordingly deepened by cutting
out 30,000 cubic yards of rocky ground ; and part of
Mr. Rennie's design was carried out by extending the
jetty of the west pier, though only for a distance of
twenty yards. These works were executed under Mr.
Telford's directions ; they were completed by the end of
the year 1811, and proved to be of very great public
convenience. The trade of the town, however, so much
increased, and the port was found of so great importance
as a place of refuge for vessels frequenting the north
seas, that in 1816 it was determined to proceed with the
formation of a harbour on the northern part of the old
channel ; and the inhabitants having agreed amongst
themselves to contribute to the extent of 10,000^. towards
carrying out the necessary works, they applied for the
grant of a like sum from the Forfeited Estates Fund,
which was eventually voted for the purpose. The plan
adopted was on a more limited scale than that proposed
by Mr. Rennie ; but in the same direction and contrived
with the same object — so that, when completed, vessels
of the largest burden employed in the Greenland fishery
might be able to enter one or other of the two harbours
and find safe shelter, from whatever quarter the wind
might blow.

The works were vigorously proceeded with, and had
made considerable progress, when, in October, 1819, a
violent hurricane from the north-east, which raged along
the coast for days and inflicted heavy damage on many

CHAP. IX. FRAZERBURGH HARBOUR. 397

of the northern harbours, destroyed a large part of the
unfinished masonry and hurled the heaviest blocks into
the sea, tossing them about as if they had been pebbles.
The finished work had, however, stood well, and the
foundations of the piers under low water were ascertained
to have remained comparatively uninjured. There was
no help for it but to repair the damaged work, though
it involved a heavy additional cost, one-half of which
was borne by the Forfeited Estates Fund and the re-
mainder by the inhabitants. Increased strength was
also given to the more exposed parts of the pierwork,
and the slope at the sea side of the breakwater was
considerably extended.1 These alterations in the design
were carried out, together with a spacious graving-dock,
as shown in the preceding plan, and they proved com-
pletely successful, enabling Peterhead to offer an amount
of accommodation for shipping of a more effectual kind
than was at that time to be met with along the whole
eastern coast of Scotland.

The old harbour of Frazerburgh, situated on a pro-
jecting point of the coast at the foot of Mount Kennaird,
about twenty miles north of Peterhead, had become so
ruinous that vessels lying within it received almost as
little shelter as if they had been exposed in the open sea.
Mr. Rennie had prepared a plan for its improvement by
running out a substantial north-eastern pier ; and this was
eventually carried out by Mr. Telford in a modified form,
proving of substantial service to the trade of the port.
Since then a large and commodious new harbour has
been formed at the place, partly at the public expense
and partly at that of the inhabitants, rendering Frazer-
burgh a safe retreat for vessels of war as well as merchant-
men ; and the place has thus become thriving, wealthy,
and populous.

1 'Memorials from Peterhead and
Banff, concerning Damage occasioned
by a Storm.' Ordered by the House

of Commons to be printed, 5th July,
1820. [242.]

BANFF HARBOUR.

PART VIII.

Among the other important harbour works on the
north-east coast carried out by Mr. Telford under the
Commissioners appointed to administer the funds of the
Forfeited Estates, were those at Banff, the execution of
which extended over many years ; but though costly,
they did not prove of anything like the same conve-
nience as those executed at Peterhead. The old har-
bour at the end of the ridge running north and south,
on which what is called the "sea town" of Banff1 is
situated, was completed in 1775, when the place was
already considered of some importance as a fishing
station.

BANFF HARBOUR.

This harbour occupies the triangular space at the
north-eastern extremity of the projecting point of land,
at the opposite side of which, fronting the north-west,
is the little town and harbour of Macduff. In 1816
Mr. Telford furnished a plan of a new pier and break-
water, covering the old entrance, which presented an
opening to the N.N.E., with a basin occupying the

1 The old harbour is shown at the right extremity of the distant view of
Banff, given at p. 2 of this volume.

CHAP. IX. TELFORD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS. 399

intermediate space. The inhabitants agreed to defray
one-half of the necessary cost, and the Commissioners
the other ; and the plans having been approved, the
works were commenced in 1818. They were in full
progress when, unhappily, the same hurricane which
in 1819 did so much injury to the works at Peterhead,
also fell upon those at Banff, and carried away a large
part of the unfinished pier. This accident had the effect
of interrupting the work, as well as increasing its cost ;
.but the whole was successfully completed by the year
1822. Although the new harbour did not prove very
safe, and exhibited a tendency to become silted up with
sand, it proved of use in some respects, more particu-
larly by preventing all swell and agitation in the old
harbour, which was thus rendered probably the safest
artificial haven in the Murray Firth.

It is unnecessary to specify the alterations and im-
provements of a similar character, adapted to the
respective localities, which were carried out by Mr.
Telford at Burgh Head, Nairn, Kirkwall, Tarbet, Tober-
mory, Portmaholmac, Dingwall (with its canal two
thousand yards long, connecting the town in a complete
manner with the Frith of Cromarty), Cullen, Fortrose,
Ballintraed, Portree, Jura, Gourdon, Invergordon, and
other places. Down to the year 1823 the Commis-
sioners had expended 108,530£. on the improvements of
these several ports, in aid of the local contributions of
the inhabitants and adjoining proprietors to a consider-
ably greater extent; the result of which was a great
increase in the shipping accommodation of the coast
towns, to the benefit of the local population, and of ship-
owners and navigators generally.

Mr. Telford' s principal harbour works in Scotland,
however, were those of Aberdeen and Dundee, which,
next to Leith, the port of Edinburgh, formed the
principal havens along the east coast. The neighbour-
hood of Aberdeen was originally so wild and barren

400 TOWN OF ABERDEEN. TART VIII.

that Telford expressed his surprise that any class of
men should ever have settled there. An immense
shoulder of the Grampian mountains there extends
itself down to the sea-coast, where it terminates in a
bold, rude promontory. The country on either side
of the Dee, which flows past the town, was originally
covered with innumerable granite blocks, one, called
Craig Metellan, lying right in the river's mouth, which,
with the sand, formed an almost effectual bar to its navi-
gation. Although, in ancient times, a little cultivable
land lay immediately outside the town, the region beyond
was as sterile as it is possible for land to be in such a
latitude. " Any wher," says an ancient writer, " after
yow pas a my 11 without the toune, the countrey is barren
lyke, the hills craigy, the plaines full of marishes and
mosses, the feilds are covered with heather or peeble
stons, the corne feilds mixt with thes bot few. The air
is temperat and healthful about it, and it may be that
the citizens owe the acuteness of their wits thereunto
and their civill inclinations ; the lyke not easie to be
found under northerlie climats, damped for the most
pairt with air of a grosse consistence." 1

But the old inhabitants of Aberdeen and its neigh-
bourhood were really as rough as their soil. Judging
from their records, they must have been dreadfully
haunted by witches and sorcerers down to a compara-
tively recent period, witch-burning having been common
in the town until the end of the sixteenth century. We
find that, in one year, no fewer than twenty-three women
and one man were burnt ; the Dean of Guild Eecords
containing the detailed accounts of the " loads of peattis,
tar barrellis," and other combustibles used in burning
them. The lairds of the Grarioch, a district in the imme-
diate neighbourhood, seem to have been still more terrible

1 'A Description of Bothe Touns of Gavin TurrefFs 'Antiquarian Glean-
Aberdeene.' By James Gordon, Par- ings from Aberdeenshire Eecords.'

son

of Kothiemay. Reprinted in | Aberdeen, 1859.

CHAP. IX.

ABERDEEN SLAVE TRAFFIC.

401

than the witches, being accustomed to enter the place and
make an onslaught upon the citizens, according as local
rage and thirst for spoil might incline them. On one
of such occasions, eighty of the inhabitants were killed
and wounded.1 Down even to the middle of last cen-
tury the Aberdonian notions of personal liberty seem to
have been very restricted; for between 1740 and 1746
we find that persons of both sexes were kidnapped, put
on board ships, and despatched to the American planta-
tions, where they were sold for slaves. Strangest of
all, the men who carried on this slave trade were local
dignitaries, one of them being a town's baillie, another
the town-clerk depute. Those kidnapped ' were openly
" driven in flocks through the town, like herds of sheep,
under the care of a keeper armed with a whip." 2
So open was the traffic that the public workhouse was
used for their reception until the ships sailed, and when
that was filled, the tolbooth or common prison was made
use of. The vessels which sailed from the harbour for
America in 1743 contained no fewer than sixty-nine
persons ; and it is supposed that, in the six years during
which the Aberdeen slave trade was at its height, about
six hundred were transported for sale, very few of whom
ever returned.3

This slave traffic was doubtless stimulated by the
foreign ships now beginning to frequent the port ; for

1 Robertson's ' Book of Bon- Accord.'

2 Ibid., quoted in .TurrefFs ' Anti-
quarian Gleanings,' p. 222.

3 One of them, however, did re-
turn— Peter Williamson, a native of
the town, sold for a slave in Penn-
sylvania, "a rough, ragged, humle-
headed, long, stowie, clever boy,"
who, reaching York, published an
account of the infamous traffic, in a
pamphlet which excited extraordinary
interest at the time, and met with
a rapid and extensive circulation.
But his exposure of kidnapping gave
very great offence to the magistrates,

VOL. IT.

who dragged him before their tribunal
as having " published a scurrilous and
infamous libel on the corporation,"
and he was sentenced to be impri-
soned until he should sign a denial of
the truth of his statements. He
brought an action against the corpora-
tion for their proceedings, and ob-
tained a verdict and damages; and
he further proceeded against Baillie
Fordyce (one of his kidnappers), and
others, from whom he obtained 2001.
damages, with costs. The system was
thus effectually put a stop to.

2 D

402

ABERDEEN HARBOUR.

PART V11I.

the inhabitants were industrious, and their plaiding,
linen, and worsted stockings were in much request as
articles of merchandise. Cured salmon was also ex-
ported in large quantities. As early as 1659 a quay was
formed along the Dee towards the village of Foot Dee.
" Beyond Futty," says an old writer, " lyes the fisher-
boat heavne ; and after that, towards the promontorie
called Sandenesse, ther is to be seen a grosse bulk of a
building, vaulted and flatted above (the Blockhous they
call it), begun to be builded anno 1513, for guarding
the entree of the harboree from pirats and algarads ;
and cannon wer planted ther for that purpose, or, at
least, that from thence the motions of pirats might be
tymouslie foreseen. This rough piece of work was
finished anno 1542, in which yer lykewayes the mouth
of the river Dee was locked with cheans of iron and
masts of ships crossing the river, not to be opened bot
at the citizens' pleasure." l

After the Union, but more especially after the rebel-
lion of 1745, the trade of Aberdeen made considerable
progress. Although Burns, in 1787, briefly described
the place as a " lazy toun," the inhabitants were display-
ing much energy in carrying out improvements in their
port.2 In 1775 the foundation-stone of the new pier
designed by Mr. Smeaton was laid with great ceremony,
and, the works proceeding to completion, a new pier,
twelve hundred feet long, terminating in a round head,
was finished in less than six years. The trade of the
place was, however, as yet too small to justify anything
beyond a tidal harbour, and the engineer's views were

1 ' A Description of Bothe Touns
of Aberdeene.' By James Gordon,
Parson of Rothiemay. Quoted by
Turreff, p. 109.

2 Communication with London was
as yet by no means frequent, and far
from expeditious, as the following ad-
vertisement of 1778 will show : —
" For London : To sail positively on

Saturday next, the 7th November,
wind and weather permitting, the
Aberdeen smack. Will lie a short
time at London, and, if no convoy is
appointed, will sail under care of a
fleet of colliers — the best convoy of
any. For particulars apply,'' &c.,
&c.

CHAP. IX. ABERDEEN HARBOUR. 403

limited to that object. He found the river meandering
over an irregular space about five hundred yards in
breadth ; and he applied the only practicable remedy, by
confining the channel as much as the limited means
placed at his disposal enabled him to do, and directing
the land floods so as to act upon and diminish the
bar. Opposite the north pier, on the south side of the
river, Smeaton constructed a breast-wall about half the
length of the pier. Owing, however, to a departure
from that engineer's plans, by which the pier was placed
too far to the north, it was found that a heavy swell
entered the harbour, and, to obviate this formidable
inconvenience, a bulwark was projected from it, so as to
occupy about one-third of the channel entrance.

The trade of the place continuing to increase, Mr.
Eennie'was called upon, in 1797, to examine and report
upon the best means of improving the harbour, when he
recommended the construction of floating docks upon the
sandy flats called Foot Dee. Nothing was done at the
time, as the scheme was very costly and considered be-
yond the available means of the locality. But the magis-
trates kept the subject in mind ; and when Mr. Telford
reported as to the improvement of the harbour in 1801,
he intimated that the inhabitants were ready to co-operate
with the Government in rendering it capable of accom-
modating ships of war, so far as their circumstances
would permit. In 1807 the south pier-head, built by
Mr. Smeaton, was destroyed by a storm, and the time
had arrived when something must be done, not only to
improve but even to preserve the port. The magis-
trates accordingly proceeded, in 1809, to rebuild the pier-
head of cut granite, and at the same time they applied
to Parliament for authority to carry out further improve-
ments after the plan recommended by Mr. Telford ; and
the necessary powers were conferred in the following
year. The new works comprehended a large exten-
sion of the wharfage accommodation, the construction

2 D 2

404

ABERDEEN HARBOUR.

PART VII J.

of floating and graving docks, increased means of scour-
ing the harbour and ensuring greater depth of water
on the bar across the river's mouth, and the provision of
a navigable communication between the Aberdeenshire
Canal and the new harbour.

I

The extension of the north pier was first proceeded
with, under the superintendence of Mr. John G-ibb, the
resident engineer; and by the year 1811 the whole
length of 300 additional feet had been completed. The
beneficial effects of this extension were so apparent, that
a general wish was expressed that it should be carried
further ; and it was eventually determined to extend the
pier 780 feet beyond Mr. Smeaton's head, by which not
only was much deeper water secured, but vessels were
better enabled to clear the Grirdleness Point. This ex-
tension was successfully carried out by the end of the
year 1812, whilst a strong breakwater, about 800 feet
long, was run out from the south shore, leaving a space
of about 250 feet as an entrance, thereby giving greater
protection to the shipping in the harbour, whilst the
contraction of the channel, by increasing the " scour,"
tended to give a much greater depth of water on
the bar.

ABERDEEN HARBOUR. [By R. P. Leitch.]

The outer head of the pier was seriously injured
by the heavy storms of the two succeeding winters, which
rendered it necessary to alter its formation to a very
flat slope of about five to one all round the head.1 New

1 "The bottom under the founda-
tions," says Mr. Gibb, in his descrip-
tion of the work, "is nothing "better
than loose sand and gravel, constantly
thrown up by the sea on that stormy

coast, so that it was necessary to con-
solidate the work under low water by
dropping large stones from lighters,
and filling the interstices with smaller
ones, until it Avas brought within about

SEC'ITON OF PIER-HEAD WORK.

406

ABERDEEN HARBOUR.

PAKT VITT.

wharves were at the same time constructed inside the
harbour ; a new channel for the river was excavated,
which further enlarged the floating space and wharf
accommodation ; wet and dry docks were added ; until
at length the quay berthage amounted to not less than
6290 feet, or nearly a mile and a quarter in length.

By these combined improvements an additional extent
of quay room was obtained of about 4000 feet ; an
excellent tidal harbour was formed, in which, at spring
tides, the depth of water is about 15 feet ; whilst on the
bar it was increased to about 19 feet. The prosperity of
Aberdeen had meanwhile been advancing apace. The

a foot of the level of low water, when
the ashlar work was commenced ; but
in place of laying the stones horizon-
tally in their beds, each course was
laid at an angle of 45 degrees, to
within about 18 inches of the top,
when a level coping was added. This
mode of building enabled the work to
be carried on expcditiously, and ren-
dered it while in progress less liable
to temporary damage, likewise afford-
ing three points of bearing ; for while
the ashlar walling was carrying up

on both sides, the middle or body of
the pier was carried up at the same
time by a careful backing throughout
of large rubble-stone, to within 18
inches of the top, when the whole
was covered with granite coping and
paving 18 inches deep, with a cut
granite parapet wall on the north side
of the whole length of the pier, thus
protected for the convenience of those
who might have occasion to frequent
it." — Mr. Gibb's 'Narrative of Aber-
deen Harbour Works/

CHAP. IX. DUNDEE HARBOUR. 407

city had been greatly beautified and enlarged ; ship-
building had made rapid progress ; Aberdeen clippers
became famous, and Aberdeen merchants carried on a
trade with all parts of the world ; manufactures of wool,
cotton, flax, and iron were carried on with great success ;
its population rapidly increased ; and, as a maritime city,
Aberdeen took rank as the third in Scotland, the tonnage
entering the port having increased from 50,000 tons in
1800 to about 300,000 in 1860.

DUNDEE HARBOUR. [By R. P Leuch ]

Improvements of an equally important character were
carried out by Mr. Telford in the port of Dundee, also
situated on the east coast of Scotland, at the entrance to
the Frith of Tay. There are those still living at the
place who remember its former haven, consisting of a
crooked wall, affording shelter to only a few fishing boats
or smuggling vessels— its trade being then altogether
paltry, scarcely deserving the name, and its population
not one-fifth of what it now is. Helped by its com-
modious and capacious harbour, it has become one of the
most populous and thriving towns on the east coast.

The trade of the place took a great start forward at

408 DUNDEE HARBOUR. PART VIII.

the close of the war, and Mr. Telford was called upon to
supply the plans of a new harbour. His first design,
which he submitted in 1814, was of a comparatively
limited character ; but it was greatly enlarged during
the progress of the works. Floating docks were added,
as well as graving docks for large vessels. The neces-
sary powers were obtained in 1815 ; the works pro-
ceeded vigorously under the Harbour Commissioners,
who superseded the old obstructive corporation ; and
in 1825 the splendid new floating dock — 750 feet long
by 450 feet broad, having an entrance-lock 170 feet
long and 40 feet wide — was opened to the shipping of
all countries.

CHAP. X. CALEDONIAN AND OTHER CANALS. 409

CHAPTEE X.

CALEDONIAN AND OTHER CANALS.

THE formation of a navigable highway through the
chain of lochs occupying the Great Glen of the High-
lands, extending diagonally across Scotland from the
Atlantic to the North Sea, had long been regarded as a
work of national importance. As early as 1773, James
Watt, when following the business of a land-surveyor at
Glasgow, made a survey of the country at the instance
of the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates. He pro-
nounced the canal practicable, and pointed out how it
could best be constructed. There was certainly no want
of water, for Watt was drenched with rain during most
of his survey, and had difficulty in preserving even his
journal book. " On my way home," he says, " I passed
through the wildest country I ever saw, and over the
worst conducted roads."

Twenty years later, in 1793, Mr. Rennie was consulted
as to the canal, and he also prepared a scheme ; but no-
thing was done. The project was, however, revived in
1801, during the war with Napoleon, when various inland
ship canals — such as those from London to Portsmouth,
and from Bristol to the English Channel — were under con-
sideration, with the view of protecting British shipping
against French privateers. But there was another reason
for urging the formation of the canal through the Great
Glen of Scotland, which was regarded as of importance
before the introduction of steam enabled vessels to set
the winds and tides at comparative defiance. It was this :
vessels sailing from the eastern ports to America had to
beat up the Pentland Frith often against adverse winds

410 CALEDONIAN CANAL. l',\RTVm.

and stormy seas, which rendered the navigation both
tedious and dangerous. Thus it was cited by Sir Edward
Parry, in his evidence before Parliament in favour of
completing the Caledonian Canal, that of two vessels
despatched from Newcastle on the same day — one bound
for Liverpool by the north of Scotland, and the other
for Bombay by the English Channel and the Cape of
Good Hope — the latter reached its destination first!
Another case may be mentioned, of an Inverness vessel,
which sailed for Liverpool on a Christmas Day, reached
Stromness Harbour, in Orkney, on the 1st of January,
and lay there windbound, with a fleet of other traders,
until the middle of April following ! In fact the Pent-
land Frith, which is the throat connecting the Atlantic
and German Oceans, and through which the former rolls
its long majestic waves with tremendous force, was the
dread of mariners, and it was considered an object of
national importance to mitigate the dangers of the pas-
sage towards the western seas.

As the lochs occupying the chief part of the bottom
of the Great Glen were of sufficient depth to be navigable
by large vessels, it was thought that if they could be
connected by a ship canal, so as to render the line of
navigation continuous, it would be used by shipping
to a large extent, and prove of great public service.
Five hundred miles of dangerous navigation by the
Orkneys and Cape Wrath would thus be saved, and
ships of war, were this track open to them, might reach
the north of Ireland in two days from Fort George,
near Inverness. When the scheme of the proposed canal
was revived in 1801, Mr. Telford was requested to make
a survey and send in his report on the subject. He
immediately wrote to his friend James Watt, saying,
" I have so long accustomed myself to look with a degree
of reverence to your work, that I am particularly anxious
to learn what occurred to you in this business while the
whole was fresh in your mind. The object appears to

CHAP. X. CALEDONIAN CAXAL. 411

me so great and so desirable, that I am convinced you
will feel a pleasure in bringing it again under investiga-
tion, and I am very desirous that the thing should be
fully and fairly explained, so that the public may be
made aware of its extensive utility. If I can accomplish
this, I shall have done my duty ; and if the project is not
executed now, some future period will see it done, and I
shall have the satisfaction of having followed you and
promoted its success." l We may here state that Telford's
survey agreed with Watt's in the most important par-
ticulars, and that he largely cited his descriptions of the
intended scheme in his own report.

Mr. Telford's first inspection of the district was made
in 1801, and his report was sent in to the Treasury in
the course of the following year. Lord Bexley, then
Secretary to the Treasury, took a warm personal interest
in the project, and lost no opportunity of actively pro-
moting it. A board of commissioners was eventually
appointed to carry out the formation of the canal.
Mr. Telford, on being appointed principal engineer of
the undertaking, was requested at once to proceed to
Scotland and prepare the necessary working survey.
He was accompanied on the occasion by Mr. Jessop
as consulting engineer. Twenty thousand pounds were
granted under the provisions of the 43 Geo. III.
(chap, cii.), and the works were commenced, in the
beginning of 1804, by the formation of a dock or
basin adjoining the intended tide-lock at Corpach, near
Banna vie.

The basin at Corpach formed the southernmost point
of the intended canal. It is situated at the head of
Loch Eil, amidst some of the grandest scenery of the
Highlands. Across the Loch is the little town of Fort
William, one of the forts established at the end of the

1 ' The Origin and Progress of the I By J. P. Muirhead, Esq., M.A.
Mechanical Inventions of James Watt.' j Vol. i., p. cxxvi.

412

CALEDONIAN CANAL.

PART VIII.

MAP OF CALEDONIAN CANAL

seventeenth century to keep
the wild Highlanders in sub-
jection. Above it, hills over
hills arise, of all forms and
sizes, and of all hues, from
grass-green below to heather-
brown and purple above,
capped with heights of
weather-beaten grey; whilst
towering over all stands the
rugged mass of Ben Nevis
—a mountain almost unsur-
passed for picturesque gran-
deur. Along the western
foot of the range, which ex-
tends for some six or eight
miles, lies a long extent of
brown bog, on the verge of
which, by the river Lochy,
stand the ruins of Inverlochy
Castle.

The works at Corpach in-
volved great labour, and ex-
tended over a long series of
years. The difference be-
tween the level of Loch Eil
and Loch Lochy is ninety
feet, whilst the distance be-
tween them was less than
eight miles, and it was there-
fore necessary to climb up
the side of the hill by a flight
of eight gigantic locks, clus-
tered together, and which
Telford named Neptune's
Staircase. The ground passed
over was in some places very

CHAP. X. CALEDONIAN CANAL. 413

difficult, requiring large masses of embankment, the
slips of which in the course of the work frequently
occasioned serious embarrassment. The basin on Loch
Eil, on the other hand, was constructed amidst rocks,
and considerable difficulty was experienced in getting in
the necessary coffer-dam for the construction of the en-
trance to the sea-lock, the entrance-sill of which was
laid upon the rock itself, so that there was a depth of
21 feet of water upon it at high water of neap tides.1

At the same time that the works at Corpach were
commenced, the dock or basin at the north-eastern
extremity of the canal, situated at Clachnagarry, on the
shore of Loch Beauly, was also laid out, and the excava-
tions and embankments were carried on with consider-
able activity. This dock was constructed about 967
yards long, and upwards of 162 yards in breadth, giving
an area of about 32 acres, — forming, in fact, a harbour
for the vessels using the canal. The dimensions of the
artificial waterway were of unusual size, as the intention
was to adapt it throughout for the passage of a 32-gun
frigate of that day, fully equipped and laden with stores.
The canal, as originally resolved upon, was designed
to be 110 feet wide at the surface, and 50 feet at the
bottom, with a depth in the middle of 20 feet ; though
these dimensions were somewhat modified in the execu-
tion of the work. The locks were of corresponding
large dimensions, each being from 170 to 180 feet long,
40 broad, and 20 deep.

Between these two extremities of the canal — Corpach
on the south-west and Clachnagarry on the north-east —
extends the chain of fresh-water lochs : Loch Lochy on
the south ; next Loch Oich ; then Loch Ness ; and lastly,
furthest north, the small Loch of Doughfour. The
whole length of the navigation is 60 miles 40 chains, of
which the navigable lochs constitute about 40 miles,

For professional details of this work, see ' Life of Telford,' p. 305.

414

CALEDONIAN CANAL.

PART VIII.

leaving only about 20 miles of canal to be constructed,
but of unusually large dimensions and through a very
difficult country.

The summit loch of the whole is Loch Oich, the
surface of which is exactly a hundred feet above high
water-mark, both at Inverness and Fort William ; and
to this sheet of water the navigation climbs up by a
series of locks from both the eastern and western seas.
The whole number of these is twenty-eight : the en-
trance-lock at Clachnagarry, constructed on piles, at the

LUCK, CALEDONIAN CANAL

end of huge embankments, forced out into deep water, at
Loch Beauly ;* another at the entrance to the capacious
artificial harbour above mentioned at Muirtown ; four
connected locks at the southern end of this basin ; a

1 In the ' Sixteenth Report of the
Commissioners of the Caledonian Ca-
nal,' the following reference is made
to this important work, which was
finished in 1812 :—" The depth of
the mud on which it may be said to
be artificially seated is not less than
60 feet ; so that it cannot be deemed
superfluous, at the end of seven years,
to state that no subsidence is dis-
coverable ; and we presume that the
entire lock, as well as every part of it,
may now be deemed as immovable,

and as little liable to destruction, as
any other large mass of masonry.
This was the most remarkable work
performed under the immediate care
of Mr. Matthew Davidson, our super-
intendent at Clachnagarry, from 1804
till the time of his decease. He was
a man perfectly qualified for the em-
ployment by inflexible integrity, un-
wearied industry, and zeal to a degree
of anxiety, in all the operations com-
mitted to his care."

CHAP. X. CALEDONIAN CANAL. 415

regulating lock a little to the north of Loch Doughfour ;
five contiguous locks at Fort Augustus, at the south
end of Loch Ness ; another, called the Kytra Lock,
about midway between Fort Augustus and Loch Oich ;
a regulating lock at the north-east end of Loch Oich ;
two contiguous locks between Lochs Oich and Lochy ; a
regulating lock at the south-west end of Loch Lochy ;
next, the grand series of locks, eight in number, called
" Neptune's Staircase," at Bannavie, within a mile and
a quarter of the sea ; two locks, descending to Corpach
basin ; and lastly, the great entrance or sea-lock at
Corpach.

As may naturally be supposed, the execution of these
great works involved vast labour and anxiety. They
were designed with much skill, and executed with equal
ability. There were lock-gates to be constructed, prin-
cipally of cast iron, sheathed with pine planking ; public
road bridges crossing the line of the canal, of which
there were eight, constructed of cast iron and swung
horizontally. There were many mountain streams,
swollen to torrents in winter, crossing under the canal,
for which abundant accommodation had to be provided,
involving the construction of numerous culverts, tunnels,
and under-bridges of large dimensions. There were
also powerful sluices provided to let off the excess
of water sent down from the adjacent mountains into
the canal during winter. Three of these, of large dimen-
sions, high above the river Lochy, are constructed at a
point where the canal is cut through the solid rock ; and
the sight of the mass of waters rushing down into the
valley beneath, gives an impression of power which,
once seen, is never forgotten.

These great works were only brought to a completion
after the labours of many years, during which the diffi-
culties encountered in their construction had swelled the
cost of the canal far beyond the original estimate. The
rapid advances which had taken place in the interval

416 CALEDONIAN CANAL. TART VIII.

in the prices of labour and materials also tended greatly
to increase the expenses, and, after all, the canal, when
completed and opened, was comparatively little used.
This was doubtless owing, in a great measure, to the
rapid changes which occurred in the system of naviga-
tion shortly after the projection of the undertaking.
For these Telford was not responsible. He was called
upon to make the canal, and he did so in the best
manner. Engineers are not required to speculate as
to the commercial value of the works they are required
to construct ; and there were circumstances connected
with the scheme of the Caledonian Canal which removed
it from the category of mere commercial adventures.
It was a Government project, and it proved a failure.
Hence it formed a prominent topic for discussion in
the journals of the day ; but the attacks made upon the
Government because of their expenditure on the hapless
undertaking were perhaps more felt by Telford, who
was its engineer, than by all the ministers of state con-
joined.

" The unfortunate issue of this great work," writes
the present engineer of the canal, to whom we are in-
debted for many of the preceding facts, " was a grievous
disappointment to Mr. Telford, and was in fact the one
great bitter in his otherwise unalloyed cup of happiness
and prosperity. The undertaking was maligned by
thousands who knew nothing of its character. It be-
came ' a dog with a bad name,' and all the proverbial
consequences followed. The most absurd errors and
misconceptions were propagated respecting it from year
to year, and it was impossible during Telford' s lifetime
to stem the torrent of popular prejudice and objurga-
tion. It must, however, be admitted, after a long
experience, that Telford was greatly over-sanguine in
his expectations as to the national uses of the canal, and
he was doomed to suffer acutely in his personal feelings,
little though he may have been personally to blame,

CHAP. X.

ITS COMMERCIAL FAILURE.

417

the consequences of what in this commercial country is
regarded as so much worse than a crime, namely, a
financial mistake." l

Mr. Telford's great sensitiveness made him feel the
ill success of this enterprise far more than most other
men would have done. He was accustomed to throw
himself into the projects on which he was employed with
an enthusiasm almost poetic. He regarded them not
merely as so much engineering, but as works which were
to be instrumental in opening up the communications of
the country and extending its civilization. Viewed in
this light, his canals, roads, bridges, and harbours were
unquestionably of great national importance, though
their commercial results might not in all cases justify
the estimates of their projectors. To refer- to like in-
stances— no one can doubt the immense value and
public uses of Mr. Rennie's Waterloo Bridge or Mr.
Robert Stephenson's Britannia 'and Victoria Bridges,
though every one knows that, commercially, they have
been failures. But it is probable that neither of these
eminent^ engineers gave himself anything like the
anxious concern that Telford did about the financial
issue of his undertaking. Were railway engineers to
fret and vex themselves about the commercial value
of the schemes in which they have been engaged, there

1 The misfortunes of the Caledonian
Canal did not end with the life of
Telford. The first vessel passed
through it from sea to sea in October,
1822, by which time it had cost about
a million sterling, or double the ori-
ginal estimate. Notwithstanding this
large outlay, it appears that the
canal was opened before the works
had been properly completed ; and
the consequence was that they very
shortly fell into decay. It even
began to be considered whether the
canal ought not to be abandoned. In
1838, Mr. James Walker, C.E., an
engineer of the highest eminence,
examined it, and reported fully on

VOL. II.

its then state, strongly recommend-
ing its completion as well as its im-
provement. His advice was eventually
adopted, and the canal was finished
accordingly, at an additional cost of
about 200,000?., and the whole line
was re-opened in 1847, since which
time it has continued in useful opera-
tion. The passage from sea to sea at
all times can now be depended on,
and it can usually be made in forty-
eight hours. As the trade of the
North increases, the uses of the canal
will probably become much more de-
cided than they have heretofore
proved.

2 E

418 AHDEOSSAN AND WEAVER CANALS. PART VIII.

are few of them but would be so haunted by the ghosts
of wrecked speculations that they could scarcely lay
their heads upon their pillows for a single night in
peace.

While the Caledonian Canal was in progress, Mr.
Telford was occupied in various works of a similar
kind in England and Scotland, and also one in Sweden.
In 1804, while on one of his journeys to the north, he
was requested by the Earl of Eglinton and others to
examine a project for making a canal from Glasgow to
Saltcoats and Ardrossan, on the north-western coast
of the county of Ayr, passing near the important
manufacturing town of Paisley. A new survey of the
line was made, and the works were carried on during
several successive years until a very fine capacious canal
was completed, on the same level, as far as Paisley and
Johnstown. But the funds of the company falling short,
the works were stopped, and the canal was carried no
further. Besides, the measures so actively employed by
the Clyde Trustees to deepen the bed of that river and
enable ships of large burden to pass up as high as Glas-
gow, had proved so successful that the ultimate exten-
sion of the canal to Ardrossan, so as to avoid the shoals
of the Clyde, was no longer necessary, and the prose-
cution of the work was accordingly abandoned. But as
Mr. Telford has observed, no person suspected, when
the canal was laid out in 1805, "that steamboats would
not only monopolise' the trade of the Clyde, but pene-
trate into every creek where there is water to float them,
in the British Isles and. the continent of Europe, and be
seen in every quarter of the world."

Another of the navigations on which Mr. Telford
was long employed was that of the river Weaver in
Cheshire. It w^as only twenty-four miles in extent,
but of considerable importance to the country through
which it passed, accommodating the salt-manufacturing
districts, of which the towns of Nantwich, Northwich, and

GOTHA CANAL. 419

Frodsham are the centres. The channel of the river was
extremely crooked and much obstructed by shoals, when
Telford took the navigation in hand in the year 1807,
and a number of essential improvements were made in it,
by means of new locks, weirs, and side cuts, which had
the effect of greatly improving the communications of
these important districts.

In the following year we find our engineer consulted,
at the instance of the King of Sweden, on the best
mode of constructing the Gotha Canal, between Lake
Wenern and the Baltic, to complete the communica-
tion with the North Sea. In 1808, at the invitation
of Count Platen, Mr. Telford visited Sweden and made
a careful survey of the district. The service occupied
him and his assistants two months, after which he
prepared and sent in a series of detailed plans and sec-
tions, together with an elaborate report on the subject.
His plans having been adopted, he again visited Sweden
in 1810, to inspect the excavations which had already
been begun, when he supplied the drawings for the locks
and bridges. With the sanction of the British Govern-
ment, he at the same time furnished the Swedish con-
tractors with patterns^ of the most improved tools used
in canal making, and took with him a number of ex-
perienced lock-makers and navvies for the purpose of
instructing the native workmen. The construction of
the Gotha Canal was an undertaking of great mag-
nitude and difficulty, similar in many respects to the
Caledonian Canal, though much more extensive. The
length of artificial canal was 55 miles, and of the whole
navigation, including the lakes, 120 miles. The locks
are 120 feet long and 24 feet broad ; the width of the
canal at bottom being 42 feet, and the depth of water
10 feet. The results, so far as the engineer was con-
cerned, were much more satisfactory than in the case
of the Caledonian Canal. Whilst in the one case he had
much obloquy to suffer for the services he had given,

2 E 2

420 HARECASTLE TUNNEL. PART VIII.

in the other he was honoured and feted as a public
benefactor, the King conferring upon him the Swedish
order of knighthood, and presenting him with his 'por-
trait set in diamonds.

Among the various canals throughout England which
Mr. Telford was employed to construct or improve,
down to the commencement of the railway era, were the
Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, in 1818 ; the Grand
Trunk Canal, in 1822 ; the Harecastle Tunnel, which he
constructed anew, in 1824-7 ; the Birmingham Canal, in
1824 ; and the Macclesfield, and Birmingham and Liver-
pool Junction Canals, in 1825. The Gloucester and
Berkeley Canal Company had been unable to finish their
works, begun some thirty years before ; but with the
assistance of a loan of 160,000/. from the Exchequer
Bill Loan Commissioners, they were enabled to proceed
with the completion of their undertaking. A capacious
canal was cut from Gloucester to Sharpness Point, about
eight miles down the Severn, which had the effect of
greatly improving the convenience of the port of
Gloucester ; and by means of this navigation, ships
of large burden can now avoid the circuitous and diffi-
cult passage of the higher part of the river., very much
to the advantage of the trade of the place.

The formation of a new tunnel through Harecastle.
Hill, for the better accommodation of the boats passing
along the Grand Trunk Canal, was a formidable work.
The original tunnel, it will be remembered, was laid
out by Brindley, about fifty years before, and occupied
eleven years in construction. But the engineering
appliances of those early days were very limited ; the
pumping powers of the steam-engine had not been
fairly developed, and workmen were as yet only half-
educated in the expert use of tools. The tunnel, no
doubt, answered the purpose for which it was originally
intended, but it was very soon found too limited for
the traffic passing along the navigation. It was little

CHAP. X. HARECASTLE TUNNEL. 421

larger than a sewer, and admitted the passage of only
one narrow boat, seven feet wide, at a time, involving
very heavy labour on the part of the men who worked
it through. This was performed by what was called
kgging. The Leggers lay upon the deck of the vessel,
or upon a board slightly projecting from either side
of it, and, by thrusting their feet against the slimy
roof or sides of the tunnel — walking horizontally as it
were — they contrived to push it through. But it was
no tetter than horse- work ; and after " legging " Hare-
castle Tunnel, which is more than a mile and a half
long, the men were usually completely exhausted, and
as wet from perspiration as if they had been dragged
through the canal itself. The process occupied about
two hours, and by the time the passage of the tunnel
was made, there was usually a collection of boats at the
other end waiting their turn to pass." Thus much con-
tention and confusion took place amongst the boatmen
—a very rough class of labourers, — and many furious
battles were fought by the claimants for the first turn
"through." Eegulations were found of no avail to
settle these disputes, still less to accommodate the large
traffic which continued to keep flowing along the line
of the Grand Trunk, and steadily increased with the
advancing trade and manufactures of the country. Loud
complaints were made by the public, but they were dis-
regarded for many years ; and it was not until the pro-
prietors were threatened with rival canals and railroads
that* they determined on — what they could no longer
avoid if they desired to retain the carrying trade of the
district — the enlargement of the Harecastle Tunnel.

Mr. Telford was requested to advise the Company what
course was most proper to be adopted in the matter,
and after examining the place, he recommended that an
entirely new tunnel should be constructed, nearly parallel
with the old one, but of much larger dimensions. The
work was begun in 1824, and completed in 1827, in

422

HAHECASTLE TUNNEL.

1'AKT VIII.

less than three years. There were at that time through-
out the country plenty of skilled labourers and con-
tractors, many of them trained by their experience upon
Telford's own works, whereas Brindley had in a great
measure to make his workmen out of the rawest material.
Telford also had the advantage of greatly improved
machinery and an abundant supply of money — the Grand
Trunk Canal Company having become prosperous and
rich, paying large dividends. It is therefore meet, while
eulogising the despatch with which he was enabled to
carry out the work, to point out that the much greater
period occupied in the earlier undertaking is not to be set
down to the disparagement of Brindley, who had difficulties
to encounter which the later engineer knew nothing of.
The length of the new tunnel is 2926 yards; it is
16 feet high and 14 feet broad, 4 feet 9 inches of
the breadth being occupied by the towing-path — for
" legging " was now dispensed with, and horses hauled
along the boats instead of their being thrust through by
men. The tunnel is in so perfectly straight a line that
its whole length can be seen through at one view ; and
though it was constructed by means of fifteen different

pitshafts sunk to the same
line along the length of
the tunnel, the workman-
ship is so perfect that the
joinings of the various
lengths of brickwork are
scarcely discernible. "The
convenience afforded by
the new tunnel was very
great, and Telford men-
tions that, on surveying it
in 1829, he asked a boat-
man coming out of it how
he liked it ? "I only wish," he replied, " that it reached
all the way to Manchester ! "

CKOSS SECT1ONT OF HARECASTLE TUNNEL.

CHAP. X. BIRMINGHAM CANAL. 423

At the time that Mr. Telford was engaged upon the
tunnel at Harecastle, he was employed to improve and
widen the Birmingham Canal, another of Brindley's
works. Though the accommodation provided by it
had been sufficient for the traffic when originally con-
structed, the expansion of the trade of Birmingham and
the neighbourhood, accelerated by the formation of the
canal itself, had been such as completely to outgrow its
limited convenience and capacity, and its enlargement
and improvement now became absolutely necessary.
Brindley's Canal, for the sake of cheapness of construc-
tion— money being much scarcer and more difficult to be
raised in the early days of canals — was also winding and
crooked ; and it was considered desirable to shorten and
straighten it by cutting off the bends at different points.
At the point at which the canal entered Birmingham, it
had become " little better than a crooked ditch, with
scarcely the appearance of a towing-path, the horses
frequently sliding and staggering in the water, the
hauling-lines sweeping the gravel into the canal, and
the entanglement at the meeting of boats being inces-
sant ; whilst at the locks at each end of the short summit
at Smethwick crowds of boatmen were always quar-
relling, or offering premiums for a preference of passage ;
and the mine-owners, injured by the delay, were loud in
their just complaints."

Mr. Telford proposed an effective measure of improve-
ment, which was taken in hand without loss of time,
and carried out, greatly to the advantage of the trade of
the district. The numerous bends in the canal were cut
off, the water-way was greatly widened, the summit at
Smethwick was cut down to the level on either side,
and a straight canal, forty feet wide, without a lock, thus
formed as far as Bilston and Wolverhamptori ; whilst the
length of the main line between Birmingham and Auther-

« Life of Telford,' p. 82, 83.

424 MACCLESFIELD CANAL. PART VIII.

ley, along the whole extent of the " Black country," was
reduced from twenty-two to fourteen miles. At the same
time the obsolete curvatures in Brindley's old canal were
converted into separate branches or basins, for the accom-
modation of the numerous mines and manufactories on
either side of the main line. In consequence of the alter-
ations which had been made in the canal, it was found
necessary to construct numerous large bridges. One of
these — a cast iron bridge, at Gal ton, of 150 feet span

Scale oft....,;?

GALTON BRIDGE, BIRMINGHAM CANAL.

— has been much admired for its elegance, lightness,
and economy of material. Several others of cast iron
were constructed at different points, and at one place
the canal itself is carried along on an aqueduct of the
same material as at Pont - Cysylltau. The whole of
these extensive improvements were carried out in the
short space of two years ; and the result was highly
satisfactory, " proving," as Mr. Telford himself observes,
" that where business is extensive, liberal expenditure of
this kind is true economy."

In 1825 Mr. Telford was called upon to lay out a canal
to connect the Grand Trunk, at the north end of Hare-
castle Tunnel, with the rapidly improving towns of Con-
gleton and Macclesfield. The line was twenty-nine miles
in length, ten miles on one level from Harecastle to
beyond Congleton; then, ascending 114 feet by eleven
locks, it proceeded for five miles on a level past Mac-
clesfield, and onward to join the Peak Forest Canal
at Marple. The navigation was thus conducted upon

CHAP. X. BIRMINGHAM AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. 425

two levels, each of considerable length ; and it so
happened that the trade of each was in a measure
distinct, and required separate accommodation. The
traffic of the whole of the Congleton district had ready
access to the Grand Trunk system, without the labour,
expense, and delay involved by passing the boats
through locks ; whilst the coals brought to Macclesfield
to supply the mills there were carried throughout upon
the upper level, also without lockage. The engineer's
arrangement proved highly judicious, and furnishes an
illustration of the tact and judgment which he usually
displayed in laying out his works for practical uses. Mr.
Telford largely employed cast iron in the construction
of this canal, using it in the locks and gates, as well as
in an extensive aqueduct which it was necessary to con-
struct over a deep ravine, after the plan pursued by
him at Pont-Cysylltau and other places.

The last canal constructed by Mr. Telford was the
Birmingham and Liverpool Junction, extending from
the Birmingham Canal, near Wolverhampton, in nearly a
direct line, by Market Drayton, Nantwich, and through
the city of Chester by the Ellesmere Canal, to Ellesmere
Port on the Mersey. The proprietors of canals were
becoming alarmed at the numerous railways projected
through the districts heretofore served by their water-
ways ; and amongst other projects one was set on foot,
as early as 1825, for constructing a line of railway from
London to Liverpool. Mr. Telford was consulted as to
the best means of protecting existing investments, and
his advice was to render the canal system as complete as it
could be made ; for he entertained the conviction, which
has been justified by experience, that such navigations
possessed peculiar advantages for the conveyance of
heavy goods, and that, if the interruptions presented by
locks could be done away with, or materially reduced,
a large portion of the trade of the country must con-
tinue to be carried by the water roads. The new

426 TELFORD'S CANALS. PART VIII.

line recommended by him was approved and adopted,
and the works were commenced in 1826. A second
complete route was thus opened up between Birmingham
and Liverpool, and Manchester, by which the distance
was shortened twelve miles, and the delay occasioned
by 320 feet of upward and downward lockage was done
away with.

Telford was justly proud of his canals, which were the
finest works of their kind that had yet been executed
in England. Capacious, convenient, and substantial,
they embodied his most ingenious contrivances, and
his highest engineering skill. Hence we find him
writing to a friend at Langholm, that, so soon as he
could find " sufficient leisure from his various avocations
in his own unrivalled and beloved island," it was his
intention to visit France and Italy, for the purpose of
ascertaining what foreigners had been able to accom-
plish, compared with ourselves, in the construction of
canals, bridges, and harbours. " I have no doubt," said
he, " as to their inferiority. During the war just brought
to a close, England has not only been able to guard her
own head and to carry on a gigantic struggle, but at the
same time to construct canals, roads, harbours, bridges-
magnificent works of peace — the like of which are pro-
bably not to be found in the world. Are not these things
worthy of a nation's pride ? "

CHAP. XI. TELFORD AS A ROAD-MAKER. 427

CHAPTEE XL

TELFORD AS A EOAD-MAKEB.

MR. TELFORD' s extensive practice as a bridge-builder
led his friend Southey to designate him " Pontifex
Maximus." Besides the numerous bridges erected by
him in the West of England, we have found him fur-
nishing designs for about twelve hundred in the High-
lands, of various dimensions, some of stone and others
of iron. His practice in bridge-building had, there-
fore, been of an unusually extensive character, and
Southey' s sobriquet was not ill applied. But besides
being a great bridge-builder, Telford was also a great
road-maker. With the progress of industry and trade,
the easy and rapid transit of persons and goods had
come to be regarded as an increasing object of public
interest. Fast coaches now ran regularly between all
the principal towns of England ; every effort being
made, by straightening and shortening the roads, cut-
ting down hills, and carrying embankments across valleys
and viaducts over rivers, to render travelling by the
main routes as easy and expeditious as possible.

Attention was especially turned to the improvement
of the longer routes, and to perfecting the connec-
tion of London with the chief towns of Scotland and
Ireland. Telford was early called upon to advise as to
the repairs of the road between Carlisle and Glasgow,
which had been allowed to fall into a wretched state ;
as well as the formation of a new line from Carlisle,
across the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and
Wigton, to Port Patrick, for the purpose of ensuring a
more rapid communication with Belfast and the northern

428

GLASGOW AND CARLISLE ROAD.

PART VIII.

parts of Ireland. Although Glasgow had become a place
of considerable wealth and importance, the roads to it,
north of Carlisle, continued in a very unsatisfactory
state. It was only in July, 1788, that the first mail-coach
from London had driven into Glasgow by that route,
when it was welcomed by a procession of the citizens
on horseback, who went out several miles to meet it.
But the road had been shockingly made, and before long
had become almost impassable. Robert Owen states
that, in 1795, it took him two days and three nights'
incessant travelling to get from Manchester to Glasgow,
and he mentions that the coach had to cross a well-
known dangerous mountain at midnight, called Trick-
stone Bar, which was then always passed with fear and
trembling.1

As late as the year 1814 we find a Parliamentary
Committee declaring the road between Carlisle and
Glasgow to be in so ruinous a state as often seriously to
delay the mail and endanger the lives of travellers.
The bridge over Evan Water was so much decayed, that
one day the coach and horses fell through it into the
river, when " one passenger was killed, the coachman
survived only a few days, and several other persons were
dreadfully maimed ; two of the horses being also killed."
The remaining part of the bridge continued for some time
unrepaired, just space enough being left for a single
carriage to pass. The road trustees seemed to be help-
less, and did nothing ; a local subscription was tried and
failed, the district passed through being very poor ; but
as the road was absolutely required for more than merely
local purposes, it was eventually determined to under-
take its reconstruction as a work of national importance,
and 50,000/. was granted by Parliament with this object,
under the provisions of the Act passed in 1816. The

1 ' Life of Robert Owen,' by him-
self.

2 'Report from the Select Com-

mittee on the Carlisle and Glasgow
Road,' 28th June, 1815.

CHAP. XT. TELFORD'S ROAD CONSTRUCTION. 429

works were placed under Mr. Telford's charge ; and
an admirable road was very shortly under construction
between Carlisle and Glasgow. That part of it be-
tween Hamilton and Glasgow, eleven miles in length,
was however left in the hands of local trustees, as was
the diversion of thirteen miles at the boundary of the
counties of Lanark and Dumfries, for which a previous
Act had been obtained.

The length of new line constructed by Mr. Telford
was sixty-nine miles, and it was probably the finest piece
of road which up to that time had been made. The
engineer paid especial attention to two points : first, to
lay it out as nearly as possible upon a level, so as to
reduce the draught to horses dragging heavy vehi-
cles,— one in thirty being about the severest gradient
at any part of the road. The next point was to make
the working, or middle portion of the road, as firm and
substantial as possible, so as to bear, without shrinking,
the heaviest weight likely to be brought over it. With
this object he specified that the metal bed was to be formed
in two layers, rising about four inches towards the centre
—the bottom course being of stones (whinstone, lime-
stone, or hard freestone), seven inches in depth. These
were to be carefully set by hand, with the broadest ends
downwards, all crossbonded or jointed, no stone being
more than three inches wide on the top. The spaces be-
tween them were then to be filled up with smaller stones,
packed by hand, so as to bring the whole to an even and
firm surface. Over this a top course was to be laid,
seven inches in depth, consisting of properly broken hard
whinstones, none exceeding six ounces in weight, and
each to be able to pass through a circular ring, two inches
and a half in diameter ; a binding of gravel, about an
inch in thickness, being placed over all. A drain crossed
under the bed of the bottom layer to the outside ditch in
every hundred yards. The result was an admirably easy,
firm, and dry road, capable of being travelled upon in

430

THE AKT OF ROAD-MAKING.

TART VIII.

all weathers, and standing in comparatively small need
of repairs.1

Owing to the mountainous nature of the country
through which this road passes, the bridges are un-
usually numerous and of large dimensions. Thus, the

1 A similar practice was introduced
in England about the same time by
Mr. Macadam ; and, though his me-
thod was not so thorough as that of
Teltbrd, it was usefully employed on
nearly all the leading high roads of
the kingdom. Mr. Macadam's atten-

J. L. MACADAM.

tion was first directed to the subject
while acting as one of the trustees of a
road in Ayrshire. Afterwards, while
employed as Government agent for
victualling the navy in the western
parts of England, he continued the
study of road-making, keeping in
view the essential conditions of a com-
pact and durable substance and a
smooth surface. At that time road
legislation was principally directed to
the breadth of the wheels of vehicles ;
whilst Macadam was of opinion that
the main point was to attend to
the nature of the roads on which
they were to travel. Most roads
were then made with gravel, or flints
tumbled upon them in their natural
state, and so rounded that they had
no points of contact, and rarely con-
solidated. When a heavy vehicle of

any sort passed over them, their loose
structure presented no resistance ; the
roads were thus constantly standing in
need of repair, and they were bad even
at the best. He pointed out that the
defect did not arise from the want of
materials, which were not worn out by
the traffic, but merely displaced. The
practice he urged was this : to break
the stones into angular fragments, so
that a bed several inches in depth
should be formed, the best adapted
for the purpose being fragments of
granite, greenstone, or basalt; to
watch the repairs of the road care-
fully during the process of consoli-
dation, filling up the inequalities
caused by the traffic passing over it,
until a hard and level surface had
been obtained, when the road would
last for years without further atten-
tion. In 1815 Mr. Macadam de-
voted himself with great enthusiasm
to roadmaking as a profession, and
being appointed surveyor-general of
the Bristol roads, he had full oppor-
tunities of exemplifying his system.
It proved so successful that the ex-
ample set by him was quickly fol-
lowed over the entire kingdom. Even
the streets of many large towns were
Macadamised. In carrying out his
improvements, however, Mr. Mac-
adam spent several thousand pounds
from his own resources, and in 1825,
having proved this expenditure before
a committee of the House of Com-
mons, the amount was reimbursed to
him, together with an honorary tri-
bute of two thousand pounds. Mr.
Macadam died poor, but, as he him-
self said, " at least an honest man."
By his indefatigable exertions and his
success as a roadmaker, by greatly
saving animal labour, facilitating com-
mercial intercourse, and rendering
travelling easy and expeditious, he
entitled himself to the reputation of a
public benefactor.

CARTLAND CRAGS BRIDGE.
[By R. P. Leitch, after a Drawing by J. S. Smiles.]

Fiddler's Burn Bridge is of three arches, one of 150
and two of 105 feet span each. There are fourteen
other bridges, presenting from one to three arches,
of from 20 to 90 feet span. But the most picturesque
and remarkable bridge constructed by Telford in that
district was upon another line of road subsequently
carried out by him, in the upper part of the county
of Lanark, and crossing the main line of the Carlisle
and Glasgow road almost at right angles. Its northern
and eastern part formed a direct line of communication

432 GENERAL ROAD IMPROVEMENT. PART VIII.

between the great cattle-markets of Falkirk, Crief, and
Doune, and Carlisle and the West of England. It was
carried over deep ravines by several lofty bridges, the
most formidable of which was that across the Mouse
Water at Cartland Crags, about a mile to the west-
ward of Lanark. The stream here flows through a deep
rocky chasm, the sides of which are in some places
about four hundred feet high. At a point where
the height of the rocks is considerably less, but still
most formidable, Telford spanned the ravine with the
beautiful bridge represented in the engraving on the
preceding page, its parapet being 129 feet above the
surface of the water beneath.

The reconstruction of the western road from Carlisle
to Glasgow, which Telford had thus satisfactorily carried
out, shortly led to similar demands from the population
on the eastern side of the kingdom. The spirit of road
reform was now fairly on foot. Fast coaches and wheel-
carriages of all kinds had become greatly improved, so
that the usual rate of travelling had advanced from five
or six to nine or ten miles an hour. The desire for the
rapid communication of political and commercial intel-
ligence was found to increase with the facilities for
supplying it ; and, urged by the public wants, the Post-
Office authorities were stimulated to unusual efforts in this
direction. Numerous surveys were made and roads laid
out, so as to improve the main line of communication
between London and Edinburgh and the intermediate
towns. The first part of this road taken in hand was
the worst — that lying to the north of Catterick Bridge,
in Yorkshire. A new line was surveyed by West Auck-
land to Hexham, passing over Carter Fell' to Jedburgh,
and thence to Edinburgh ; but rejected as too crooked
and uneven. Another was tried by Aldstone Moor and
Bewcastle, and rejected for the same reason. The third
line proposed was eventually adopted as the best, passing
from Morpeth, by Wooler and Coldstream, to Edinburgh ;

CHAP. XF. TELFORD'S HIGH ROADS. 433

saving rather more than fourteen miles between the two
points, and securing a line of road of much more favour-
able gradients.

The principal bridge on this new highway was at
Pathhead, over the Tyne, about eleven miles south of
Edinburgh. To maintain the level, so as to avoid the
winding of the road down a steep descent on one side
of the valley and up an equally steep ascent on the
other, Telford ran out a lofty embankment from both
sides, connecting their ends by means of a spacious
bridge. The structure at Pathhead is of five arches,
each 50 feet span, with 25 feet rise from their springing,
49 feet above the bed of the river. Bridges of a similar
character were also thrown over the deep ravines of
Cranston Dean and Cotty Burn, in the same neighbour-
hood. At the same time a useful bridge was built on
the same line of road at Morpeth, in Northumberland,
over the river Wansbeck. It consisted of three arches,
of which the centre one was 50 feet span, and two side-
arches 40 feet each ; the breadth between the parapets
being 30 feet.

The advantages derived from the construction of these
new roads were found . to be so great, that it was pro-
posed to do the like for the remainder of the line
between London and Edinburgh ; and at the instance
of the Post-Office authorities, with the sanction of the
Treasury, Mr. Telford proceeded to make detailed sur-
veys of an entire new post-road between London and
Morpeth. In laying it out, the main points which he
endeavoured to secure were directness and flatness ;
and 100 miles of the proposed new Great North Road,
south of York, were laid out in a perfectly straight line.
This survey, which was begun in 1824, extended over
several years; and all the requisite arrangements had
been made for beginning the works, when the result of
the locomotive competition at Eainhill, in 1829, had
the effect of directing attention to that new method of

VOL. II. 2 F

434 COMMUNICATION WITH IRELAND. PART VIII.

travelling, fortunately in time to prevent what would
have proved, for the most part, an unnecessary expendi-
ture, on works soon to be superseded by a totally different
order of things.

The most important road-improvements actually car-
ried out under Mr. Telford's immediate superintendence
were those on the western side of the island, with the
object of shortening the distance and facilitating the
communication between London and Dublin by way of
Holyhead, as well as between London and Liverpool.
At the time of the Union the mode of transit between
the capital of Ireland and the metropolis of the United
Kingdom was tedious, difficult, and full of peril. In
crossing the Irish Sea to Liverpool, the packets were
frequently tossed about for days together. On the
Irish side there was scarcely the pretence of a port,
the landing-place being within the bar of the river
Liffey, inconvenient at all times, and in rough wea-
ther extremely dangerous. To avoid the long voyage
to Liverpool, the passage began to be made from Dublin
to Holyhead, the nearest point of the Welsh coast.
Arrived there, the passengers were landed upon rugged,
unprotected rocks, without a pier or landing conveni-
ences of any kind.1 But the traveller's perils were
not at an end, — comparatively speaking they were only
begun. From Holyhead, across the island of Anglesea,
there was no made road, but only a miserable track,
circuitous and craggy, full of terrible jolts, round bogs
and over rocks, for a distance of twenty-four miles.
Having reached the Menai Strait, the passengers had

A diary is preserved of a journey | of the account is strikingly set forth

to Dublin from Grosvenor Square,
London, 12th June, 1787, in a coach
and four, accompanied by a post-
chaise and pair, and five outriders.
The party reached Holyhead in four
days, at a cost of 75Z. lls. 3d. The
state of intercourse between this coun-
try and the sister island at this part

in the following entries : " Ferry 'at
Bangor, 1Z. 10s. ; expenses of the yacht
hired to carry the party across the
channel, 281. 7s. 9d. ; duty on the
coach, 1L 13s. 4d. ; boats on shore,
II. Is.: total, 114?. 3s. 4d."— Ro-
berts's ' Social History of the Southern
Counties,' p. 504.

CHAP. XI. THE WELSH ROADS. 435

again to take to an open ferry-boat before they could
gain the main land. The tide ran with great rapidity
through the Strait, and, when the wind blew strong, the
boat was liable to be driven far up or down the channel,
and was sometimes swamped altogether. The perils
of the Welsh roads had next to be encountered, and
these were in as bad a condition at the beginning of
the present century as those of the Highlands above
described. Through North Wales they were rough,
narrow, steep, and unprotected, mostly unfenced, and
in winter almost impassable. The whole traffic on the
road between Shrewsbury and Bangor was conveyed by
a small cart, which passed between the two places once
a week in summer. As an illustration of the state of
the roads in South Wales, which were quite as bad as
those in the North, we may state that, in 1803, when
the late Lord Sudeley took home his bride from the
neighbourhood of Welshpool to his residence only thir-
teen miles distant, the carriage in which the newly
married pair rode stuck in a quagmire, and the occu-
pants, having extricated themselves from their perilous
situation, performed the rest of their journey on foot.

The first step taken was to improve the landing-
places on both the Irish and Welsh sides of St. George's
Channel, and for this purpose Mr. Eennie was employed
in 1801. The result was, that Howth on the one coast,
and Holyhead on the other, were fixed upon as the most
eligible sites for packet stations. Improvements, how-
ever, proceeded slowly, and it was not until 1810 that a
sum of. 10,OOOZ. was granted by Parliament to enable
the necessary works to be begun. Attention was then
turned to the state of the roads, and here Mr. Telford's
services were called into requisition. As early as 1808
it had been determined by the Post-Office authorities
to put on a mail-coach between Shrewsbury and Holy-
head ; but it was pointed out that the roads in
North Wales were so rude and dangerous that it was

2 F 2

436 THE WELSH ROADS. PART VIII.

doubtful whether the service could be conducted in
safety. Attempts were made to enforce the law with
reference to their repairs, and no less than twenty-one
townships were indicted by the Postmaster-General.
The route was found too perilous even for a riding
post, the legs of three horses having been broken in one
week.1 The road across Anglesea was quite as bad.
Sir Henry Parnell mentioned, in 1819, that the coach
had been overturned beyond Gwynder, going down one
of the hills, when a friend of his was thrown a consi-
derable distance from the roof into a pool of water.
Near the post-office of Gwynder, the coachman had
been thrown from his seat by a violent jolt, and broken
his leg. The post-coach, and also the mail, had been
overturned at the bottom of Penmyndd Hill ; and the
route was so dangerous that the London coachmen, who
had been brought down to " work " the country, refused
to continue the duty because of its excessive dangers.
Of course, anything like a regular mail-service through
such a district was altogether impracticable.

The indictments of the townships proved of no
use ; the localities were too poor to provide the means
required to construct a line of road sufficient for the con-
veyance of mails and passengers between England and
Ireland. The work was really a national one, to be
carried out at the national cost. How was this best
to be done ? Telford recommended that the old road
between Shrewsbury and Holy head (109 miles long)
should be shortened by about four miles, and made as
nearly as possible on a level ; the new line proceeding
from Shrewsbury by. Llangollen, Corwen, Bettws-y-
Coed, Capel-Curig, and Bangor, to Holyhead. Mr.
Telford also proposed to cross the Menai Strait by
means of a cast iron bridge, hereafter to be described.

1 ' Second Report from Committee on Holyhead Roads and Harbours,' 1810.
(Parliamentary paper.)

CHAP. XI.

THE WELSH KOADS.

437

Although a complete survey was made in 1811, no-
thing was done for several years. The mail-coaches
continued to be overturned, and stage-coaches, in the
tourist season, to break down as before.1 The Irish
mail-coach took forty-one hours to reach Holy head from
the time of its setting out from St. Martin' s-le-Grand ;
the journey was performed at the rate of only 6| miles
an hour, the mail arriving in Dublin on the third day.
The Irish members made many complaints of the delay
and dangers to which they were exposed in travelling
up to town. But, although there was much discussion,
there was no money voted until the year 1815, when
Sir Henry Parnell vigorously took the question in hand
and successfully carried it through. A Board of Parlia-
mentary Commissioners was appointed, of which he was
chairman, and, under their direction, the new Shrews-
bury and Holyhead road was at length commenced and
carried to completion, the works extending over a period
of about fifteen years. The same Commissioners exer-
cised an authority over the roads between London and
Shrewsbury ; and numerous improvements were also
made in the main line at various points, with the object
of facilitating communication between London and
Liverpool, as well as between London and Dublin.

1 Many parts of the road are ex-
tremely dangerous for a coach to
travel upon. At several places be-
tween Bangor and Capel-Curig there
are a number of dangerous precipices
without fences, exclusive of various
hills that want taking down. At
Ogwen Pool there is a very dangerous
place where the water runs over the
road, extremely difficult to pass at
flooded times. Then there is Dinas
Hill, that needs a side fence against a
deep precipice. The width of the
road is not above twelve feet in the
steepest part of the hill, and two car-
nages cannot pass without the greatest
danger. Between this hill and Rhyd-
dlanfair there are a number of dan-

gerous precipices, steep hills, and
difficult narrow turnings. From
Corwen to Llangollen the road is
very narrow, long, and steep ; has no
side fence, except about a foot and a
half of mould or dirt, which is thrown
up to prevent carriages falling down
three or four hundred feet into the river
Dee. Stage-coaches have been fre-
quently overturned and broken down
from the badness of the road, and the
mails have been overturned ; but I
wonder that more and worse accidents
have not happened, the roads are so
bad. — Evidence of Mr. William
Akers, of the Post-Office, before Com-
mittee of the House of Commons,
1st June, 1815.

438 TELFOKD'S ROADS IN WALES. PART VIII.

The rugged nature of the country through which the
new road passed, along the slopes of rocky precipices
and across inlets of the sea, rendered it necessary to build
many bridges, to form many embankments, and cut away
long stretches of rock, in order to secure an easy and com-
modious route. The line of the valley of the Dee, to the
west of Llangollen, was selected, the road proceeding
along the scarped sides of the mountains, crossing from
point to point by lofty embankments where necessary ;
and, taking into account the character of the country,
it must be acknowledged that a wonderfully level road
was secured. Whilst the gradients on the old road had
in some cases been as steep as 1 in 6i, passing along
the edge of unprotected precipices, the new one was so
laid out as to be no more than 1 in 20 at any part,
while it was wide and well protected along its whole
extent. Mr. Telford pursued the same system that he
had adopted in the formation of the Carlisle and Glas-
gow road, as regards metalling, cross-draining, and
fence-walling ; for the latter purpose using schistus, or
slate rubble- work, instead of sandstone. The largest
bridges were of iron ; that at Bettws-y-Coed, over the
Conway — called the Waterloo Bridge, constructed in
1815 — being a very fine specimen of Telford's iron
bridge-work.

Those parts of the road which had been the most
dangerous were taken in hand first, and, by the year
1819, the route had been rendered comparatively com-
modious and safe. Angles were cut off, the sides of
hills were blasted away, and several heavy embank-
ments run out across formidable arms of the sea. Thus,
at Stanley Sands, near Holyhead, an embankment was
formed 1300 yards long and 16 feet high, with a width
of 34 feet at the top, along which the road was laid.
Its breadth at the base was 114 feet, and both sides
were coated with rubble stones, as a protection against
storms. By the adoption of this expedient, a mile and

CHAP. XL

TELFOBD'S EOADS IN WALES.

439

a half was saved in a distance of six miles. Heavy
embankments were also run out, where bridges were
thrown across chasms and ravines, to maintain the
general level. From Ty-Gwynn to Lake Ogwen*, the
road along the face of the rugged
hill and across the river Ogweii
was entirely new made, of a
uniform width of 28 feet be-
tween the parapets, with an in-
clination of only 1 in 22 in the
steepest place. A bridge was
thrown over the deep chasm
forming the channel of the
Ogwen, the embankment
being carried forward from
the rock-cutting, protected
by high breastworks. From
Capel - Curig to near the
great waterfall over the river
Lugwy, about a
mile of new road
was cut ; and a still
greater length from
Bettws across the
river Conway and
along the face of
DinasHilltoEhyd-
dlanfair, a distance
of 3 miles, its steep-
est descent being
1 in 22, diminish-
ing to 1 in 45. By
this improvement, the most difficult and dangerous pass
along the route through North Wales was rendered safe
and commodious. Another point of almost equal diffi-
culty occurred near Ty-Nant, through the rocky pass of
Glynn Duifrws, where the road was confined between

ROAD DESCENT TO THE VALLEY OF THE LDGWY.

[By Percival Skelfco

440

TELFORD'S ROADS JN WALES.

PART VIII.

steep rocks and rugged precipices : there the way was
widened and flattened by blasting, and thus reduced to

BOAT) ABOVE NANT FFBANCON, NORTH WALES
[By Percival Skelton, after bis original Drawing ]

the general level ; and so on eastward to Llangolleii
and Chirk, where the main Shrewsbury road to London
was joined.1

1 The Select Committee of the
House of Commons, in reporting as to
the manner in which these works
were carried out, stated as follows : —
"The professional execution of the
new works upon this road greatly sur-
passes anything of the same kind in
these countries. The science which
has been displayed in giving the
general line of the road a proper in-
clination through a country whose
whole surface consists of a succession
of rocks, bogs, ravines, rivers, and
precipices, reflects the greatest credit
upon the engineer who has planned
them ; but perhaps a still greater de-
gree of professional skill has been
shown in the construction, or rather
the building, of the road itself. The

great attention which Mr. Telford
has bestowed to give to the surface of
the road one uniform and moderately
convex shape, free from the smallest
inequality throughout its whole
breadth; the numerous land drains,
and, when necessary, shores and tun-
nels of substantial masonry, with
which all the water arising from
springs or falling in rain is instantly
carried off; the great care with which
a sufficient foundation is established
for the road, and the quality, solidity,
and disposition of the materials that
are put upon it, are matters quite new
in the system of roadmaking in these
countries." — 'Report from the Select
Committee on the Road from London
to Holyhcad in the year 1819.'

CHAP. XL TELFOKD'S LONDON AND SHREWSBURY ROAD. 441

By means of these admirable roads the traffic of
North Wales continues to be mainly carried on to this
day. Although railways have superseded coach-roads
in the more level districts, the hilly nature of Wales
precludes their formation in that quarter to any con-
siderable extent; and even in the event of railways
being constructed, a large part of the traffic of every
country must necessarily continue to pass over the old
high roads. Without them even railways would be of
comparatively little value ; for a railway station is of
use chiefly because of its easy accessibility, and thus,
both for passengers and merchandise, the common roads
of the country are as useful as ever they were, though
the main post-roads have in a great measure ceased to
be employed for the purpose for which they were
originally designed.

The excellence of the roads constructed by Mr. Tel-
ford through the formerly inaccessible counties of North
Wales was the theme of general praise ; and their supe-
riority, compared with those of the richer and more level
districts in the midland and western English counties, be-
coming the subject of public comment, he was called upon
to execute like improvements upon that part of the post-
road which extended between Shrewsbury and the metro-
polis. A careful survey was made of the several routes
from London northward by Shrewsbury as far as Liver-
pool; and the short line by Coventry, being 153 miles
from London to Shrewsbury, was selected as the one to be
improved to the utmost. Down to 1819 the road between
London and Coventry was in a very bad state, being so
laid as to become a heavy slough in wet weather. There
were also many steep hills to be cut down, in some parts
of deep clay, in others deep sand. A mail-coach had been
tried to Banbury ; but the road below Aylesbury was so
bad, that the Post-Office authorities were obliged to give
it up. The twelve miles from Towcester to Daventry

442 TELFORD'S ROADS. PART VIII.

were still worse. The line of way was covered with
banks of dirt ; in winter it was a puddle of from four to
six inches deep — quite as Lad as it had been in Arthur
Young's time ; and when horses passed along the road,
they came out of it a mass of mud and dirt.1 There were
also several steep and dangerous hills to be crossed.
The loss of horses by fatigue in travelling by that
route was represented at the time to be very great.
Even the roads in the immediate neighbourhood of the
metropolis were little better, those under the High gate
and Hampstead trust being pronounced in a wretched
state. They were badly formed, on a clay bottom, and
being undrained, were almost always wet and sloppy.
The gravel was usually tumbled on and spread unbroken,
so that the materials, instead of becoming consolidated,
were only rolled about by the wheels of the carriages
passing over them. Mr. Telford applied the same
methods in the reconstruction of these roads that he had
already adopted in Scotland and Wales, and the same
improvement w^as shortly experienced in the more easy
passage of vehicles of all sorts and the great acceleration
of the mail service.

In addition to the reconstruction of these roads, that
along the coast from Bangor, by Conway, Abergele,
St. Asaph, and Holywell, to Chester, was greatly im-
proved. It formed the mail road from Dublin to Liver-
pool, and it was considered of importance to render it as
safe and level as possible. The principal new cuts on
this line were those along the rugged skirts of the huge
Penmaen-Mawr ; around the base of Penmaen-Bach to
the town of Conway ; and between St. Asaph and Holy-
well, to ease the ascent of Rhyall Hill. But more
important than all, as a means of completing the main

1 Evidence of William Waterhouse before the Select Committee, 10th March,
1819.

CHAP. XL TELFORD'S ROADS. 443

line of communication, there were the great bridges
over the Conway and the Menai Straits to be constructed.
These dangerous ferries had still to be crossed in open
boats, sometimes in the night, when the luggage and
mails were exposed to great risks, and passengers occa-
sionally lost with them. It was therefore determined,
after long consideration, to erect bridges over these
formidable straits, and Mr. Telford was employed to
execute the works, — in what manner we propose to
describe in the succeeding chapter.

444

THE MENAI AND CONWAY BEIDGES. PART VIII.

CHAPTEK XII.
THE MENAI AND CONWAY BRIDGES.

THE erection of a bridge over the Straits of Menai had
long been matter of speculation amongst engineers. As
early as 1776 Mr. Grolborne proposed his plan of an em-
bankment, with a bridge
in the middle of it ; and a
few years later, in 1785,
Mr. Nichols proposed a
wooden viaduct, fur-
nished with drawbridges,
at Cadnant Island. Later
still, Mr. Rennie proposed
his design of a cast iron
bridge. But none of these
plans were carried out,
and the whole subject re-
mained in abeyance until
the year 1810, when a
commission was appoint-
ed to inquire and report
as to the state of the roads
between Shrewsbury,
Chester, and Holyhead.
The result was, that Mr.
Telford was called upon
to report as to the
most effectual method of
bridging the Menai Strait, and thus completing the com-
munication with the port of embarkation for Ireland.
Mr. Telford submitted alternative plans for a bridge

MAP OF MENAI STRAIT. [Ordnance Survey.]

CHAP. XII. TELFORD'S PROPOSED MEN AT BRIDGE.

445

over the Strait : one at the S willy Bock, consisting of
three cast iron arches of 260 feet span, with a stone
arch of 100 feet span between each two iron ones, to
resist their lateral thrust ; and another at Ynys-y-moch,
to which he himself attached the preference, consisting
of a single cast iron arch of 500 feet span, the crown
of the arch to be 100 feet above high water of spring
tides, and the breadth of the roadway to be 40 feet.

TELFORD'S PROPOSED CAST IRON BRIDGE.

The principal objection taken to this plan by engineers
generally, was the supposed difficulty of erecting a proper
centering to support the arch during construction ; and
the mode by which Mr. Telford proposed to overcome
this may be cited in illustration of his ready ingenuity
under such circumstances. He proposed to suspend the
centering from above instead of supporting it from below
in the usual manner — a contrivance afterwards revived
by another very skilful engineer, the late Mr. Brunei.
Frames, fifty feet high, were to be erected on the top of
the abutments, and on these strong blocks, or rollers and
chains, were to be fixed, by means of which, and by the
aid of windlasses and other mechanical powers, each
separate piece of centering was to be raised into, and
suspended in, its proper place. Mr. Telford regarded

PROPOSED PLAN OF SUSPENDED CENTERING.

446 TELFORD'S PROPOSED RUNCORN BRIDGE. PART VIII.

this method of constructing centres as applicable to stone
as well as to iron arches ; and indeed it is applicable, as
Mr. Brunei held, to the building of the arch itself.1 Mr.
Telford anticipated that, if the method recommended by
him were successfully adopted on the large scale proposed
at Menai, all difficulties with regard to carrying bridges
over deep ravines would be done away with, and a
new era in bridge-building begun. For this and other
reasons — but chiefly because of the much greater dura-
bility of a cast iron bridge compared with the suspension
bridge afterwards adopted — it is matter of regret that
he was not permitted to carry out this novel and grand
design. It was, however, again objected by mariners
that the bridge would seriously affect, if not destroy, the
navigation of the Strait ; and this plan, like Mr. Eennie's,
was eventually rejected.

Several years passed, and during the interval Mr.
Telford was consulted as to the construction of a bridge
over Runcorn Gap on the Mersey, above Liverpool. As
the river was there about twelve hundred feet wide, and
much used for purposes of navigation, a bridge of the
ordinary construction was found inapplicable. But as
he was required to furnish a plan of the most suitable
structure, he proceeded to consider how the difficulties

1 In an article in the 'Edinburgh
Review,' No. cxli., from the pen of
Sir David Brewster, the writer ob-
serves : — " Mr. Telford's principle of
suspending and laying down from
above the centering of stone and iron
bridges is, we think, a much more I

pieces of fifty feet each; and by in-
creasing the number of suspending
chains, these separate pieces or vous-
soirs having been previously joined
together, either temporarily or perma-
nently, by cement or by clamps,
might be laid into their place, and

fertile one than even he himself sup- | kept there by a single chain till the
posed. With modifications, by no I road was completed. The voussoirs,

means considerable, and certainly
practicable, it appears to us that the
voussoirs or arch-stones might them-
selves be laid down from above, and
suspended by an appropriate mechan-
ism till the keystone was inserted.
If we suppose the centering in Mr.
Telford's plan to be of iron, this cen-
tering itself becomes an iron bridge,
each rib of which is composed of ten

when united, might be suspended
from a general chain across the arch-
wTay, and a platform could be added
to facilitate the operations." This is
as nearly as possible the plan after-
wards revived by Mr. Brunei, and
for the originality of which, we be-
lieve, he has generally the credit,
though it clearly belongs to Telford.

('HAP. XII. TELFORD'S PROPOSED RUNCORN BRIDGE. 447

of the case were best to be met. The only practicable
plan, he thought, was a bridge constructed on the prin-
ciple of suspension. Expedients of this kind had long
been employed in India and America, where wide rivers
were crossed by means of bridges formed of ropes and
chains ; and even in this country a suspension bridge,
though of a very rude kind, had long been in use near
Middleton on the Tees, where, by means of two common
chains stretched across the river, upon which a footway
of boards was laid, the colliers were enabled to pass
from their cottages to the colliery on the opposite bank.
Captain (afterwards Sir Samuel Brown) took out a patent
for forming suspension bridges in 1817 ; but it appears
that Telford's attention had been directed to the subject
before this time, as he was first consulted respecting the
Runcorn Bridge in the year 1814, when he proceeded to

..INK OP TELFORD'S PROPOSED BRIDGE AT RUNCORN

make an elaborate series of experiments on the tenacity
of wrought iron bars, with the object of employing this
material in his proposed structure. After he had made
upwards of two hundred tests of malleable iron of various
qualities, he proceeded to prepare his design of a bridge,
which consisted of a central opening of 1000 feet span,
and two side openings of 500 feet each, supported by pyra-
mids of masonry placed near the low water lines. The
roadway was to be 30 feet wide, divided into one central
footway and two distinct carriageways of 12 feet each.
At the same time he prepared and submitted a model of
the central opening, which satisfactorily stood the various
strains which were applied to it. This Runcorn design
of 1814 was of a very magnificent character, perhaps
superior even to that of the Menai Suspension Bridge,

448 THE MENAI BRIDGE. PART VIII.

afterwards erected ; but unhappily the means were not
forthcoming to carry it into effect. The publication of
his plan and report had, however, the effect of directing
public attention to the construction of bridges on the
suspension principle ; and many were shortly after
designed and erected by Telford and other engineers in
different parts of the kingdom.

Mr. Telford continued to be consulted by the Commis-
sioners of the Holyhead Roads as to the completion of
the last and most important link in the line of communi-
cation between London and Holyhead, by bridging the
Straits of Menai ; and at one of their meetings in 1815,
shortly after the publication of his Runcorn design, the
inquiry was made whether a bridge upon the same prin-
ciple was not applicable in this particular case. The
engineer was instructed again to examine the Straits and
submit a suitable plan and estimate, which he proceeded
to do in the early part of 1818. The site selected by
him as the most favourable was that which had pre-
viously been fixed upon for the projected cast iron
bridge, namely at Ynys-y-moch — the shores there being
bold and rocky, affording easy access and excellent foun-
dations, whilst by spanning the entire channel between
the low water lines, and the roadway being kept uni-
formly 100 feet above the highest water at spring tide,
the whole of the navigable waterway would be left
entirely uninterrupted. The distance between the centres
of the supporting pyramids was proposed to be of the
then unprecedented width of 550 feet, and the height of
the pyramids 53 feet above the level of the roadway.
The main chains were to be sixteen in number, with a
deflection of 37 feet, each composed of thirty-six bars of

MENAI BRIDGE.

CHAP. XII. THE MENAI B1UDGE. 449

half-inch-square iron, so placed as to give a square of
six on each side, making the whole chain about four inches
in diameter, welded together for their whole length,
secured by bucklings, and braced round with iron wire ;
whilst the ends of these great chains were to be secured
by a mass of masonry, built over stone arches between
each end of the supporting piers and the adjoining shore.
Four of these arches were to be on the Anglesea, and
three on the Caernarvonshire side, each of them fifty-two
feet six inches span. The roadway was to be divided, as
in the Runcorn design — a carriageway twelve feet wide
on each side, and a footpath of four feet in the middle.
Mr. Telford's plan was supported by Mr. Rennie and
other engineers of eminence ; and the Select Committee
of the House of Commons, being satisfied as to its prac-
ticability, recommended Parliament to pass a Bill and
make a grant of money to enable the work to be carried
into effect.

The necessary Act passed in the session of 1819,
and Mr. Telford immediately proceeded to Bangor to
make preparations for commencing the works. The
first proceeding was to blast off the inequalities from
the surface of the rock, called Ynys-y-moch, situated on
the western or Holyhead side of the Strait, at that time
only accessible at low water. The object was to form an
even surface upon it for the foundation of the west main
pier. It used to be at this point, where the Strait
was narrowest, that horned cattle were driven down,
preparatory to swimming them across the channel to
the Caernarvon side, when the tide was weak and at
its lowest ebb. Many cattle were, nevertheless, often
carried away when the current was too strong for the
animals to contend against.

At the same time a landing-quay was erected on
Ynys-y-moch, which was connected with the shore by
an embankment carrying lines of railway. Along this
horses drew the sledges laden with stone required for the

VOL. II. 2 G

450 THE MENAI BRIDGE. PART VII F.

work ; the material being brought in barges from the
quarries opened at Penmon Point, on the north-eastern
extremity of the Isle of Anglesea, a little to the westward
of the northern opening of the Strait. When the surface
of the rock had been levelled and the causeway com-
pleted, the first stone of the main pier was laid by
Mr. W. A. Provis, the resident engineer, on the 10th of
August, 1819 ; but not the slightest ceremony was
observed on the occasion.

Later in the autumn preparations were made for
proceeding with the foundations of the eastern main
pier on the Bangor side of the Strait. After exca-
vating the beach to a depth of seven feet, a solid mass
of rock was reached, which served the purpose of an
immoveable foundation for the pier. At the same time
workshops were erected ; builders, artisans, and labourers
were brought together from distant quarters ; vessels and
barges were purchased or built for the special purpose of
the work ; a quay was constructed at Penmon Point for
loading the stones for the piers ; and all the requisite
preliminary arrangements were made for proceeding with
the building operations in the ensuing season.

A careful specification of the masonry work was drawn
up, and the contract first let to Messrs. Stapleton and
Hall ; but as they did not proceed satisfactorily, and
desired to be released from the contract, it was re-let
on the same terms to Mr. John Wilson, one of Mr.
Telford's principal contractors for mason work on the
Caledonian Canal. The building operations were begun
with great vigour early in 1820. The three arches on
the Caernarvonshire ' side and the four on the Anglesea
side were first proceeded with. They are of immense mag-
nitude, and occupied four years in construction, having
been finished late in the autumn of 1824. These piers
are 65 feet in height from high water line to the springing
of the arches, the span of each being 52 feet 6 inches.
The work of the main piers also made satisfactory

CHAP. Xll.

THE MBNAI BRIDGE.

451

progress, and the masonry proceeded so rapidly that
stones could scarcely be got from the quarries in suffi-
cient quantity to keep the builders at work. By the
end of June about three hundred men were employed.

The two main piers, each 153 feet in height, upon
which the main chains of the bridge were to be suspended,
were built with great care
and under rigorous inspec-
tion. In these, as indeed in
most of the masonry of the
bridge, Mr. Telford adopted
the same practice which he
had employed in his pre-
vious bridge structures, that
of leaving large void spaces,
commencing above high
water mark and continuing
them up perpendicularly
nearly to the level of the
roadway. " I have else-
where expressed my con-
viction," he says, when
referring to the mode of
constructing these piers,
" that one of the most
important improvements
which I have been able to
introduce into masonry con-
sists in the preference of
cross-walls to rubble, in the
structure of a pier, or any
other edifice requiring strength. Every stone and joint
in such walls is open to inspection in the progress of the
work, and even afterwards, if necessary ; but a solid
filling of rubble conceals itself, and may be little better
than a heap of rubbish confined by side walls." l The

SECTION OF MAIN PIER

' Life of Telford,' p. 221.

2 G 2

452

THE MENAI BRIDGE.

PAKT VIII.

walls of these main piers were built from within as well
as from without all the way up, and the inside was as
carefully and closely cemented with mortar as the ex-
ternal face. Thus the whole pier was bound firmly
together, and the utmost strength given, while the
weight of the superstructure upon the lower parts of
the work was reduced to its minimum.

Over the main piers the small arches intended for the
roadways were constructed, each being 15 feet to the
springing of the arch, and 9 feet wide. Upon these
arches the masonry was carried upwards, in a tapering
form, to a height of 53 feet above the level of the road.
As these piers were to carry the immense weight of the
suspension chains, great pains were taken with their
construction, and each stone, from top to bottom, was
firmly bound together with iron dowels to prevent the
possibility of their being separated or bulged by the
immense pressure they had to withstand.1

The most important point in the execution of the
details of the bridge, where the engineer had no past
experience to direct him, was in the designing and fixing
of the wrought iron work. Mr. Telford had continued his
experiments as to the tenacity of bar iron, until he had
obtained several hundred distinct tests ; and at length,
after the most mature deliberation, the patterns and
dimensions were finally arranged by him, and the con-
tract for the manufacture of the whole was let to Mr.
Hazeldean, of Shrewsbury, in the year 1820. The iron
was to be of the best Shropshire, drawn at Upton forge,

1 To guard against the effects of
lateral pressure resulting from this
heavy mass of masonry bearing on
the arches forming the roadway, six
strong wrought iron ties, four inches
wide and two inches thick, firmly
bolted at each end, were introduced
horizontally at the springing of the
arches over the carriage ways, and
thus any deficiency of strength at that
point was effectually provided for.

Strong cast iron blocks or saddles
were placed upon the top of the
piers to bear the suspension chains,
and they were fitted with wrought
iron self-acting rollers and brass
bushes, for the purpose of regulating
the contraction and expansion of the
iron, by moving themselves either
way according to the temperature of
the atmosphere, without the slightest
derangement to any part of the work.

(/HAP. xrr.

THE MEXAI BRIDGE.

and finished and proved at his works, under the inspec-
tion of a person appointed by the engineer.1

CUT SHOWING FIXING OF THE CHAINS IN THE KoCK.

The mode by which the land ends of those enormous
suspension chains were rooted to the solid ground on
either side of the Strait, was remarkably ingenious
and effective. Three oblique tunnels were made by
blasting the rock on the Anglesea side ; they were
each about six feet in diameter, the excavations being-
carried down an inclined plane to the depth of about
twenty yards. A considerable width of rock lay be-

1 The cross sections of the bars
forming the main chains were 3 \ inches
square ; they were proved to be
capable, according to Mr. Telford's
experiments, of bearing a strain of
not less than 87f tons before fracture;
but in order not to strain the iron un-
duly, the proof was limited to 35
tons, or about 11 tons to every square
inch of cross section. Every piece of
iron introduced in the work was sub-
mitted to this test by means of a very
accurate and powerful proving ma-
chine constructed for the purpose ;
while under the strain, it was fre-
quently struck with a hammer, and
after being proved, every separate
piece was well cleansed, put into a
stove, and when brought to a gentle
heat was immersed in a trough con-

taining linseed oil. It was then taken
out after a short time, again put into
the stove, and, when dried, appeared
as if covered with varnish. A coat of
linseed oil paint was finally put over
all, and the iron bar was in this state
sent to the bridge for use. " No pre-
cautions were spared," writes Mr.
Telford, " to render every part per-
fectly true, and therefore secure; for
as any variation in the length of the
numerous bars would produce un-
equal bearings, each was subjected to
a fresh adjustment by means of a
steel model, upon which they were
bored when cold, so that a cross-bolt
passed through a certain number, in
most cases through eight bars, so as
to form four chains, thus accurately
attached to each other."

454 THE MENAI BRIDGE. PART VTIT.

tween each tunnel, but at the bottom they were all
united by a connecting horizontal avenue or cavern,
sufficiently capacious to enable the workmen to fix the
strong iron frames, composed principally of thick flat
cast iron plates, which were engrafted deeply into the
rock, and strongly bound together by the iron work
passing along the horizontal avenue ; so that, if the
iron held, the chains could only yield by tearing up the
whole mass of solid rock under which they were thus
firmly bound.

A similar method of anchoring the main chains was
adopted on the Caernarvonshire side. A thick bank
of earth had there to be cut through, and a solid
mass of masonry built in its place, the rock being
situated at a greater distance from the main pier; thus
involving a greater length of suspending chain, and a
disproportion in the catenary or chord line on that side
of the bridge. The excavation and masonry thus ren-
dered necessary proved a work of vast labour, and its
execution occupied a considerable time ; but by the
beginning of the year 1825 the suspension pyramids,
the land piers and arches, and the rock tunnels, had all
been completed, and the main chains firmly secured in
them ; the work being sufficiently advanced to enable
the suspending of the chains to be proceeded with. This
was by far the most difficult and anxious part of the
undertaking.

With the same careful forethought and provision for
every contingency which had distinguished the engi-
neer's procedure in the course of the work, he had
made frequent experiments to ascertain the actual
power which would be required to raise the main chains
to their proper curvature. A valley lay convenient
for the purpose, a little to the west of the bridge on
the Anglesea side. Fifty-seven of the intended ver-
tical suspending rods, each nearly ten feet long and
an inch square, having been fastened together, a piece

CHAP. XII. THE MENAI BRIDGE. 455

of chain was attached to one end to make the chord
line 570 feet in length ; and experiments having been
made and comparisons drawn, Mr. Telford ascertained
that the absolute weight of one of the main chains of the
bridge between the points of suspension was 23^ tons,
requiring a strain of 39| tons to raise it to its proper
curvature. On this calculation the necessary apparatus
required for the hoisting was prepared. The mode of
action filially determined on for lifting the main chains,
and fixing them into their places, was to build the cen-
tral portion of each upon a raft 450 feet long and 6 feet
wide, then to float it to the site of the bridge, and lift it
into its place by capstans and proper tackle.

At length all was ready for hoisting the first great
chain, and about the middle of April, 1825, Mr. Telford
left London for Bangor to superintend the operations.
An immense assemblage collected to witness the sight ;
greater in number than any that had been collected
in the same place since the men of Anglesea, in their
war-paint, rushing down to the beach, had shrieked
defiance across the Straits at their Roman invaders
on the Caernarvon shore. Numerous boats arrayed
in gay colours glided along the waters ; the day — the
26th of April — being bright, calm, and in every way
propitious. At half-past two, about an hour before
high water, the raft bearing the main chain was cast
off from near Treborth Mill, on the Caernarvon side.
Towed by four boats, it began gradually to move from
the shore, and with the assistance of the tide, which
caught it at its further end, it swung slowly and majes-
tically round to its position between the main piers,
where it was moored. One end of the chain was then
bolted to that which hung down the face of the Caer-
narvon pier ; whilst the other was attached to ropes
connected with strong capstans fixed upon the Anglesea
side, the ropes passing by means of blocks over the top
of the pyramid of the Anglesea pier. The capstans for

456 THE MENAI BRIDGE. PART VIII.

hauling in the ropes bearing the main chain, were two
in number, manned by about 150 labourers. When all

CDT OF BRIDGE, SHOWING STATE OF SUSPENSION CHAIN

was ready, the signal was given to " go along ! " A
band of fifers struck up a lively tune ; the capstans were
instantly in motion, and the men stepped round in a
steady trot. All went well. The ropes gradually coiled
in. As the strain increased, the pace slackened a little ;
but " Heave away ! now she comes ! " was sung out.
Eound went the men, and steadily and safely rose the
ponderous chain. The tide had by this time turned,
and bearing upon the side of the raft, now getting freer
of its load, the current floated it away from under the
middle of the chain still resting on it, and it swung
easily off into the water. Until this moment a breath-
less silence pervaded the watching multitude ; and
nothing was heard amongst the working party on the
Anglesea side but the steady tramp of the men at the
capstans, the shrill music of the fife, and the occasional
order to " Hold on ! " or " Go along ! " But no sooner
was the raft seen floating away, and the great chain
safely swinging in the air, than a tremendous cheer
burst forth along both sides of the Straits. The rest of
the work was only a matter of time. The most anxious
moment had passed. In an hour and thirty-five minutes
after the commencement of the hoisting, the chain was
raised to its proper curvature, and fastened to the
land portion of it which had been previously placed
over the top of the Anglesea pyramid. Mr. Telford
ascended to the point of fastening, and satisfied himself
that a continuous and safe connection had been formed

CHAP. XII. THE MENAI BRIDGE. 457

from the Caernarvon fastening on the rock to that on
Angiesea. The announcement of the fact was followed
by loud and prolonged cheering from the workmen,
echoed by the spectators, and extending along the Straits
on both sides, until it seemed to die away along the
shores in the distance. Three foolhardy workmen,
excited by the day's proceedings, had the temerity to
scramble along the upper surface of the chain — which
was only nine inches wide and formed a curvature of
590 feet — from one side of the Strait to the other!

Far different were the feelings of the engineer who
had planned this magnificent work. Its failure had been
predicted ; and, like Brindley's Barton Viaduct, it had
been freely spoken of as a " castle in the air." Telford
had, it is true, most carefully tested every point by
repeated experiment, and so conclusively proved the
sufficiency of the iron chains to bear the immense weight
they would have to support, that he was thoroughly con-
vinced as to the soundness of his principles of construc-
tion ; and satisfied that, if rightly manufactured and pro-
perly put together, the chains would hold together and
the piers would sustain them. Still there was necessarily
an element of uncertainty in the undertaking. It was
the largest structure of the kind that had ever been
attempted. There was the contingency of a flaw in the
iron ; some possible scamping in its manufacture ; some
little point which, in the multiplicity of details to be
attended to, he might have overlooked, or which his
subordinates might have neglected. It was, indeed,
impossible but that he should feel intensely anxious as
to the result of the day's operations. Mr. Telford after-
wards stated to a friend, only a few months before his
death, that for some time previous to the opening of the
bridge, his anxiety was so extreme that he could scarcely
sleep ; and that a continuance of that condition must
have very soon completely undermined his health. We
are not, therefore, surprised to learn that when his

458

THE MENAI BRIDGE.

PART Yin.

friends rushed to congratulate him on the result of the
first day's experiment, which decisively proved the
strength and solidity of the bridge, they should have
found the engineer upon his knees engaged in prayer.
A vast load had been taken off his mind ; the perilous
enterprise of the day had been accomplished without
loss of life ; and his spontaneous act was thankfulness
and gratitude.

MEMAI BK1DLJE.
[By Perciva! Skelton, after his original Drawing.]

The suspension of the remaining fifteen chains was
accomplished without difficulty. The last was raised and
fixed on the 9th of July, 1825, when the entire line was
completed. On fixing the final bolt, a band of music
descended from the top of the suspension pier on the
Anglesea side to a scaffolding erected over the centre
of the curved part of the chains, and played the National
Anthem amidst the cheering of many thousand persons
assembled along the shores of the Strait ; whilst the
workmen marched in procession along the bridge, upon

CHAP. XII. THE MENAI BRIDGE. 459

which a temporary platform had been placed, and the
St. David steam-packet of Chester passed under the chains
towards the Smithy Kocks and back again, thus reopen-
ing the navigation of the Strait. In August the road
platform was commenced, and in September the trussed
bearing bars were all suspended. The road was con-
structed of timber in a substantial manner, the planking
being spiked together, with layers of patent felt between
the planks, and the carriage-way being protected by oak
guards placed seven feet and a half apart. Side railings
were added and toll-houses and approach-roads completed
by the end of the year ; and the bridge was opened for
public traffic on Monday, the 30th of January, 1826,
when the London and Holyhead mail-coach passed over
it for the first time, followed by the Commissioners of
the Holyhead roads, the engineer, several stage-coaches,
and a multitude of private persons too numerous to
mention.

We may briefly add a few facts as to the quantities of
materials used, and the dimensions of this remarkable
structure. The total weight of iron was 2187 tons, in
33,265 pieces. The total length of the bridge is 1710 feet,
or nearly a third of a mile ; the distance between the
points of suspension of the main bridge being 579 feet.
The total sum expended by Government in its erection,
including the embankment and about half a mile of new
line of road on the Caernarvon side, together with the
toll-houses, was 120,000/.

Shortly after the Menai Bridge was commenced, it was
determined by the Commissioners of the Holyhead road
that a bridge of similar design should be built over the
estuary of the Conway, immediately opposite the old
castle at that place, and which had formerly been crossed
by an open ferry boat. The first stone was laid on the
3rd of April, 1822, and, the works having proceeded
satisfactorily, the bridge and embankment approaching
it were completed by the summer of 1826. But the

460

THE MEXAI BRIDGE.

PART VIII.

operations being of the same kind as those connected
with the larger structure above described, though of a
much less difficult character, it is unnecessary to enter
into any details as to the several stages of its construc-
tion. In this bridge the width between the centres of
the supporting towers is 327 feet, and the height of the
under side of the roadway above high water of spring
tides only 15 feet. The heaviest work was an embank-
ment at its eastern approach, 2015 feet in length and
about 300 feet in width at its highest part.

CONWAY SUSPENSION BRIDGE.
[By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing

CHAP. XIII. DOCKS, DRAINAGE, AND BRIDGES. 461

CHAFTEE XIII.

DOCKS, DRAINAGE, AND BRIDGES.

»

IT will have been observed, from the Lives of those
Engineers which we have thus far been enabled to lay
before the reader, how much has been done by skill and
industry to open up and develope the material resources
of the kingdom. The stages of improvement which we
have recorded exhibit a measure of the vital energy
which has from time to time existed in the nation. In
the earlier periods the war was with nature ; the sea was
held back by embankments ; the Thames, instead of
being allowed to overspread the wide marshes on either
hank, was confined within limited bounds, by which
the navigable depth of its channel was increased at the
same time that a wide extent of land was rendered
available for agriculture.

In those early days the great object was to render
the land more habitable, comfortable, and productive.
Marshes were reclaimed, and wastes subdued. But so long
MS the country remained comparatively closed, and inter-
course was restricted by the want of bridges and roads,
improvement was extremely slow. Whilst roads are the
consequence of civilization, they are also among its most
influential causes. We have seen even the blind Metcalf
acting as an effective instrument of progress in the
northern counties by the formation of long lines of road.
Brindley -and the Duke of Bridgewater carried on the
work in the same districts, and conferred upon the north
and north-west of England the blessings of cheap and
effective water communication. Smeaton followed and
carried out similar undertakings in still remoter places,

462 ST. KATHER1NE DOCKS. PART VIII.

joining the east and west coasts of Scotland by the Forth
and Clyde Canal, and building bridges in the far north.
Rennie made harbours, built bridges, and hewed out
docks for shipping, the increase in which had kept pace
with the growth of our home and foreign trade. He was
followed by Telford, whose long and busy life, as we
have seen, was occupied in building bridges and making
roads in all directions, in districts of the country formerly
inaccessible, and therefore comparatively barbarous. At
length the wildest districts of the Highlands and the most
rugged mountain valleys of North Wales were rendered
as easy of access as the comparatively level counties in
the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis.

During all this while the wealth and industry of the
country had been advancing with rapid strides. London
had grown in population and importance. Many im-
provements had been effected in the river, but the dock
accommodation was still found insufficient ; and, as the
recognised head of his profession, Mr. Telford, though
now grown old and fast becoming infirm, was called
upon to supply the requisite plans. He had been en-
gaged upon great works for upwards of thirty years,
previous to which he had led the life of a working mason.
But he had been a steady, temperate man all his life ;
and though nearly seventy, when consulted as to the
proposed new docks, his mind was as able to deal with
the subject in all its bearings as it had ever been ; and
he undertook the work.

In 1824 a new Company was formed to provide a
dock nearer to the heart of the City than any of the
existing ones. The site selected was the space between
the Tower and the London Docks, which included the
property of St. Katherine's Hospital. The whole extent
of land available was only twenty-seven acres of a very
irregular figure, so that when the quays and warehouses
were laid out, it was found that only about ten acres
remained for the docks ; but these, from the nature of the

I'lIAP. XIII.

ST. KATHEPJNE DOCKS.

463

ground, presented an unusual amount of quay room. The
necessary Act was obtained in 1825 ; the works were
begun in the following year ; arid on the 25th of October,
1828, the new docks were completed and opened for
business.

The St. Katherine Docks communicate with the river
by means of an entrance tide-lock, 180 feet long and
45 feet wide, with three pair of gates, admitting either
one very large or two smaller vessels at a time. The
lock-entrance and the sills under the two middle lock-
gates are fixed at the depth of ten feet under the level of
low water of ordinary spring tides. The formation of
these dock-entrances was a work of much difficulty,
demanding great skill on the part of the engineer. It
was necessary to excavate the ground to a great depth
below low water for the purpose of getting in the founda-
tions, and the cofferdams were therefore of great strength,
to enable them, when pumped out by the steam-engine,
to resist the lateral pressure of forty feet of water at
high tide. The difficulty was, however, effectually over-
come, and the wharf walls, locks, sills, and bridges of the
St. Katherine Docks are generally regarded as a master-
piece of harbour construction.1

1 In the arrangement of the wharves
and warehouses every improvement
was introduced and adopted which
was calculated to facilitate the trans-
action of business at the least labour
and expense. Alluding to the rapidity
with which these works were con-
structed, Mr. Telford says : — " Sel-
dom, indeed never within my know-
ledge, has there been an instance of
an undertaking of this magnitude, in
a very confined situation, having been
perfected in so short a time; nor
could it have been accomplished in
any other place than London, where
materials and labour to any extent
are always to be procured, as also the
command of capital in the power of
intelligent directors accustomed to
transactions on a large scale. The

extreme rapidity with which every
operation was forced on was doubtless
defensible, as useful and desirable in a
mercantile speculation, with the view
of having a speedy return for the ad-
vance of large sums, and for encou-
raging future advances, also for meet-
ing the urgent demands of increasing
commerce; but, as a practical en-
gineer, responsible for the success of
difficult operations, I must be al-
lowed to protest against such haste,
pregnant as it was, and ever will be,
with risks, which, in more instances
than one, severely taxed all my expe-
rience and skill, and dangerously in-
volved the reputation of the directors
as well as their engineer." — ' Telford 's
Life,' p. 155.

464 TEWKESBUBY AND GLOUCESTER BRIDGES. PART VIII.

Amongst the remaining bridges executed by Mr. Tel-
ford, towards the close of his professional career, may be
mentioned those of Tewkesbury and Gloucester. The
former town is situated on the Severn, at its confluence
with the river Avon, about eleven miles above Gloucester.
The surrounding district was rich and populous ; but
being intersected by a large river, without a bridge,
the inhabitants applied to Parliament for powers to pro-
vide so necessary a convenience. The design first pro-
posed by a local architect was a bridge of three arches ;
but Mr. Telford, when called upon to advise the trustees,
recommended that, in order to interrupt the navigation
as little as possible, the river should be spanned by a
single arch ; and he submitted a design of such a cha-
racter, which was approved and subsequently erected.
It was finished and opened in April, 1826.

This is one of the most extensive as well as graceful
of Mr. Telford' s numerous cast iron bridges. It is of a
single span of 170 feet, with a rise of only 17 feet. It
consists of six ribs of about three feet three inches deep,
the spandrels being filled in with light diagonal work.
The narrow Gothic arches in the masonry of the abut-
ments give the bridge a very light and graceful appear-
ance, at the same time that they afford an enlarged
passage for the high river floods.

The bridge at Gloucester consists of one large stone
arch of 150 feet span. It replaced a structure of great
antiquity, of eight arches, which had stood for about
600 years. The roadway over it was very narrow,
and the number of piers in the river and the small
dimensions of the arches offered considerable obstruc-
tion to the navigation. To give the largest amount of
waterway, and at the same time reduce the gradient of
the road over the bridge to the greatest extent, Mr.
Telford adopted the following expedient. He made the
general body of the arch an ellipse, 150 feet on the chord-
line and 35 feet rise, while the voussoirs, or external

CHAP. XIII. THE DEAN BRIDGE, EDINBURGH. 465

archstones, being in the form of a segment, have the
same chord, with only 13 feet rise. " This complex
form," says Mr. Telford, " converts each side of the vault
of the arch into the shape of the entrance of a pipe, to
suit the contracted passage of a fluid, thus lessening the
flat surface opposed to the current of the river whenever
the tide or upland flood rises above the springing of the
middle of the ellipse, that being at four feet above low
water ; whereas the flood of 1770 rose twenty feet above
low water of an ordinary spring-tide, which, when there
is no upland flood, rises only eight or nine feet." l The
bridge was finished and opened in 1828.

The last structures erected after our engineer's designs
were at Edinburgh and Glasgow ; his Dean Bridge at
the former place, and his Jamaica Street Bridge at the
latter, being regarded as among his most successful
works. Since his employment as a journeyman mason
at the building of the houses in Princes Street,. Edin-
burgh, the New Town had spread in all directions. At
each visit to it on his way to or from the Caledonian
("anal or the northern harbours, he had been no less sur-
prised than delighted at the architectural improvements
which he found going forward. A new quarter had
risen up during his lifetime, and had extended northward
and westward in long lines of magnificent buildings of
freestone, until in 1829 its further progress was checked
by the deep ravine running along the back of the New
Town, in the bottom of which runs the little Water
of Leith. It was determined to throw a stone bridge
across this stream, and Telford was called upon to supply
the design. The point of crossing the valley was imme-
diately behind Moray Place, which stands almost upon
its verge, the sides being bold, rocky, and finely wooded.
The situation was well adapted for a picturesque structure,
such as Telford was well able to supply. The depth of

1 <Telford'sLife,'p. 261.
VOL. II. 2 H

466

DEAN BK1DGE, AND GLASGOW BRIDGE. PART VIII.

the ravine to be spanned involved great height in the
piers, the roadway being 106 feet above the level of the
river. The bridge was of four arches of 90 feet span
each, and its total length 447 feet ; the breadth between
the parapets for the purposes of the roadway and foot-

DEAN BRIDGE, EDINBUEGH.
[By E, M. Wimperis, after a Sketch by J S. Smiles.]

paths being 39 feet.1 The bridge was completed and
opened in December, 1831.

But the most important, as it was the last, of Mr. Tel-
ford's stone bridges was that erected across the Clyde at
the Broomielaw, Glasgow. Little more than fifty years
since, the banks of the river at that place were literally
covered with broom — and hence its name — whilst the

1 The piers are built internally with
hollow compartments, as at the Menai
Bridge, the side walls being 3 feet
thick and the cross walls 2 feet. Pro-
jecting from the piers and abutments
are pilasters of solid masonry. The
main arches have their springing
70 feet from the foundations, and rise
30 feet ; and at 20 feet higher, other

arches, of 96 feet span and 10 feet
rise, are constructed ; the face of these,
projecting before the main arches
and spandrels, producing a distinct
external soffit of 5 feet in breadth.
This, with the peculiar piers, con-
stitutes the principal distinctive fea-
ture in the bridge.

CHAP. XIII. GLASGOW BRIDGE. 467

stream was scarcely deep enough to float a herring-buss.
Now, the Broomielaw is a quay frequented by ships of
the largest burden, arid bustling with trade and com-
merce. Skill and enterprise have deepened the Clyde,
dredged away its shoals, built quays and wharves along
its banks, and rendered it one of the busiest streams in
the world. It has become a great river thoroughfare,
worked by steam. On its waters the first steamboat
ever constructed for purposes of traffic in Europe was
launched by Henry Bell in 1812 ; and the Clyde boats
to this day retain their original prestige.

The deepening of the river at the Broomielaw had
led to a gradual undermining of the foundations of the
old bridge, which was situated close to the principal
landing-place. A little above it was an ancient overfall
weir, which had also contributed to scour away the
foundations of the piers. Besides, the bridge was felt
to be narrow, inconvenient, and ill-adapted for accom-
modating the immense traffic passing across the Clyde
at that point. It was, therefore, determined to take
down the old structure, and build a new one ; and Mr.
Telford was called upon to supply the design. The
foundation was laid with great ceremony on the 18th
of March, 1833, and the new bridge was completed and
opened on the 1st of January, 1836, rather more than a
year after the engineer's death. It is a very fine work,1
consisting of seven arches, segments of circles, the
central arch being 58 feet 6 inches ; the span of the
adjoining arches diminishing to 57 feet 9 inches, 55 feet
6 inches, and 52 feet respectively. It is 560 feet in
length, with an open waterway of 389 feet, and its
total width of carriageway and footpath is 60 feet, or
wider than any river bridge in the kingdom.

Like most previous engineers of eminence — like Perry,
Brindley, Smeaton, and Reniiie — Mr. Telford was in the
course of his life extensively employed upon the drainage

1 See illustration at p 286.

468 DRAINAGE OF THE FENS. PART VIII.

of the Fen districts. He had been jointly concerned with
Mr. Rennie in carrying out the important works of the
Eau Brink Cut,1 and at Mr. Rennie' s death he succeeded
to much of his practice as consulting engineer.

It was principally in designing and carrying out the
drainage of the North Level that Mr. Telford distin-
guished himself in Fen drainage. The North Level
includes all that part of the Great Bedford Level situ-
ated between Morton's Learn and the river Welland,
comprising about 48,000 acres of land. The river Nene,
which brings down from the interior the rainfall of
almost the entire county of Northampton, flows through
nearly the centre of the district. In some places the
stream is confined by embankments, in others it flows
along artificial cuts, until it enters the great estuary of
the Wash, about five miles below Wisbeach. This town
is situated on another river which flows through the
Level, called the Old Nene. Below the point of junc-
tion of these rivers with the Wash, and still more to
seaward, was South Holland Sluice, through which the
waters of the South Holland Drain entered the estuary.2
At that point a great mass of silt had accumulated,
which tended to choke up the mouths of the rivers
further inland, rendering their navigation difficult and
precarious, and seriously interrupting the drainage of
the whole lowland district traversed by both the Old
and New Nene. Indeed the sands were accumulating
at such a rate, that the outfall of the Wisbeach river
threatened to become completely destroyed.

Such being the state of things, it was determined to
take the opinion of some eminent engineer, and Mr.
Rennie was employed to survey the district and re-
commend a measure for the remedy of these great evils.
He performed this service in his usually careful and
masterly manner ; but as the method which he proposed,
complete though it was, would have seriously iiiter-

1 See ' Life of Rennie,' p. 168. 2 See map at p. 50, vol. i.

CHAP. XTTT. THE XOETH LEVEL. 409

fered with the trade of Wisbeach, by leaving it out of
the line of navigation and drainage which he proposed
to open up, the corporation of that town determined to
employ another engineer; and Mr. Telford was selected
to examine and report upon the whole subject, keeping
in view the improvement of the river immediately adja-
cent to the town of Wisbeach. Mr. Telford confirmed
Mr. Rennie's views to a large extent, more especially
with reference to the construction of an entirely
new outfall, by making an artificial channel from Kin-
dersley's Cut to Crab-Hole Eye anchorage, by which
a level lower by nearly twelve feet would be secured
for the outfall waters ; but he preferred leaving the
river open to the tide as high as Wisbeach, rather than
place a lock with draw-doors at Lutton Learn Sluice, as
had been proposed by Mr. Eennie. He also suggested
that the acute angle at the Horseshoe be cut off and
the river deepened up to the bridge at Wisbeach,
making a new cut along the bank on the south side of
the town, which should join the river again immediately
above it, thereby converting the intermediate space, by
draw-doors and the usual contrivances, into a floating
dock. Though this plan was approved by the parties in-
terested in the drainage, to Telford's great mortification
it was opposed by the corporation of Wisbeach, and like
so many other excellent schemes for the improvement
of the Fen districts, it eventually fell to the ground.

The cutting of a new outfall for the river Nene, how-
ever, could not much longer be delayed except with
great danger to the reclaimed lands of the North Level,
which, but for some relief of the kind, must shortly have
become submerged and reduced to their original waste
condition. The subject was revived in 1822, and Mr.
Telford was again called upon, in conjunction with Sir
John Rennie, whose father had died in the preceding
year, to submit a plan of a new Nene Outfall ; but it
was not until the year 1827 that the necessary Act

470 THE NENE OUTFALL. TAKT VIII.

was obtained, and then only with, great difficulty and
cost, in consequence of the opposition of the town of
Wisbeach. The works consisted principally of a deep
cut or canal, about six miles in length, penetrating far
through the sandbanks into the deep waters of the
Wash. They were commenced in 1828, and brought
to completion in 1830, with the most satisfactory
results. A greatly improved outfall was secured by thus
carrying the mouths of the rivers out to sea, and the
drainage of the important agricultural districts through
which the Nene flows was greatly benefited ; whilst
at the same time nearly 6000 acres of valuable corn-
growing land were added to the county of Lincoln.

But the opening of the Nene Outfall was only the first
of a series of improvements which eventually included
the whole of the valuable lands of the North Level, in
the district situated between the Nene and the Welland.
The opening at Grunthorpe Sluice, which was the outfall
for the waters of the Holland Drain, was not less than
eleven feet three inches above low water at Crab-Hole ;
and it was therefore obvious that by lowering this open-
ing, a vastly improved drainage of the whole of the level
district, extending from twenty to thirty miles inland,
for which that sluice was the artificial outlet, would
immediately be secured. Urged by Mr. Telford, an Act
for the purpose of carrying out the requisite improve-
ment was obtained in 1830, and the excavations having
been commenced shortly after, were completed in 1834.
A new cut was made from Clow's Cross to Grunthorpe
Sluice, in place of the winding course of the old Shire
Drain ; besides which, a bridge was erected at Cross Keys,
or Sutton Wash, and an embankment made across the Salt
Marshes, forming a" high road, which, with the bridges
previously erected at Fossdyke and Lynn, effectually
connected the counties of Norfolk and Lincoln. The
result of the improved outfall was what the engineer
had predicted. A thorough natural drainage was

CHAP. XIII. DRAINAGE OF THE NORTH LEVEL. 471

secured for an extensive district, embracing nearly a
hundred thousand acres of fertile land, which had before
been very ineffectually though expensively cleared of
the surplus water by means of windmills and steam-
engines. The productiveness of the soil was greatly
increased, and the health and comfort of the inhabitants
promoted to an extent that surpassed all previous ex-
pectation. The whole of the new cuts were easily
navigable, being from 140 to 200 feet wide at bottom,
whilst the old outlets had been variable and often
choked with shifting sand. The district was thus effec-
tually opened up for navigation, and a ready transit-
afforded for coals and other articles of consumption.
Wisbeach became readily accessible to vessels of much
larger burden, and in a few years after the construc-
tion of the Neiie Outfall the trade of that port had more
than doubled. Mr. Telford himself, towards the close of
his life, spoke with natural pride of the improvements
which he had thus been in so great a measure instru-
mental in carrying out, and which had so materially
promoted the comfort, prosperity, and welfare of a very
extensive district.1

We may mention, as a remarkable effect of the
opening of the new outfall, that in a few hours the
lowering of the waters was felt throughout the whole of
the Fen level. The sluggish and stagnant drains, cuts,
and learns in far distant places, began actually to flow ;
and the sensation created was such, that at Thorney,

1 " The Nene Outfall channel," says | guished himself by his foresight and

Mr. Tycho Wing, " was projected by judicious counsels at the most critical

the late Mr. Rennie in 1814, and periods of that great measure, by his

executed jointly by Mr. Telford and | unfailing confidence in its success, and

the present Sir John Rennie. But by the boldness and sagacity which

the scheme of the North Level drainage j prompted him to advise the making

was eminently the work of Mr. Tel-
ford, and was undertaken upon his
advice and responsibility, when only
a few persons engaged in the Nene
Outfall believed that the latter could
be made, or if made, that it could
be maintained. Mr. Telford distin-

of the North Level drainage, in full
expectation of the results for the sake
of which the Nene Outfall was under-
taken, and which are now realised
to the extent of the most sanguine
hopes."

472

EFFECTS OF THE FEN DBATNAGE.

PART VIII.

near Peterborough, some fifteen miles from the sea, the
intelligence penetrated even to the congregation at
church — for it was Sunday morning — that " the waters
were running ;" when immediately the whole flocked
out, parson and all, to see the great sight, arid acknow-
ledge the blessings of science.1 A humble Fen poet of
the last century thus quaintly predicted the moral results
likely to arise from the improved drainage of his native
district :—

" With a change of elements, suddenly
There shall a change of men and manners be ;
Hearts thick and tough as hides shall feel remorse,
And souls of sedge shall understand discourse ;
New hands shall learn to work, forget to steal,
New legs shall go to church, new knees to kneel."

The prophecy has indeed been amply fulfilled. The
barbarous race of Fen-men has disappeared before the
skill of the engineer. As the land has been drained,
the half-starved fowlers and fen-roamers have subsided
into the ranks of steady industry ; become farmers,
traders, and labourers. The plough has passed over the
bed of Holland Fen, and the agriculturist reaps his
increase more than a hundred fold. Wide watery wastes,
formerly abounding in fish, are now covered with waving
crops of corn every summer. Sheep graze on the dry
bottom of Whittlesea Mere, and kine low where not
many years since the silence of the waste was only dis-
turbed by the croaking of frogs and the screaming of
wild fowl. All this has been the result of the science of
the engineer, the enterprise of the landowner, and the
industry of our peaceful army of skilled labourers.2

1 'Land we Live In,' vol. i., p. 371.

2 Now that the land actually won
has been made so richly productive,
the engineer is at work with magni-
ficent schemes of reclamation of lands
at present submerged by the sea.
The Norfolk Estuary Company have
a scheme for reclaiming 50,000 acres ;
the Lincolnshire Estuary Company,

30,000 acres ; and the Victoria Level
Company, 150,000 acres — all from the
estuary of the Wash. By the pro-
cess called warping, the land is
steadily advancing .upon the ocean,
and before many years have passed,
thousands of acres of the Victoria
Level will have been reclaimed for
purposes of agriculture.

CHAP. XIV. THE SALOPIAN COFFEE HOUSE. 473

CHAPTEK XIV.

MR. TELFORD'S LATER YEARS — HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

WHEN Mr. Telford had occasion to visit London on
business during the early period of his career, his quar-
ters were at the Salopian Coffee House, now the Ship
Hotel, at Charing Cross. It is probable that his Shrop-
shire connections led him in the first instance to the
' Salopian ; ' but the situation being near to the Houses
of Parliament, and in many respects convenient for the
purposes of his business, he continued to live there for
no less a period than twenty-one years. During that
time the Salopian became a favourite resort for engineers ;
and not only Telford' s provincial associates, but numerous
visitors from abroad (where his works attracted even more
attention than they did in England) took up their quar-
ters there. Several apartments were specially reserved
for Telford' s exclusive use, and he could always readily
command any additional accommodation for purposes of
business or hospitality. The successive landlords of the
Salopian at length came to regard the engineer as a
fixture, and even bought and sold him from time to time
with the goodwill of the business. When he at length
resolved, on the persuasion of his friends, to take a
house of his own, and gave notice of his intention
of leaving, the landlord, who had but recently entered
into possession, almost stood aghast. "What! leave
the house ! " said he ; " Why, Sir, I have just paid
750/. for you ! " On explanation it appeared that this
price had actually been paid by him to the outgoing
landlord, on the assumption that Mr. Telford was a
fixture of the hotel ; the previous tenant having paid

474 INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. PART YJ IT.

450/. for him ; the increase in the price marking very
significantly the growing importance of the engineer's
position. There was, however, no help for the discon-
solate landlord, and Telford left the Salopian to take
possession of his new house at 24, Abingdon Street.
Labelye, the engineer of Westminster Bridge, had for-
merly occupied the dwelling ; and, at a subsequent period,
Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House.
Telford used to take much pleasure in pointing out to
his visitors the painting of Westminster Bridge, impa-
nelled in the wall over the parlour mantelpiece, made
for Labelye by an Italian artist whilst the bridge works
were in progress. In that house Telford continued to
live until the close of his life.

One of the subjects in which he took much interest
during his later years was the establishment of the In-
stitute of Civil Engineers. In 1818 a society had been
formed, consisting principally of young men educated
to civil and mechanical engineering, who occasionally
met to discuss matters of interest relating to their
profession. As early as the time of Smeaton, a social
meeting of engineers was occasionally held at an inn
in Holborn, which was discontinued, in 1792, in con-
sequence of some personal differences amongst the
members. It was revived in the following year, under
the auspices of Mr. Jessop, Mr. Naylor, Mr. Rennie,
and Mr. Whitworth, and joined by other gentlemen of
scientific distinction. They were accustomed to dine
together every fortnight at the Crown and Anchor in
the Strand, spending the evening in conversation on
engineering subjects. But as the numbers and import-
ance of the profession increased, the desire began to be
felt, especially amongst the junior members, for an insti-
tution of a more enlarged character. Hence the move-
ment among the younger men to which we have alluded,
and which led to an invitation to Mr. Telford to accept
the office of President of their proposed Engineers' In-

CHAP. XIV. INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 475

stitute. To this he consented, and entered upon the
duties of the office on the 21st of March, 1820.

During the remainder of his life, Mr. Telford continued
to watch over the progress of the society, which gra-
dually grew in importance and usefulness. He supplied
it with the nucleus of a reference library, now become
of great value to its members. He established the prac-
tice of recording the proceedings,1 minutes of discussions,
and substance of the papers read, which has led to the
accumulation, in the printed records of the Institute, of
a vast body of information as to engineering practice.
In 1828 he exerted himself strenuously and successfully
in obtaining a Charter of Incorporation for the society ;
and finally, at his death, he left the Institute their first
bequest of 2000/., together with many valuable books,
and a large collection of documents which had been
subservient to his own professional labours.

In the distinguished position which he occupied, it
was natural that Mr. Telford should be called upon, as
he often was, towards the close of his life, to give his
opinion and advice as to projects of public importance.
Where strongly conflicting opinions were entertained
on any subject, his help was occasionally found most
valuable ; for he possessed great tact and suavity of
manner, which often enabled him to reconcile opposing
interests when they stood in the way of important enter-
prises.

1 We are informed by Joseph
Mitchell, Esq., C.E., of the origin of
this practice. Mr. Mitchell was a

notes of the conversations which fol-
lowed the reading of the papers. Mr.
Telford afterwards found his pupil

of Mr. Telford's, living with | extending the notes, on which he
im in his house at 24, Abingdon asked permission to read them, and

Street. It was the engineer's custom
to have a dinner-party every Tuesday,
after which his engineering friends

was so much pleased that he took
them to the next meeting, and read
them to the members. Mr. Mitchell

were invited to accompany him to | was then formally appointed reporter
the Institution, the meetings of which of conversations to the Institute ; and
were then held on Tuesday evenings the custom having been continued, a
in a house in Buckingham Street, large mass of valuable practical infor-
Strand. The meetings did not usually I mation has thus been placed on re-
consist of more than from twenty to | cord,
thirty persons. Mr. Mitchell took |

476 FOREIGN ROADS AND BRIDGES. PART VIII.

In 1828 he was appointed one of the commissioners
to investigate the subject of the supply of water to the
metropolis, in conjunction with Dr. Roget and Pro-
fessor Brande, and the result was the very able report-
published in that year. Only a few months before his
death, in 1834, he prepared and sent in an elaborate
separate report, containing many excellent practical
suggestions, which had the effect of strongly stimu-
lating the water companies, and eventually led to great
improvements.

On the subject of roads he was the very highest
authority, his friend Southey jocularly styling him the
" Colossus of Roads " as well as " Pontifex Maximus."
The Russian Government frequently consulted him with
reference to the new roads with which that great empire
was being opened up. The Polish road from Warsaw
to Briesc on the Russian frontier, 120 miles in length,
was constructed after his plans, and it remains, we
believe, the finest road in the Russian dominions to
this day.

SECTION OF POLISH EOAD.

He was consulted by the Austrian Government on
the subject of bridges as well as roads. Count Szechenyi
recounts the very agreeable and instructive interview
which he had with Telford when he called to consult
him as to the bridge proposed to be erected across the
Danube, between the towns of Buda and Pesth. On a
suspension bridge being suggested by the English engi-
neer, the Count, with surprise, asked if such an erection
was possible under the circumstances he had described ?
" We do not consider anything to be impossible," replied
Telford ; " impossibilities exist chiefly in the prejudices of
mankind, to which some are slaves, and from which few

CHAP. XIV. MR. TELFORD'S LATER YEARS. 477

are able to emancipate themselves and enter on the path
of truth." But supposing a suspension bridge were not
deemed advisable under the circumstances, and it were
considered necessary altogether to avoid motion, " then,"
said he, " I should recommend you to erect a cast iron
bridge of three spans, each 400 feet ; such a bridge will
have no motion, and though half the world lay a wreck,
it would still stand." l The suspension bridge was
eventually resolved upon ; it was constructed by, one of
Mr. Telford's ablest pupils, Mr. Tierney Clark, between
the years 1839 and 1850, and is one of the greatest
triumphs of English engineering to be found in Europe,
the Buda-Pesth people proudly declaring it to be " the
eighth wonder of the world."

At a time when speculation was very rife — in the
year 1825 — Mr. Telford was consulted respecting a grand
scheme for cutting a canal across the Isthmus of Darien ;
and about the same time he was employed to resurvey
the line for a ship canal — which had before occupied the
attention of Whitworth and Rennie — between Bristol
and the English Channel. But although he gave great
attention to this latter project, and prepared numerous
plans and reports upon it, and although an Act was
actually passed enabling it to be carried out, the scheme
was eventually abandoned, like the preceding ones with
the same object, for want of the requisite funds.

Our engineer had a perfect detestation of speculative
jobbing in all its forms, though on one occasion he could
not help being used as an instrument by schemers. A
public company was got up at Liverpool, in 1827, to
form a broad and deep ship canal, of about seven miles
in length, from opposite Liverpool to near Helbre Isle, in
the estuary of the Dee : its object was to enable shipping
to avoid the variable shoals and sand-banks which obstruct
the entrance to the Mersey. Mr. Telford entered on the
project with great zeal, and his name was widely quoted

Supplement to Weale's ' Bridges,' Count Szechenyi's Report, p. 18.

478 TELFORD'S VIEWS OF RAILWAYS. TART VIII.

in -its support. It appeared, however, that one of its
principal promoters, who had secured the right of pre-
emption of the land on which the only possible entrance
to the canal could be formed on the northern side, sud-
denly closed with the corporation of Liverpool, who were
opposed to the plan, and " sold " his partners as well as
the engineer for a large sum of money. Telford, dis-
gusted at being made the instrument of an apparent
fraud upon the public, destroyed all the documents
relating to the scheme, and never afterwards spoke of it
except in terms of extreme indignation.

About the same time the formation of locomotive
railways was extensively discussed, and schemes were set
on foot to construct them between several of the larger
towns. But Mr. Telford was now about seventy years
old ; and, desirous of limiting the range of his business
rather than extending it, he declined to enter upon
this new branch of engineering. Yet, in his younger
days, he had surveyed numerous lines of railway-
amongst others, one as early as the year 1805, from
Glasgow to Berwick, down the vale of the Tweed. A
line from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Carlisle was also sur-
veyed and reported on by him some years later ; and the
Stratford and More ton Railway was actually constructed
under his direction. He made use of railways in all his
large works of masonry, for the purpose of facilitating
the haulage of materials to the points at which they were
required to be deposited or used. There is a paper of
his on the Inland Navigation of the County of Salop,
contained in ' The Agricultural Survey of Shropshire,'
in which he speaks of the judicious use of railways, and
recommends that in all future surveys " it be an instruc-
tion to the engineers that they do examine the county
with a view of introducing iron railways wherever diffi-
culties may occur with regard to the making of navigable
canals." When the project of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway was started, we are informed that he
was offered the appointment of engineer ; but he declined,

CHAP. XIV. MR. TELFORD'S DECLINING YEARS. 479

partly because of his advanced age, but also out of a
feeling of duty to his employers, the Canal Companies,
stating that he could not lend his name to a scheme
which, if carried out, must so materially affect their
interests.

Towards the close of his life he was afflicted by deaf-
ness, which made him feel exceedingly uncomfortable in
mixed society. Thanks to a healthy constitution, unim-
paired by excess and invigorated by active occupation,
his working powers had lasted longer than those of most
men. He was still cheerful, clear-headed, and skilful in
the arts of his profession, and felt the same pleasure in
useful work that he had ever done. It was, therefore,
with difficulty that he could reconcile himself to the idea
of retiring from the field of honourable labour, which he
had so long occupied, into a state of comparative inac-
tivity. But he was not a man who could be idle, and
he determined, like his great predecessor Smeaton, to
occupy the remaining years of his life in arranging his
engineering papers for publication. Vigorous though
he had been, he felt that the time was shortly approach-
ing when the wheels of life must stand still altogether.
Writing to a friend at Langholm, he said, " Having now
been occupied for about seventy-five years in incessant
exertion, I have for some time past arranged to decline
the contest ; but the numerous works in which I am
engaged have hitherto prevented my succeeding. In the
mean time I occasionally amuse myself with setting down
in what manner a long life has been laboriously, and I hope
usefully, employed." And again, a little later, he writes :
" During the last twelve months I have had several rubs ;
at seventy-seven they tell more seriously than formerly,
and call for less exertion and require greater precau-
tions. I fancy that few of my age belonging to the
valley of the Esk remain in the land of the living." l

One of the last works on which Mr. Telford was pro-

1 Letter to Mrs. Little, Post Office, Langholm, 28th August, 1833.

480 HIS DEATH. PART VIII.

fessionally consulted was at the instance of the Duke
of Wellington — not many years younger than himself,
but of equally vigorous intellectual powers — as to the
improvement of Dover Harbour, then falling rapidly to
decay. The long-continued south-westerly gales of
1833-4 had the effect of rolling an immense quantity
of shingle up Channel towards that port, at the entrance
to which it became deposited in unusual quantities, so as
to render it at times altogether inaccessible. The Duke,
as a military man, took a more than ordinary interest
in the improvement of Dover, as the military and naval
station nearest to the French coast ; and it fell to him
as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to watch over
the preservation of the harbour, situated at a point in
the English Channel which he regarded as of great stra-
tegic importance in the event of a continental war.
He therefore desired Mr. Telford to visit the place and
give his opinion as to the most advisable mode of pro-
cedure with a view to improving the harbour. The
result was a report, in which the engineer recommended
a plan of sluicing, similar to that adopted by Mr. Smeaton
at Ramsgate, and which was afterwards carried out with
considerable success by Mr. James Walker, C.E.

This was his last piece of professional work. A few
months later he was laid up by bilious derangement of
a serious character, which recurred with increased vio-
lence towards the close of the year ; and on the 2nd of
September, 1834, Thomas Telford closed his useful and
honoured career, at the advanced age of seventy-seven.
With that absence of ostentation which characterised him
through life, he directed that his remains should be laid,
without ceremony, in the burialground of the parish
church of St. Margaret's, Westminster. But the members
of the Institute of Civil Engineers, who justly deemed
him their benefactor and chief ornament, urged upon his
executors the propriety of interring him in Westminster
Abbey. He was buried there accordingly, near the
middle of the nave ; where the letters, " Thomas Tel-

CHAP. XIV.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

481

ford, 1834," mark the place beneath which he lies.1
The adjoining stone bears the inscription, " Robert
Stephenson, 1859," that engineer having during his life
expressed the wish that his body should be laid near
that of Telford ; and the son of the Killingworth en-
gineman thus sleeps by the side of the son of the
Eskdale shepherd.

TELFORD'8 BORLAL PLACE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
[By Percivaa Skelton ]

It was a long, a successful, and a useful life which
thus ended. Every step in his upward career, from the

1 A statue of him, by Bailey, has
since been placed in the east aisle of
the north transept, known as the Islip
Chapel. It is considered a fine work,
but its effect is quite lost in conse-
quence of the crowded state of the
aisle, which has very much the look

VOL. II.

of a sculptor's workshop. The sub-
scription raised for the purpose of
erecting the statue was WOOL, of
which 2001. was paid to the Dean
for permission to place it within the
Abbey.

2 i

482 CHARACTER— PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. PART VIII.

poor peasant's hut in Eskdale to Westminster Abbey,
was nobly and valorously won. The man was diligent
and conscientious ; whether as a working mason hewing
stone blocks at Somerset House, as a foreman of builders
at Portsmouth, as a road surveyor at Shrewsbury, or
as an engineer of bridges, canals, docks, and harbours.
The success which followed his efforts was thoroughly
well deserved. He was laborious, pains-taking, and
skilful ; but, what was better, he was honest and upright.
He was a most reliable man ; and hence he came to be
extensively trusted. Whatever he undertook, he endea-
voured to excel in. He would be a first-rate hewer,
and he became so. He was himself accustomed to attri-
bute much of his success to the thorough way in which
he had mastered the humble beginnings of this trade.
He was even of opinion that the course of manual
training he had undergone, and the drudgery, as some
would call it, of daily labour — first as an apprentice,
and afterwards as a journeyman mason — had been of
greater service to him than if he had passed through
the curriculum of a University. Writing to his friend,
Miss Malcolm, respecting a young man who desired
to enter the engineering profession, he in the first
place endeavoured to dissuade the lady from encourag-
ing the ambition of her protege, the profession being
overstocked, and offering very few prizes in proportion
to the large number of blanks. " But," he added, " if
civil engineering, notwithstanding these discourage-
ments, is still preferred, I may point out that the way
in which both Mr. Eennie and myself proceeded, was to
serve a regular apprenticeship to some practical employ-
ment— he to a millwright, and I to a general house-
builder. In this way we secured the means, by hard
labour, of earning a subsistence ; and, in time, we ob-
tained by good conduct the confidence of our employers
and the public ; eventually rising into the rank of what
is called Civil Engineering. This is the true way of

CHAP. XIV. SOCIAL HABITS. 483

acquiring practical skill, a thorough knowledge of the
materials employed in construction, and last, but not
least, a perfect knowledge of the habits and dispositions
of the workmen who carry out our designs. This course,
although forbidding to many a young person, who be-
lieves it possible to find a short and rapid path to dis-
tinction, is proved to be otherwise by the two examples
I have cited. For my own part, I may truly aver that
' steep is the ascent, and slippery is the way.' " l

That Mr. Telford was enabled to continue to so ad-
vanced an age employed on laborious and anxious work,
was no doubt attributable in a great measure to the
cheerfulness of his nature. He was, indeed, a most
happy-minded man. It will be remembered that, when
a boy, he had been known in his valley as " Laughing
Tarn." The same disposition continued to characterize
him even in his old age. He was playful and jocular,
and rejoiced in the society of children and young people,
especially when well-informed and modest. But when
they pretended to acquirements they did not possess, he
was quick to detect and see through them. One day a
youth expatiated to him in very large terms about a
friend of his, who had done this and that, and made so
and so, and could do all manner of wonderful things.
Telford listened with great attention, and when the
youth had done, he quietly asked, with a twinkle in his
eye, " Pray, can your friend lay eggs ? "

When in society he gave himself up to it, and tho-
roughly enjoyed it. He did not sit apart, a moody and
abstracted " lion ; " nor desire to be regarded as " the
great engineer," pondering new Meiiai Bridges ; but he
appeared in his natural character of a simple, intelligent,
cheerful companion ; as ready to laugh at his own jokes
as at other people's ; and he was as communicative to a
child as to any philosopher of the party.

1 Letter to Miss Malcolm, Burnfoot, Langholm, dated 7th Oct., 1830.

2 i 2

484 FRIENDSHIP WITH SOUTHEY AND CAMPBELL. PART VIII.

Robert Southey, than whom there was no better judge
of a loveable man, said of him, " I would go a long
way for the sake of seeing Telford and spending a few
days in his company." Southey had the best oppor-
tunity of knowing him well ; for he performed a long
tour with him through Scotland, in 1819. And a
journey in company, extending over many weeks, is,
probably, better than anything else, calculated to bring
out the weak as well as the strong points of a friend :
indeed, many friendships have completely broken down
under the severe test of a single week's tour. But
Southey on that occasion firmly cemented a friendship
which lasted until Telford' s death. On one occasion
the latter called at the poet's house, in company with
Sir Henry Parnell, when engaged upon the survey of
one of his northern roads. Unhappily Southey was
absent at the time ; and, writing about the circumstance
to a correspondent, he said, " This was a great morti-
fication to me, inasmuch as I owe Telford every kind
of friendly attention, and like him heartily."

Campbell, the poet, was another early friend of our
engineer ; and the attachment seems to have been
mutual. Writing to Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, in 1802,
Campbell says : "I have become acquainted with Telford
the engineer, ' a fellow of infinite humour,' and of
strong enterprising mind. He has almost made me a
bridge-builder already ; at least he has inspired me with
new sensations of interest in the improvement and
ornament of our country. Have you seen his plan of
London Bridge ? or his scheme for a new canal in the
North Highlands, which will unite, if put in effect, our
Eastern and Atlantic commerce, and render Scotland
the very emporium of navigation ? Telford is a most
useful cicerone in London. He is so universally ac-
quainted, and so popular in his manners, that he can

1 'Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey.' Edited by J. W.
Waiter, B.D. Vol. in., p. 326.

CHAP. XIV. HIS PROFESSIONAL HABITS. 485

introduce one to all kinds of novelty, and all descrip-
tions of interesting society." l Shortly after, Campbell
named his first son after Telford, who stood godfather
for the boy. Indeed, for many years, Telford played
the part of Mentor to the young and impulsive poet,
advising him about his course in life, trying to keep
him steady, and holding him aloof as much as pos-
sible from the seductive allurements of the capital. But
it was a difficult task, and Telford' s numerous engage-
ments necessarily left the poet at many seasons very
much to himself. It appears that they were living
together at the Salopian when Campbell composed
the first draft of his poem of Hohenlinden ; and
several important emendations made in it by Telford
were adopted by Campbell. Although the two friends
pursued different roads in life, and for many years saw
little of each other, they often met again, especially
after Telford took up his abode at his house in Abingdon
Street, where Campbell was a frequent and always a
welcome guest.

When engaged upon his surveys, our engineer was
the same simple, cheerful, laborious man. While at
work, he gave his whole mind to the subject in hand,
thinking of nothing else for the time ; dismissing it
at the close of each day's work, but ready to take it up
afresh with the next day's duties. This was a great
advantage to him as respected the prolongation of his
working faculty. He did not take his anxieties to bed
with him, as many do, and rise up with them in the
morning ; but he laid down the load at the end of each
day, and resumed it all the more cheerfully when re-
freshed and invigorated by natural rest. It was only
while the engrossing anxieties connected with the sus-
pension of the Menai Bridge were weighing heavily
upon his mind, that he could not sleep ; and then, age

Beattie's 'Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell/ vol i., p. 451.

486 HIS SELF-CULTURE. PART VIII.

having stolen upon him, he felt the strain almost more
than he could bear. But that great anxiety over, his
spirits speedily resumed their wonted elasticity.

When engaged upon the construction of the Carlisle
and Glasgow road, he was very fond of getting a few of
the " navvy men," as he called them, to join him at an
ordinary at the Hamilton Arms Hotel, Lanarkshire, each
paying his own expenses ; and though Telford told them
he could not drink, yet he would carve and draw corks
for them. One of the rules he laid down was, that no
business was to be introduced from the moment they sat
down to dinner. All at once, from being the plodding,
hard-working engineer, with responsibility and thought
in every feature, Telford unbended and relaxed, and
became the merriest and drollest of the party. He pos-
sessed a great fund of anecdote available for such occa-
sions, had an extraordinary memory for facts relating to
persons and families, and the wonder to many of his
auditors was, how in all the world a man living in London
should know so much better about their locality and
many of its oddities than they did themselves.

In his leisure hours at home, which were but few, he
occupied himself a good deal in the perusal of miscel-
laneous literature, never losing his taste for poetry.
He continued to indulge in the occasional composition
of verses until a comparatively late period of his life ;
one of his most successful efforts being a translation of
the ' Ode to May,' from Buchanan's Latin poems, exe-
cuted in a very tender and graceful manner. That he
might be enabled to peruse engineering works in French
and German, he prosecuted the study of those languages,
and with such success that he was shortly able to read
them with comparative ease. He occasionally occupied
himself in literary composition on subjects connected
with his profession. Thus he wrote for the Edinburgh
Encyclopedia, conducted by his friend Sir David (then
Dr.) Brewster, the elaborate and able articles on Archi-

CHAP. XIV.

HIS DOMESTIC HABITS.

487

lecture, Bridge-building, and Canal making. Besides
his contributions to that work, he advanced a consider-
able sum of money to aid in its publication, which
remained a debt due to his estate at the period of his
death.

Although occupied as a leading engineer for nearly
forty years — having certified contractors' bills during
that time amounting to many millions sterling — he
died in comparatively moderate circumstances. Eminent
constructive ability was not very highly remunerated in
Telford's time, and his average income did not amount
to more than is paid to the resident engineer of any
modern railway. But Telford's charges were perhaps
unusually low — so much so that a deputation of members
of the profession on one occasion formally expostulated
with him on the subject.

Although he could not be said to have an indifference
for money, he yet estimated it as a thing worth infinitely
less than character. His wants were few, and his house-
hold expenses small ; and though he entertained many
visitors and friends, it was in a quiet way and on a
moderate scale. The small regard he had for personal
dignity may be inferred from the fact, that to the last he
continued the practice, which he had learnt when a work-
ing mason, of darning his own stockings.1 But he had
nevertheless the highest idea of the dignity of his pro-
fession ; not, however, because of the money it would

1 Mr. Mitchell says : " He lived at
the rate of about 1200Z. a year. He
kept a carriage, but no horses, and
used his carriage principally for making
his journeys through the country on
business. I once accompanied him to
Bath and Cornwall, when he made
me keep an accurate journal of all I
saw. He used to lecture us on being
independent, even in little matters,
and not ask servants to do for us
what we might easily do for ourselves.
He carried in his pocket a small book
containing needles, thread, and but-

tons, and on an emergency was always
ready to put in a stitch. A curious
habit he had of mending his stock-
ings, which I suppose he acquired
when a working mason. He would
not permit his housekeeper to touch
them, but after his work at night,
about nine or half-past, he would go
upstairs, and take down a lot, and sit
mending them with great apparent
delight in his own room till bed-time.
I have frequently gone in to him with
some message, and found him occu-
pied with this work."

488

HIS REMUNERATION.

PAKT VIII.

produce, but of the great things it was calculated to
accomplish. In his most confidential letters we find him
often expatiating on the noble works he was engaged in
designing or constructing, and the national good likely
to flow from them, but never on the pecuniary advan-
tages he himself was to reap. He doubtless prized, and
prized highly, the reputation they would bring him ; and,
above all, there seemed to be uppermost in his mind,
especially in the earlier part of his career, whilst many
of his schoolfellows were still alive, the thought of
" What will they say of this in Eskdale ? " but as for
the money results to himself, Telford seemed, to the
close of his life, to regard them as of comparatively small
moment.

During the twenty-one years that he acted as principal
engineer for the Caledonian Canal, we find from the Par-
liamentary returns that the amount paid to him for his
reports, detailed plans, and superintendence, was exactly
237/. a-year. When he conceived the works to be of
great public importance, and promoted by public-spirited
persons at their own expense, he refused to receive any
payment for his labour, or even repayment of the ex-
penses incurred by him. Thus, while employed by the
Government in the improvement of the Highland roads,
he persuaded himself that he ought at the same time to
promote the similar patriotic objects of the British
Fisheries Society, which were carried out by voluntary
subscription ; and for many years he acted as their
engineer, refusing to accept any remuneration whatever
for his trouble.1

Mr. Telford held the sordid money-grubber in perfect
detestation. He was of opinion that the adulation paid

i "The British Fisheries Society,"
adds Mr. Rickman, " did not suffer
themselves to be entirely outdone in
liberality, and shortly before his
death they pressed upon Mr. Telford
a very handsome gift of plate, which,

being inscribed with expressions of
their thankfulness and gratitude to-
wards him, he could not possibly re-
fuse to accept." — * Life of Telford,' p.
283.

CHAP. XIV. HIS ESTIMATE OF MONEY. 489

to mere money was one of the greatest dangers with
which modern society was threatened. " I admire com-
mercial enterprise," he would say ; " it is the vigorous
outgrowth of our industrial life : I admire everything
that gives it free scope, as wherever it goes, activity,
energy, intelligence — all that we call civilization — ac-
company it ; but I hold that the aim and end of all ought
not to be a mere bag of money, but something far higher
and far better."

Writing once to his Langholm correspondent about
an old schoolfellow, who had grown rich by scraping,
Telford said : " Poor Bob L— - ! His industry and
sagacity were more than counterbalanced by his childish
vanity and silly avarice, which rendered his friendship
dangerous and his conversation tiresome. He was like
a man in London, whose lips, while walking by himself
along the streets, were constantly ejaculating < Money !
Money ! ' But peace to Bob's memory : I need scarcely
add, confusion to his thousands ! " He himself was most
careful in resisting the temptations to which men in his
position are frequently exposed ; but he was preserved
by his honest pride, not less than by the purity of his
character. He would not receive anything in the shape
of presents or testimonials from persons employed under
him as contractors ; for he would not have even the
shadow of an obligation stand in the way of performing
his rigid duty to those who employed him to watch over
and protect their interests.

Yet Telford was not without a proper regard for
money, as a means of conferring benefits on others, and
especially as a means of being independent. By the
close of his life he had accumulated as much as, invested
at interest, would bring him in about 800/. a-year, and
enable him to occupy the house in Abingdon Street
until he died. This was amply sufficient for his wants,
and more than enough for perfect independence. It
enabled him also to continue those secret acts of bene-

490 HIS BENEVOLENCE— ESKDALE. PART VIIT.

volence which constituted perhaps the most genuine
pleasure of his life. It is one of the most delightful
traits in this excellent man's career to find him so con-
stantly occupied in works of spontaneous charity, in
places so remote that it is impossible the slightest feeling
of ostentation could ever have sullied the purity of his
acts. Among the large mass of Telford's private letters
which have been submitted to us, we find constant refer-
ence to sums of money transmitted for the support of
poor people in his native valley. At new year's time he
regularly sent a remittance of from 30/. to 50/., to be
distributed by the kind Miss Malcolm of Burnfoot, and,
after her death, by Mr. Little, the postmaster at Lang-
holm ; and the contributions thus so kindly made did
much to fend off the winter's cold, and surround with
many small comforts those who most needed help, but
were perhaps too modest to ask it.

Many of those in the valley of the Esk had known of
Telford in his younger years as a poor barefooted boy ;
yet though become a man of distinction, he had too
much good sense to be ashamed of his humble origin ;
perhaps he even felt proud that, by dint of his own
valorous and persevering efforts, he had been able to rise
so much above it. Throughout his long life his heart
always warmed at the thought of Eskdale. He rejoiced
at the honourable rise of Eskdale men as reflecting
credit upon his " beloved valley." Thus, writing to his
Langholm correspondent, with reference to the honours
conferred on the different members of the family of
Malcolm, he said : " The distinctions so deservedly be-
stowed upon the Burnfoot family, establish a splendid
era in Eskdale ; and almost tempt your correspondent to
sport his Swedish honours, which that grateful country
has repeatedly, in spite of refusal, transmitted." It
might be said that there was narrowness and provin-

Letter to Mr. William Little, Langholm, 24th January, 1815.

CHAP. XIV. HIS BEQUESTS. 491

cialism in this ; but when young men are thrown into
the world, with all its temptations and snares, it is well
that the recollections of home and kindred should survive
to hold them in the path of rectitude, and cheer them in
their onward and upright course in life. And there is
no doubt that Telford was borne up on many occasions
by the thought of what the folks in the valley would say
about him and his progress in life, when they met toge-
ther at market, or at the Westerkirk church porch on
Sabbath mornings. In this light, provincialism or
local patriotism is a prolific source of good ; and may
be regarded as among the most valuable and beautiful
emanations of the parish life of our country. Although
Telford was honoured with the titles and orders of
merit conferred upon him by foreign monarchs, what he
esteemed beyond them all was the respect and gratitude
of his own countrymen ; and, not least, the honour
which his really noble and beneficent career was calcu-
lated to reflect upon " the folks of the nook," the remote
inhabitants of his " beloved Eskdale."

When the engineer proceeded to dispose of his savings
by will, which he did a few months before his death, the
distribution was a comparatively easy matter. The total
amount of his bequeathments was 16,600/. About one-
fourth of the whole he set apart for educational pur-
poses,— 2,000£. to the Civil Engineers' Institute, and
1,000£. each to the ministers of Langholm and Wester-
kirk, in trust for the parish libraries. The rest was
bequeathed, in sums of from 200/. to 500/., to different
persons who had acted as clerks, assistants, and sur-
veyors, in his various public works ; and to his intimate
personal friends. Amongst these latter were Colonel
Pasley, the nephew of his early benefactor ; Mr. Rick-
man, Mr. Milne, and Mr. Hope, his three executors ; and
Robert Southey and Thomas Campbell, the poets. To
both of these last the gift was most welcome. Southey
said of his : " Mr. Telford has most kindly and unex-

492 LIBRARIES IN ESKDALE. PART VIII.

pectedly left me 500Z., with a share of his residuary pro-
perty, which I am told will make it amount in all to 850/.
This is truly a godsend, and I am most grateful for it.
It gives me the comfortable knowledge that, if it should
please God soon to take me from this world, my family
would have resources fully sufficient for their support
till such time as their affairs could be put in order, and
the proceeds of my books, remains, &c., be rendered
available. I have never been anxious overmuch, nor
ever taken more thought for the morrow than it is the
duty of every one to take who has to earn his livelihood ;
but to be thus provided for at this time I feel to be an
especial blessing." l

Among the most valuable results of Telford's bequests
in his own district, was the establishment of the libraries
at Langholm and Westerkirk on a firmer foundation.
That at Westerkirk had been originally instituted in the
year 1792, by the miners employed to work an anti-
mony mine (since abandoned) on the farm of Glen-
dinning, within sight of the place where Telford was
born. On the dissolution of the mining company, in
1800, the little collection of books was removed to Kirk-
ton Hill ; but on receipt of Telford's bequest, a special
building was erected for their reception at New Burtpath,
near the village of Westerkirk. The annual income
derived from the Telford fund enabled additions of new
volumes to be made to it from time to time ; and its uses
as a public institution were thus greatly increased. The
books are exchanged once a month, on the day of the
full moon ; on which occasion readers of all ages and con-
ditions,— farmers, shepherds, -ploughmen, labourers, and
their children, — resort to it from far and near, taking
away with them as many volumes as they desire for the
month's reading.

1 ' Selections from the Letters of article which Southey wrote for the
Robert Southey,' vol. iv., p. 391. 'Quarterly' was his review of the
We may here mention that the last j ' Life of Telford.'

CHAP. XIV.

LIBRARIES IN ESKDALE.

493

Thus there is scarcely a cottage in the valley in which
good books are not to be found under perusal ; and we
are told that it is a common thing for the Eskdale
shepherd to take a book in his plaid to the hill-side—
a volume of Shakespeare, Prescott, or Macaulay — and
read it there, under the blue sky, with his sheep and
the green hills before him. And thus, as long as the
bequest lasts, the good, great engineer will not cease to
be remembered with gratitude in his beloved Eskdale.

.,

TELFORD'S NATIVE VALLEY, ESKDALE.
[By Percival Skelton ]

( 4U5 )

INDEX TO VOL. II.

ABERDEEN.

A.

ABERDEEN, — early history of, 400; ancient

bridges at, 103 ; Smeaton's harbour works

at, 70 ; Rennie's report on the harbour at,

205 ; Telford's harbour works at, 399.
ADAM, ROBERT, architect, 309, 312.
ADMIRALTY, Mr. Rennie and the, 238, 266,

268.
AGRICULTURE, — early Scotch, 94, 104, 107 ;

Lincolnshire, 153, 157, 164; Highland,

375, 388.

AIR-PUMP, Smeaton's improvements in, 12.
ALBION MILLS, 129, 134.
ANCHOR FORGE, Rennie's, at Woolwich, 265.
ANGLESEA, roads through, 434.
ANTON'S GOWT, Boston, 161.
AQUEDUCTS, — at Limpley Stoke, 145 ; Lune,

148 ; Chirk, 342 ; Pont-Cysylltau, 344.
ARBROATH, monks of, and Inchcape Rock,

223.
ARCH, — theory of equilibrium of, 171 ; arching

of Waterloo Bridge, 182; Southwark, 191.
ARCHITECTURE, Telford's study of, 305, 332.
AuimossAN CANAL, 418.
ARMSTRONG, JOHNNIE, Eskdale, 289.
ARTISANS OF BIRMINGHAM, 132.
AUSTHORPE LODGE, Leeds, Smeaton's house

at, 4, 74.

AXHOI.ME, Smeaton's drainage of Isle of, 52.
AYRSHIRE, state of, last century, 97.

B.

BALGOWNIE BRIG, Aberdeen, 103.
BANFF, — bridge, 2, 61 ; harbour, 398.
BANK OF ENGLAND note machinery, 265.
BANKS, Sir JOSEPH, and drainage works in

Lincolnshire, 155.

BARLEY MILLS introduced in Scotland, 105.
BATH, Telford's visit to, 333.
BEAULEY BRIDGE, 384.
BEDFORD LEVEL, drainage works, 166, 467.
BELL, Diving, — Smeaton's use of, 69 ; Rennie's

improvement of, 219.
BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE, — dangers of the

Inchcape Rock, 223 ; Captain Brodie's de-

BRINDLEY.

sign of a cast-iron lighthouse, 225 ; Mr.
Rennie consulted, ib. ; his design adopted,
227 ; the works begun, 228 ; Mr. Rennie's
visits of inspection, 230 ; the lighthouse
completed, 232 ; Mr. Stevenson's publica-
tion, 234.

BENTHAM, Sir SAMUEL, 208, 256.

BETTWS-Y-COED, iron bridge at, 438.

BEWDLEY BRIDGE, 366.

BIRMINGHAM, — its industry and artisans,
181 ; Telford's notice of, 334; canal, 423 ;
and Liverpool Junction Canal, 425.

BLACK, Dr., Edinburgh, 126.

BLACKMAIL,— Highland, 98 ; border, 289.

BLACKSTONE EDGE, Yorkshire, 147.

BLANKNEY FEN, Lincolnshire, 153.

BONAR BRIDGE, 387.

BORDER RAIDS, 288 ; improvements, 290.

BOSTON, — Rennie's plan for improvement of
Witham at, 164 ; bridge at, 176.

BOULTON and WATT, Soho, 129, 131.

BRADFORD TRADE, 1724, 5.

BREAKWATER, Plymouth, 92, 252.

BRECHIN, ancient bridge at, 103.

BRIDGENORTH, church built by Telford at,
331, 339.

BRIDGES, — Banff, 2, 61 ; Bristol, 53 ; London
(old), 53 ; Blackfriars, 54 ; Perth, 56 ;
Coldstream, 59 ; Hexham, 62 ; early Scotch,
102 ; Rennie's first bridge at Stevenhouse
Mill, 131 ; Kelso, 172 ; Musselburgh, 174 ;
Boston, 176; Waterloo, 178; Southwark,
187 ; New London, 268 ; Langholm, 302 ;
Montford, 331 ; Coalbrookdale, 356; Wear
Bridge, Sunderland, 358; Buildwas, 359;
Bewdley, 366 ; Tongueland, 368 ; Dunkeld,
380, 384 ; Beauley and Conan, ib. ; Craigel-
lachie, 385; Bonar, 387; Wick, 391;
Galton Bridge, Birmingham, 424 ; Cartland
Crags, Lanarkshire, 43 1 ; Pathhead, 433 ;
Morpeth, ib. ; Bettws-y-Coed, 438 ; Menai
(designs), 444 ; Runcorn (design), 447 ;
Telford's Menai Bridge, 449; Conway,
459; Tewkesbury, 464; Gloucester, ib. ;
Dean Bridge, Edinburgh, 465 ; Glasgow
Bridge, 286, 466.

BRIDGE-BUILDING, theory of, 170.

BRINDLEY and SMEATON, 3.

496

INDEX TO VOL. II.

BRISTOL.

BRISTOL, — old bridge, 53, 64 ; Telford's notice

of, 369.

BRITISH CHANNEL, lighting of, 46.
BRITISH FISHERIES SOCIETY, 204, 377, 392,

488.
BRODIE, Captain, proposed iron lighthouse on

the Bell Rock, 229.

BROTHERS OF THE BRIDGE, Scotland, 102.
BROOMIELAW, Glasgow,— Rennie's proposed

docks at, 206 ; Telford's bridge at, 466.
BROSELEY, iron bridge at, 356.
BROWNRIGG, General, and Mr. Rennie, 283.
BUCCLEUGH, Duke of, landlord in Eskdale,

289, 290, 299.

jiUDA-PESTH suspension bridge, 476.
BUILDWAS BRIDGE, 359.
BURGH SCHOOLS, Scotland, 122.
BURNS, ROBERT, Telford's verses on, 329,

353, 371.

0.

CAITHNESS, county of, in eighteenth centui y,
379.

CALDER, Smeaton's improvement of its navi-
gation, 51.

CALEDONIAN CANAL, 198, 409.

CAMPBELL, T., poet, Telford's intimacy with,
372, 484, 491.

CANALS, — Forth and Clyde, 57 ; Birmingham
and Worcester, 87 ; Kennet and Avon, 144 ;
Rochdale, 145 ; Lancaster, 148 ; Grand
Trunk, 149, 420 ; Royal Canal of Ireland,
150; Ellesmere, 340; Shrewsbury, 346 ;
Caledonian, 409 ; Glasgow and Ardrossan,
418; Weaver, z'6. ; Gotha, 419; Gloucester
and Berkeley, 421; Birmingham, 423;
Macclesfield, 424 ; Birmingham and Liver-
pool Junction, 425.

CANAL SHARES, rage for, 341.

CARLISLE and Glasgow Road, 427.

CARRON Iron Works, 61.

CARTLAND CRAGS BRIDGE, 431.

CARTMEL, Cumberland, 337.

CAS-CHROM, ancient agricultural implement,
375.

CATCHWATER drains, Rennie's system of, 159.

CENTERING, — Waterloo Bridge, 182; Tel-
ford's plan of suspended, 445.

CHAD'S, ST., Shrewsbury, fall of, 320.

CHAMBERS, Sir WILLIAM, architect, 309, 474.

CHARLESTON HARBOUR, Rennie's report on,
216.

CHATHAM DOCKYARD, 241 ; Rennie's plan of
improvement of Medway at, 250.

CHIRK AQUEDUCT, 342.

CIVIL ENGINEERS' INSTITUTE, 474, 480, 491.

CLACHNAGARRY, canal basin at, 413.

CLARK, Mr. TIERNEY, engineer, 477.

CLOTHING TRADE of Leeds, 5.

DRAINAGE.

CLYDE NAVIGATION, — Rennie's report on,

205; Telford on, 418 ; bridge at Broomie-

law and, 467.

COAST DEFENCES, Rennie's reports on, 235.
COALBROOKDALE, first iron bridge at, 356.
COCKBURN, Lord, — on Professor Robison, 127 ;

on Highland roads, 378.
COCKBURN, Mr., East Lothian agriculturist,

107.
COFFER-DAMS, — Water loo Bridge, 181 ; South-

wark Bridge, 188 ; Sheerness Docks, 249.

COLDSTREAM BRIDGE, 59.

COLQUHOUN, on the traffic of the Thames, 196.

CONAN BRIDGE, 384.

CONCENTRATION of dockyard work, Rennie's

report on, 239, 246.
CONWAY BRIDGE, 175, 459.
COPE, Sir JOHN, march to Edinburgh, 101.
CORPACH, canal basin at, 411.
COUNTRY-BRED BOYS, engineers, 292.
COVENANTERS, in Eskdale, 290.
CRAIG, Mr., Arbigland, 96.
CRAIGELLACHIE BRIDGE, 385.
CRAMOND BRIDGE, 177.
CROOKS, the, Eskdale, 295, 306.
CURRIE, Dr., Liverpool, 371, 484.

D.

DARL ASTON BRIDGE, 177.

DARWIN, Dr., Liverpool, 371.

DAVIDSON, MATTHEW, Telford's foreman, 347,
352, 414.

DEAN BRIDGE, Edinburgh, 465.

DEE, Pont-Cysylltau aqueduct over the, 344.

DEPTFORD DOCKYARD, 241, 250.

DERWENTWATER ESTATES, Smeaton receiver
for, 49.

DIVING BELL, Smeaton's employment of it at
Ramsgate Harbour, 69 ; its improvement
by Rennie, 218.

Dixox, Colonel, 377.

DOCKS, — on the Thames, 136, 197 ; West
India, 197; London, 198 ; East India, 202 ;
St. Katherine's, 462 ; Grimsby, 207 ; Hull,
213; Greenock, 214; Leith, 215 ; Aber-
deen, 403 ; Dundee, 408.

DOCKYARDS, Royal, — their machinery, 238 ;
Rennie's report on, 239 ; Plymouth, 240 ;
Portsmouth, ib. ; Deptford, 241 ; Wool-
wich, t&. ; Sheerness, 242 ; Chatham, 250.

DODD'S design of Strand Bridge, 178.

DOUGLAS, JAMES, inventor and projector, 362.

DOWNS, proposed harbour of refuge in, 65.

DOVER HARBOUR, 64, 480.

DRAGON-SLAYER, Rennie the greatest, 169.

DRAINAGE, works of, Smeaton's, 50 ; Moikle's,
Kincardine Moss, 1 1 5 ; Rennie's, in Lincoln
Fens, 152, 166; Telford's, in North Level,
467.

INDEX TO VOL. II.

497

DREDGING.

DREDGING-MACHINE, improvement by Rennie,

214.

DISOWNED lands in the Fens, 153, 167, 468.
DUMFRIES, in eighteenth century, 98.
Drxp.AR Grammar School, Rennie at, 122.
DUNDEE HARBOUR, 407.
DUNKELD BRIDGE, 380, 384.

E.

EAST FEN, Lincoln, drainage by Rennie, 153.

EAST INDIA DOCKS, 202.

EAST LOTHIAN, notices of, 94, 97, 101, 108.

EAU BRINK CUT, 166.

EDINBURGH, — Water supply, 57 ; consump-
tion of butcher's meat, eighteenth century,
97 ; Edinburgh and Glasgow caravan, 101 ;
University professors, 121 ; building of
New Town, 305 ; Dean Bridge, 465.

EDUCATION of early engineers, 141.

EDUCATION, Scotch, 121.

EDDYSTONE, — dangers of the rock, 15; Win-
stanley's lighthouse, 18 ; Rudyerd's, 21 ;
Smeaton's, 26 ; the works begun, 34 ; light-
house completed, 44 ; Smeaton's narrative,
82.

EIL, Loch, Caledonian Canal, 411.

ELLESMERE CANAL, — Telford appointed engi-
neer, 334 ; description of the route, 340 ;
construction of the works, 342.

ELLIOTS, Borderers, 289.

EMIGRATION, Highland, 376.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Robison's arti-
cles in, 170.

ENGINEERING works of Holland, Smeaton's
inspection of, 14.

ENGINEERS, first club of, 79.

ENGINEERS, Institute of Civil, 474,480,491.

ESK, river, Dumfriesshire, 287.

ESKDALE, — description of, 287; early inha-
bitants, 288 ; modern, 290 ; farmers' houses
in, 299; Telford's poem on, 304, 329;
Telford revisits, 351 ; Libraries in, 492.

EYEMOUTH HARBOUR, 71.

F.

FANNERS introduced into Scotland, 105.
FELONS at Shrewsbury managed by Telford,

323.

FEN scenery, characteristics of, 169.
FENS,— Smeaton's drainage of, 51 ; Rennie's,

152 ; Telford's, 468.
FERRIES, Highland, 378, 385.
FIDLER'S BURN BRIDGE, 431.
FINANCIAL issues of engineering undertakings,

417.

FINDHORN RIVER, its sudden floods, 386.
FISHERIES SOCIETY, British, 204, 377, 392.

VOL. II.

HARRISON.

FLETCHER of Saltoun, 95 ; introduces barley

mills in Scotland, 105.
FOCHABERS, ferry at, 385.
FOLKESTONE HARBOUR, 391.
FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL, 57.
FOSSDYKE, Smeaton's drainage, 52 ; Wash

Bridge, 177.
FOUNDATIONS of Bridges, — Smeaton's, 55, 57,

63; Rennie's, 181, 188.
FRAZERBURGH HARBOUR, 397.
FRENCH REVOLUTION, Telford influenced by,

326.
FULTON, — his Torpedo, 237 ; Rennie's opinion

of, ib.

G.

GALTON BRIDGE, Birmingham Canal, 424.

GAOL at Shrewsbury, Telford rebuilds, 316.

GERMAN'S BRIDGE, 167.

GIBB, Mr. J., Engineer, 404.

GILNOCKIE TOWER, 289, 351.

GLASGOW, — early communication with Edin-
burgh by coach, 100; old bridge at, 103;
Rennie's proposed docks at, 205 ; Telford's
Bridge at, 466.

GLASGOW AND ARDROSSAN CANAL, 41 8.

GLASGOW and Carlisle road, 427.

GLENDINNING sheep farm, Eskdale, 292.

GLOUCESTER, — canal, 420 ; bridge, 464.

GOTHA CANAL, Sweden, 419.

GRAEMES, the border, 289.

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, Scotland, 122.

GRAND CANAL OF IRELAND, 150.

GRAND TRUNK CANAL, 149, 420.

GREAT Glen of Scotland, 375, 409.

GREAT Level of the Fens, — Rennie's drainage
of, 166 ; Telford's drainage of North -Level,
467.

GREENLAND FISHERY, Peterhead, 393.

GREENOCK quays and docks, 214.

GRIMSBY Harbour and docks, 207.

H.

HADDINGTON, 93, 100.

HALL, Captain BASIL, on the dangers of the
Bell Rock, 224.

HARBOUR construction, Rennie's principles of,
216.

HARBOURS,— St. Ives, 63: Ramsgate, 65;
Aberdeen, 70, 205; Eyemouth, 71 ; Wick,
204, 390; Holyhead, 208; Howth and
Kingstown, 213; Charleston, 216 ; Folke-
stone, 391 ; Peterhead, 393 ; Frazerburgh,
397 ; Banff, 398 ; Aberdeen, 399 ; Dundee,
407.

HARECASTLE TUNNEL, 420.

HARRISON, JOHN, Leeds, 7.

2 K

498

INDEX TO VOL. II.

HIGHLANDS.

HIGHLANDS and Lowlands, feuds between, 9«.
HIGHLAND roads and bridges, 375 ; moral

results of Telford's Highland contracts, 389 ;

Highland harbours, 391.
HOBHOLE DRAIN, Lincolnshire, 162.
HOE at Plymouth, Smeaton on the, 42.
HOLLOW walls, Kennie's invention of, for sea

works, 207.

HOLMES, Mr., Smeaton's partner, 7.
HOLYHEAD, — harbour, 208 ; roads to, 434.
HORSE-LOAD, Smeaton's account of the, 5.
HOUSTON MILL, East Lothian, 107.
HOWARD, JOHN, philanthropist, visit to

Shrewsbury, 317.
HOWTH HARBOUR, 213.
HUDDART, Captain, Memoir of, 265.
HULL DOCKS, 213.
HUTCHESON BRIDGE, Glasgow, 208.
HYTHE MILITARY CANAL, 236.

I.

IMPLEMENTS of husbandry, early Scotch, 104,

375.
INDOLENCE of Scotch in eighteenth century,

95.

INDIA DOCKS,— West, 197 ; East, 202.
INLAND NAVIGATION. (See Canals.}
INVERNESS, road communications, 379, 388.
IRELAND, — transit to, by Holyhead, 208,

434; canals in, 150, 370.
IRON BRIDGES, — Rennie's, 175, 176, 187;

Telford's, 346, 359, 361, 387, 445, 452.
IRON MANUFACTURE, 337, 355.
IRON-WORK, — Smeaton and Murdock's use of

iron in mill work, 138 ; Kennie's, 139 ; in

roofing, 203 ; Telford's, in canal aqueducts

and locks, 346, 359, 361.
IRON VESSEL, the first constructed, 337.
ISLEWORTH BRIDGE, 177.
IVES, ST., Harbour, 63.

.1.

JACKSON family,— Janet, Telford's mother,

294, 315, 325, 350; Thomas, Telford's

cousin, 298, 307.

JAMES V. and Johnnie Armstrong, 289.
JESSOP, JOSIAS, engineer, 30, 34.
JESSOP, WILLIAM, engineer, — notices of, 30,

65, 178, 342, 347 ; brief memoir of, 197.
JOHNSTONE family, of Westerhall, 289, 307,

312, 320.
JORDAN, Mrs., Telford's notice of, 324.

K.

KAIMES, Lord, 95, 104, 115.
KATHERINE'S DOCKS, ST., 462.

LOSTWITHIEL.

KELSO BRIDGE, 172.

KEN BRIDGE, New Galloway, 177.

KENNET AND AVON CANAL, 144.

KINCARDINE Moss, drained by Meikle's ma-
chinery, 115.

KINCARDINE O'NEILL, ancient bridge at, 103.

KING'S LYNN, 167.

KINGSTOWN HARBOUR, 213.

KINLOCH, Mr., his improvements of the
thrashing machine, 110.

KiNNEiL HOUSE, Boroughsto'ness, 61.

KIRKCUDBRIGHT, in eighteenth century, 97.

L.

LANG, OLIVER, first steam boat for royal navy
constructed by, 267.

LANCASTER CANAL, 148.

LANGHOLM, Eskdale, 287, 299, 301, 328,
351, 491.

LATHE, Smeaton's Turning, 77.

LEA, river, Rennie's plans for defence of
London, 235.

LEEDS, — in 1724, 4 ; grammar school, 7 ;
Wellington Bridge, 177.

LEGGING Harecastle Tunnel, 421.

LEITH Harbour and docks, 215. ^

LEVEL, Bedford, — Rennie's reports on, 166;
Telford's drainage of North, 467.

LEWIS, invention of the, 22.

LIGHTHOUSES, — Winstanley's on the Eddy-
stone, 16; Rudyerd's, 21; Smeaton's, 26;
on Spurn Point, 72 ; on the Scotch coasts,
224; on the Bell Rock, 225.

LIGHTING of the English Channel, 46.

LIGHTNING, Smeaton's protection of the Eddy-
stone Lighthouse against, 37.

LIMPLEY STOKE AQUEDUCT, 145.

LINCOLN Fens drained by Rennie, 152.

LINTON, East, 93, 119.

LITTLE FAMILY, Eskdale, 297, 328, 490.

LlTTLEBOROUGH TUNNEL, 146.

LIVERPOOL,— Rennie's docks at, 204, 215;
Telford's notice of, 369 ; Mersey job at, 477.

LLANGOLLEN, canal works in vale of, 342.

LOCH, Mr., Inspector of Fisheries, his notice of
Rennie as a scholar, 123.

LOCHS, Caledonian Canal, 411.

LOCKS, — Rochdale Canal, 146 ; London Docks,
200; Ellesmere Canal, 361; Caledonian
Canal, 414.

LONDON, — Old Bridge, Smeaton's improve-
ments on, 53 ; London in 1785, 134 ; docks,
136 ; commerce of the port of, 195 ; flast
and West India Docks, 197; Waterloo
Bridge, 178 ; Southwark Bridge, 187 ;
New London Bridge, 268; Telford's pro-
posed one-arched bridge at, 361.

LOSTWITHIEL CHURCH spire struck by light-
ning, Smeaton's paper on, 37.

INDEX TO VOL. II.

499

LOTHIANS, farming in, 94, 107.

Louis XIV.— anecdote of, and the Eddystone

Lighthouse, 23.
LOVET, Captain, lessee of Eddystone Lighthouse,

21, 26.

LUCKNOW BRIDGE, 177.
LUGWY, North Wales, road near, 439.
LUXE AQUEDUCT, 148.
LYONS, first iron bridge projected at, 355.

M.

MACADAM, Mr., Roadmaker, 430.
MACCLESFIELD, Earl of, 26.
MACCLESFIELD CANAL, 420.
MACHINERY,— of Albion Mills, 137 ; of royal

dockyards, 238.

MALCOLM FAMILY, Eskdale, 287, 296, 482,
490.

MAPS,— Smeaton's native district, 4 ; coast of
Devon and Cornwall, 15 ; Rennie's native
district, 93 ; Lincolnshire Fen district, 155 ;
Eau Brink Cut, 168 ; London and St.
Katherine Docks, 199 ; East and West India
Docks, 203; Holyhead Harbour, 210 ; pro-
posed Royal Docks at Northfleet, 244;
Sheerness Docks, 247 ; proposed Medway
improvement, 250 ; Plymouth Sound, 253 ;
Telford's native district, 288 ; Ellesmere
Canal, 340 ; Telford's Highland roads, 382 ;
Peterhead Harbour, 395 ; Banff Harbour,
398; Aberdeen Harbour, 404; Dundee
Harbour, 406 ; Caledonian Canal, 412 ;
Menai Straits, 444.

MARINER'S Compass, Smeaton's improvements
of, 12.

MARYKIRK, ancient bridge at, 103.

MAUD FOSTER DRAIN, Boston, 161.

MKCIIANICAL work, in Scotland, early state of,
104, 128.

MECHANICAL EDUCATION, advantages of, 122,
281, 330, 483.

MEDWAY improvement, Rennie's plan of, 250.

MEGGAT, valley of the, Eskdale, 292, 306.

MEIKLE, JAMES, millwright, 105.

MEIKLE, ANDREW, — miller at Houston Mill,
106 ; skill as a millwright, 109 ; takes out
patent for dressing grain, 109 ; invents the
thrashing machine, 111 ; improvements in
the sails of windmills, 114; his machinery
employed to drain Kincardine Moss, 115;
his odd mechanical contrivances, 116; his
death, 117.

MELVILLE, Lord, 257, 267.

MKXAI STRAITS, — Rennie's design of a cast-
iron bridge across, 175 ; Telford's design,
445 ; construction of the Suspension Bridge,
448.

MiCKLE, translator of " Lusiad," 304.

MILITARY CANAL, Hythe, 236.

PATHHEAD.

MILLS, —erected by Smeaton, 73 ; Houston
Mill, 107 ; Invergowrie, 125 ; Bonningtou,
ib. ; Albion, 129, 134; mills erected and
repaired by Rennie, 139 ; Rotherhithe, 235;
powder mills, Waltham, 237.

MINT MACHINERY, Rennie's, 139.

MONEY, — scarcity of, prevents improvements,
50, 59, 96, 172 ; Smeaton's estimate of,
80 ; Rennie's, 283 ; Telford's, 487.

MOORINGS for Royal navy, Rennie's, 238.

MORPETH BRIDGE, 433.

MUSSELBURGH BRIDGE, 174.

N.

NANT FFRANCON, North Wales, road near,

440.
NAPOLEON'S opinion of Plymouth Breakwater,

258.
NAVY, Royal, — dockyards, 238 ; steam power

introduced in, 267.

NENE RIVER, — Smeaton's report on improve-
ment of, 52 ; new outfall constructed, 468.
NEPTUNE'S STAIRCASE, Caledonian Canal, 412.
NEUILLY, Peyronnet's bridge of, 178.
NEW GALLOWAY BRIDGE, 177.
NEW LONDON BRIDGE, 268.
NEWTON STEWART BRIDGE, 177.
NICHOLSON, PETER, pupil of Andrew Meikle,

117.

NITH, river, Dumfries, Smeaton's report, 50.
NORE, light at the, 48.
NORTHFLEET DOCKS, Rennie's plan of, 243.
NORTH LEVEL, — Smeaton's report on drainage

of, 52; Rennie's report, 165; Telford's

drainage of, 467.

o.

ORKHILL on the Spey, ancient bridge at, 103.
OUSE, river, Rennie's improvement of outfall,

167.
OUTFALLS, — Rennie's drainage by improved,

159 ; Eau Brink, 167 ; Nene, 468.
OWEN, ROBERT, on state of the Glasgow roads,

428.
OXFORD, Telford's visit to, 333.

P.

PACK-HORSES, carriage by, 5, 99.

PAINE, THOMAS,— " Rights of Man," 326;

his iron bridge, 357.
PAISLEY CANAL, 418.
PALMER'S mail-coaches, 135.
PARNELL, Sir H., and Welsh roads, 437.
PASLEY, family of, 297, 300, 308.
PATHHEAD BRIDGE, 433.

2 K 2

500

INDEX TO VOL. II.

PEDEN, " prophet," in Eskdale, 290.

PERRY'S DOCK, Blackwall, 136.

PERTH, — new bridge, 56 ; ancient bridge at,

103.

PESTH SUSPENSION BRIDGE, 476.
PETERHEAD HARBOUR, 393.
PHANTASSIE, Rennie's birthplace at, 93, 101.
PICKERNELL, Mr., resident engineer, Hexham

Bridge, 62.
PLANS. (See Maps.}
PLAYFAIR, Professor, his views on arches of

iron, 365.

PLYMOUTH, 15, 31, 36; Hoe at, 41 ; dock-
yard, 240 ; breakwater, 92, 252.
POLISH roads, Telford's, 476.
PONT-CYSYLLTAU AQUEDUCT, 344.
PONT-Y-PRYDD, Rennie's notice of, 178.
PORTSMOUTH, — Rennie's report on dockyard,

240; Telford employed at, 312.
POST-OFFICE, 135, 432, 435.
PRESTONKIRK, East Lothian, 93, 117, 121.
PRESTONPANS, field of, 108.
PRITCHARD, Mr., architect of first iron bridge,

358.
PROVIS, Mr., resident engineer of Menai

Bridge, 234, 450.
PULTENEY, Sir WILLIAM, 312, 316, 323,

328, 335, 377.
PUMPING machinery, Smeaton's, 56, 72.

Q.

QUARANTINE establishment in the Medway,

238.
QUEENSBERRY, Duchess of, and Smeaton, 83.

K.

RAILROADS, — used by Rennie to carry on his
works, 150, 203 ; Croydon and Merstham,
198 ; Telford and railroads, 425, 478.

RALPH THE ROVER, Southey's ballad, 223.

RAMSGATE HARBOUR, — constructed by Smea-
ton, 65 ; repaired by Rennie, 218.

RENNIE, family of, 93, 112, 118.

RENNIE, JOHN, — birth and parentage, 93;
education, 119; apprenticeship, 122; begins
business as millwright, 125 ; student at
Edinburgh University, 126 ; tour in Eng-
land, 128; his first bridge, 131; erects
machinery of Albion Mills, 136 ; mechanical
engineer in London, 141 ; constructs Kennet
and Avon Canal, 144 ; Rochdale Canal,
145 ; Lancaster and other canals, 148 ;
drainage of Lincoln Fens, 152 ; Kelso Bridge,
172; Musselburgh Bridge, 174; Boston
Bridge, 176 ; bridges at Newton Stewart,
&c., 177; Waterloo Bridge, 178; South-
wark Bridge, 187; London Docks, 197;

SCOTTS.

East India Docks, 202 ; report on improve-
ment of Clyde, 206 4 hollow walls, Grimsby
Docks, 207; Holyhead Harbour, 208;
Howth and Kingstown Harbours, 213 ;
Hull Docks, and improvement of dredging
machine, 213 ; Greenock Quays and Docks,
214; report on Southampton, 215; Leith
Docks, 215 ; Charleston Harbour, and prin-
ciples of harbour construction, 216 ; Rams-
gate Harbour, and improvement of diving-
bell, 219; Bell Rock Lighthouse, 223; re-
ports on coast defences, and works, 235 ;
report on Royal dockyards, 238 ; grand plan
of Northfleet Docks, 243 ; Sheerness Dock-
yard works, 246 ; Plymouth Breakwater,
253 ; design of New London Bridge, 268 ;
foreign tour, 274 ; death and character,
277.

REXXIE, Sir JOHN, — drainage works by,
165 ; finishes Plymouth Breakwater, 262 ;
constructs New London Bridge, 272.

REVESBY, Sir J. Banks's mansion at, 155.

REYNOLDS, Mr., Coalbrookdale, 356.

ROADS, — in England, 49 ; in Scotland, 99,
101 ; general construction of turnpike roads,
135 ; Mr. Rennie's system of constructing,
185; Highland, 375, 378; Glasgow and
Carlisle, 427 ; Telford's system of construct-
ing, 429 ; Macadam's, 430 ; London and
Edinburgh, 432 ; Welsh, 434 ; Shrewsbury
and Holyhead, 436 ; London and Shrews-
bury, 441 ; Telford's Polish roads, 476.

ROBISON, Professor, Edinburgh, 126, 137, 170.

ROCHDALE CANAL, 145.

ROEBUCK, Dr., Carron Works, 60.

ROMILLY, Sir Samuel, on Scotch progress, 374.

ROYAL DOCKYARDS. (See Dockyards.}

ROYAL CANAL of Ireland, 150.

ROYAL NAVY, introduction of steam power
in, 267.

ROYAL SOCIETY, Smeaton and, 11, 20, 37,
75.

RUDYERD, JOHN, — his lighthouse on the
Eddystone, 21.

RUNCORN, Telford's proposed suspension
bridge at, 446.

S.

ST. KATHERINE'S DOCKS, 462.

SALOPIAN COFFEE-HOUSE, 473.

SCHOOLS, — Scotch parochial, 121 ; burgh or

grammar, 122.
SCOTLAND, — state of, in eighteenth centuiy,

94; ancient bridges in, 102; parish schools

of, 121; grammar schools, 122; progress

of, 374.

SCOTTISH BORDERERS, 288.
SCOTTS, the Border, 289.

INDEX TO VOL. IT.

501

SELF-EDUCATION of early engineers — Smea-
ton's, 8, 13; Rennie's, 126, 141; Telford's,
314, 486.

SELKIRK common carrier, 100.

SHEERNESS DOCKYARD, 242 ; its re-construc-
tion by Rennie, 246.

SHEET-PILING, description of, 60.

SHIPPING of the Thames, 136, 195.

SHREWSBURY, — castle, 316,329; Shrewsbury
and Holyhead road, 436 ; and London, 441.

SKIRVING, ARCHIBALD, portrait painter, me-
moir of, 278.

SLAVE-TRADE of Aberdeen, eighteenth cen-
tury, 401.

SLUICES, in drainage of Lincoln Fens, 159.

SMEATON, JOHN, — birth and education, 3 ;
placed in a solicitor's office, 1 0 ; learns the
trade of mathematical instrument maker,
11 ; makes improvements in mechanics, 12 ;
receives the Royal Society's Gold Medal, ib. ;
tour in Holland, 1 3 ; employed to rebuild
the Eddystone Lighthouse, 26 ; his design,
29 ; visits the rock, 31 ; his model, 33 ; the
works begun, 34 ; is nearly shipwrecked,
35 ; his courage, 39 ; completion of the
building, 43 ; extensively employed as a
civil engineer, 49 ; in Fen drainage, 51 ;
repairs London Bridge, 53 ; his pumping
engines, 56 ; builds a bridge at Perth, 56 ;
constructs Forth and Clyde Canal, 57 ;
bridge at Coldstream, 59 ; improvements at
Carron works, 6 1 ; bridge at Banff, ib. ;
Hexham Bridge, its failure, 62; St. Ives
Harbour, 63 ; Ramsgate Harbour, 65 ; Eye-
mouth Harbour, 71; his machinery, 72;
improves the steam-engine, 73 ; private life,
habits, and character, 74.

SMOLLETT'S journey to London, 100.

SOMERSET HOUSE,— its river front, 179;
Telford works as a mason at, 309.

SOUTHAMPTON HARBOUR, Rennie's report on,
215.

SOUTHEY and Telford, 427, 484, 491.

SOUTHWARK IRON BRIDGE, 187.

SPEY, river, — ancient bridge over, 103 ; floods,
386 ; Craigellachie bridge over, 387.

STANGATE CREEK, quarantine establishment
at, 238.

STANHOPE, Earl, his mechanical ingenuity, 142.

STEAM-ENGINE, — Smeaton's improvements of,
73 ; Watt's engine applied to driving ma-
chinery, 129, 137 ; used in navigation, 143 ;
introduced in Royal navy, 267.

STEIN, Mr., Kilbeggie, orders the first thrash-
ing machine, 112.

STEPHENSON, ROBERT, his estimate of Smea-
ton, 86.

STEVENHOUSE MILL BRIDGE, 131.

STEVENSON, Mr., resident engineer of Bell
Rock Lighthouse, 225, 229, 232.

STIRLING, ancient bridge at, 103.

VOL. II.

TRADE.

SUNDERLAND, iron bridge over the Wear at,
358.

SUSPENDED CENTERING, Telford's plan of,
445.

SUSPENSION BRIDGES, 446.

SUTHERLAND, county of, in eighteenth cen-
tury, 379.

SWEDEN, King of, confers knighthood on Tel-
ford, 419.

SZ^CHENYI, Count, his interview with Telford,
476.

T.

TELFORD, THOMAS,— his native district, 287 ;
birthplace in Eskdale, 292 ; his boyhood,
295 ; school education, 296 ; apprenticed to
a stone-mason, 298 ; journeyman, 301 ;
writes poetry, 304; mason at Edinburgh,
305 ; rides to London, 307 ; mason at Somer-
set House, 308 ; foreman of masonry at
Portsmouth, 312 ; his studies, 314; prints
letters to his mother, 315 ; surveyor to
county of Salop, 316 ; habits and studies,
318; his dutifulness as a son, 325; his
politics, 326 ; appointed engineer of Elles-
mere Canal, 334 ; construction of the works,
340 ; re-visits Eskdale, 350 ; tour in Wales,
352 ; his poetry, 353 ; builds an iron bridge
at Buildwas, 359 ; proposes a one-arch iron
bridge over the Thames, 361 ; erects Bewd-
ley Bridge, 366 ; Tongueland Bridge, 368 ;
Highland roads and bridges, 374 ; Scotch
harbours, 390; Caledonian Canal, 409;
Gotha Canal, 419 ; Harecastle Tunnel, 420 ;
constructs roads in England, Scotland, and
Wales, 427 ; bridge over Menai Strait and
river Con way, 444 ; St. Katherine's Docks,
462 ; Tewkesbury and Gloucester bridges,
464 ; Dean Bridge, Edinburgh, 465 ; Glas-
gow Bridge, 466 ; drainage of the North
Level of the Fens, 467 ; Telford's residence
in London, 473 ; President of Institute of
Civil Engineers, 474; decline of health,
479 ; death, 480 ; character, 481.

TELFORD, WILLIAM, Surgeon, 296, 320.

TEMPLE NEWSAM, Leeds, 6 ; Smeaton's
pumping engine at, 72 ; gates of, hung by
Smeaton, 77.

TEWKESBURY BRIDGE, 464.

THAMES SHIPPING, 136, 195.

THEORY, applied to bridge building, 170.

THOMSON, ANDREW (Telford's master), mason,
Langholm, 298, 302.

THRASHING MACHINE, Meikle's invention of,
109.

TODMORDEN, canal works near, 146.

TONGUELAND BRIDGE, 368.

TORBAY HARBOUR, 207.

TRADE,— of London, 136, 195 ; Glasgow, 205,
467.

2 L

502

INDEX TO VOL. II.

TRAVELLING.

TRAVELLING, — in Scotland, 100 ; in England,

135, 427 ; in Wales, 434.
TURNPIKE ROADS, 101, 135, 427.
TYNE, RIVER, East Lothian, 93, 120.

U.

UNION of Scotland with England, 95.
URICONIUM, Roman city of, 322.

V.

VIRGINIA WATER, Ronnie's bridge over, 177.

W.

WAGES of workmen, 57, 96, 327.

WALES, roads in, 434.

WAINFLEET drainage, Lincolnshire, 154, 163,

166.

WALDERSEA DRAINAGE, Lincolnshire, 154.
WALLS, hollow, — employed by Rennie in sea

works, 208 ; by Telford in bridge piers, 344,

347, 369, 451.

WALTHAM POWDER MILLS, 237.
WASH, drainage of lands adjoining the, 165,

468.
WATER AND WIND, Smeaton's paper on power

of, to turn mills, 12.
WATER supply of towns, — Rennie's reports,

264 ; Telford's, 369, 476.
WATERLOO BRIDGE, 178.
WATT, JAMES, — survey of canal between

Forth and Clyde, 59 ; intimacy with

Smeaton, 79 ; Rennie's visit to, at Soho,

129 ; report on improvement of Clyde, 206 ;

Telford's notices of, 371, 410.
WEAR IRON BRIDGE, Sunderland, 358.
WEAVER NAVIGATION, 418.
WELLINGTON BRIDGE, Leeds, 177.

WEST FEN,: — Smeaton employed to drain, 51 ;
its drainage by Rennie, 152.

WEST INDIA DOCKS, 197.

WESTERKIRK, Eskdale, 291 ; school, 296 ;
manse, 303 ; library, 492.

WESTON, Mr., lessee of Eddystone Lighthouse,
26.

WHARVES, dock, 197, 463.

WHIDBEY, Mr., 254, 257, 276.

WHITKIRK, Leeds, Smeaton's parish church, 4,
9 ; his. burial place at, 90.

WICK HARBOUR, — Rennie's report on, 204 ;
Telford's improvements of, 390.

WIGTON, Earl of, his fear of the effects of the
Union, 95.

WILDMORE FEN, — Smeaton employed to drain,
51 ; drainage by Rennie, 152.

WILKINSON, JOHN, ironmaster, 337, 356.

WILLIAMSON, PETER, the Aberdeen slave, 401 .

WINNOWING MACHINE introduced into Scot-
land, 105.

WINSTANLEY, HENRY,— his eccentricities, 16 ;
his waterworks, 1 7 ; his lighthouse on the
Eddystone, 18 ; his death, 19.

WISBEACH, drainage works near, 468.

WITHAM, RIVER, — Smeaton employed to im-
prove, 51 ; Rennie's drainage of lands ad-
joining the, 153.

WOOLWICH DOCKYARD, — Rennie's improve-
ments of, 241 ; report on, ib. ; anchor forge
at, 265.

WORKMEN, Telford's views as to, 310.

WROXETER, discovery of Roman city near,
322.

Y.

YNYS-Y-MOCH, bridge at, Menai Straits, 449.
YORK BUILDINGS WATERWORKS, Rennie's

report on, 264.
YOUNG, ARTHUR, — his description of drowned

lands in the Fens, 154, 156.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STKKET,
AND CHARING CROSS.

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