IS 1 6.] Expediency of Building an 



T« the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



(HE melancholy aiiH unparalleled 

 catastrophe whic!) lately occurred 

 at Rochester-bridge, occasioned hy its 

 unscientific construction, of fourteen 

 persons iKiving lost their lives in passing 

 «nderneatb it, although attended by a 

 sohcr and skilful waterman, has given 

 tise to the following reflections: — viz. 

 the bridge at Rochester is almost a fac- 

 simile of the old bridge of London, 

 ■which, as well as the former, has caused 

 the loss of many lives ; and those who 

 are equally informed on this subject 

 know, with us, tliat it also stands on 

 ■wooden sterlings, like the disgraceful 

 Jiilc of London-bridge ; m ilh an almost 

 cqrtal fall of water during ebb-tide, so 

 injurious to the navigation of the river. 

 The approach to the bad and imperfect 

 bridge of Rochester, not presenting a 

 straight line as the roads do, renders it 

 necessary to go up the river bank, and 

 down again, before you can cross it. 

 The bridge, in fact, is not durable, on 

 account of the river-worms, so common 

 in tlie Medway, eating the wooden 

 sterlings it stands on; and how the bridge- 

 wardens could think of repairing it, in- 

 stead of building a new one, in the 

 straight line that it ought to be, I can- 

 not conceive. Had they done the latter, 

 and left a sufficient water-way, without, 

 as at present, stopping it up with wooden 

 sterlings, and so preventing the tide flow- 

 ing up, they would have saved the ex- 

 pence of building the river-lock above 

 it, as the tide would have flowed freely 

 up, beyond Maidstone, of a suflTicient 

 Height, and thus have saved the taxation 

 of the trade to that town, arising from 

 goods in craft passing u|) and down the 

 lock. The principal consideration, how- 

 ever, now is, how a new bridge is to be 

 procured, for this ancient city of Ro- 

 cliestcr, and high road to the Continent ; 

 and, of course, to suffer the old one to 

 stand until the new one is built. Also, 

 what sort of a bridge it ought to be ? 

 liow it is to be paid for? and whether it 

 Would be most advisable to have it erect- 

 ed of stone or iron? I must confess that, 

 on this subject, I should like to have 

 the opinion of the ingenious Mr. Dodd, 

 ■whose taste, elegancd, and judgment in 

 bridges, surpasses, in my opini(Mi, all his 

 competitors. My opinion i> grounded 

 on what he has done for the Select Com- 

 mittee of the Ifouse of Commons in that 

 fiirperb work, their Report on Loiidon- 

 bfid;;e, elucidated by those beautiful eu- 



h-on Bridge at Rochester. 301 

 gravings found therein; and a late gi- 

 gantic design of bis, for an iron-bridge t» 

 cross the pool, for ships to pass under- 

 neath. Also, liis two other bi idges, just 

 tinished, lot the metropolis; jiarticularly 

 tliatofthcStrand,(nowcidled Waterloo,) 

 which will hand down his name to pos- 

 terity, as it is to him wo are indebted for 

 the plan and design, and not to the en- 

 gineer who has been employed to loolc 

 alter the contractors. Whatever devia- 

 tion has been made from the original 

 plan ill the landing-stairs on each shore, 

 in my opinion, only evinces bad taste iii 

 those who adopted it. 



But the price of stone bridges, in the 

 present day, if we are to judge from 

 what I am informed this will cost (up- 

 wards of one million), is aiarniing to 

 think of, es|)ecially if the maiiagcnient 

 tlicrcuf is left to those that apparently 

 care nothing about the expenditure of 

 money, tiie saving of which, in public 

 works, is, in my opinion, of the llrst im- 

 portance ; as is also the ingeiuiity of the 

 engineer or architect cmployeu. I'or, 

 certainly, where economy is considciccl 

 of no iinporlance, any weak-minded 

 man, or pcrsou of small talents, may 

 carry on any public work, particularly 

 if he has for his guide and dircciion the 

 plans produced by a man of experience 

 and ability. As the bridge at Rochesltr 

 has estates belonging to it, 1 imagine 

 that that revenue, witii a small toll^ 

 would soon clear the cxpence of a new 

 one, particularly if built of iron, and it 

 might remain a free bridge, as it is at 

 present. 1 understand the new principlo 

 upon which those iron bridges are con- 

 structed is executed at nearly one-third 

 of the cxpence of stone, and in inucli 

 less time, and also without the use of 

 centres, or obstructing the navigation 

 while building. 1 am informed that Mr. 

 Dodd, the engineer and artist alluded to, 

 is at present executing an iron bridge, 

 for one of our West-India islands, on 

 the principles of tenacity, of more than 

 one hundred feet span, that will not cost 

 more than 2,000/. Surely, if this bo cor- 

 rect, he oiigiit to make the world ac- 

 quainted with it, as iu this case they 

 Mould be cheaper even than wooden 

 bridges, and, unquestionably', of much 

 more durability. 



'i'here arc; two things to be guarded 

 against in iron bridges; — first, as mucU 

 as possible to [jrevent their oxidation of 

 rusting; next, to give them sulficicnt 

 play or room for contraclion or expau- 

 iiuUf by heat aud euid. 1 h«« I'lom ac- 



toal 



