1839.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL 



107 



composition of most of the cements and mortars used in this country, so 

 as to give the architect and engineer much useful infurniation. In tliis 

 appendix the Colonel has given a description of l\Ir. Binnel's experi- 

 mental hricl^ arcli, the dimensions and details of vvlhcli he states that he 

 has derived chiefly from the sixlhnumberoftlhs journal. This accoiuit 

 he believes to be correct, except that He<< cement was used instead of 

 mortar, composed of cement and sand, as stated by us. In conseq\ience 

 of this correction by tlie Colonel, we again made encpiiries of thcbrick- 

 layer who assisted in the construction of tlie arcli, and wlio still persists 

 that cement and sand were used, and not ncU cement ; we have also 

 procured a piece of the brickwork from the arch, and we feel bound to 

 state that from its appearance it seems to be constructed of nettcement. 

 We do not think it necessary to say anything further in praise of tliis 

 work, for we feel assured that the extracts which we have given from 

 it are sufficient to convince our readers of its highly valuable and prac- 

 tical nature. It is, in fact, a work which every member of the pro- 

 fession may refer to with advantage, as he may place every reliance upon 

 the correctness of the experiments which are there detailed. 



Life of Thomas Telford, written by Himself. Edited bij John Hickman. 

 Loudon : Payne and Foss, 18-38. 



We have purposely delayed our notice of this work, lliat we might 

 not he accused of not paying due attention to it, or hastily passing a 

 judgment nnfavourable to its claims. It is a work whicli was anxiously 

 awaited by the profession, and naturally looked for as a great ac- 

 cession to the stores of scientific literature, but we regret that its 

 appearance has deceived these expectations. The "Life of Telford," 

 described by his works, offered a field which, in judicious liands, 

 could not fail to have produced a book of standard reputation. The 

 price also, of eight guineas, demanded for the present volume, and 

 the circumstance of funds having been provided for its execution by 

 Telford himself, is so high, as to require great exertions (o justify 

 such a charge, and we vainly hoped that, from among the papers of 

 Telford, many valuable ideas would thus have acquired a greater 

 circulation. A large volume of plates is certainly given, but they 

 contain so much that is trite, and so much that is useless, that they 

 greatly derorate from the value of the mass. 



The work lias been thrown into the form of a narrative, under the 

 plea of insuring greater ease and freedom, but the subject has been 

 so mutilated by the editor, that it is neither an autobiography nor 

 anything else. The few snatches of Telford that are left, give a 

 promise of what he was capable of effecting ; and we should have 

 derived an invaluable example in the relation of a progress through 

 life, of which he has given us such a modest commencement. Tel- 

 ford, however, never lived to finish his work, and his editor 

 lias taken such liberties, that if anything of Telford is left, it 

 is principally his faults. He lias wavped the current of the 

 subject to make room for irrelevant dissertations ; the descrip- 

 tions of works, instead of showing the minute care with which an 

 author would dwell on his designs, are derived from the commonest 

 sources, and a considerable part of the work is occupied with parlia- 

 mentary reports, superannuated doeimients, Roman baths, and other 

 men's works. We deplore this catastrophe, as it is one which we 

 have heard greatly regretted by many members of the profession, 

 and we had certainly expected something better wlien we looked at 

 other engineering works of less pretensions. The money and repu- 

 tation of Telford have been lavished on it, but it shrinks in the scale 

 when compared with such volumes as the " Public Works of Eng- 

 land," " Railway Practice," the reprint of " Smeaton's Reports," 

 or the new edition of " Tredgold's Steam Engine ;" any one of 

 which contains far more practical information, at half the cost, than 

 this "splendid work of Telford." We need scarcely say that the 

 editor htis fully redeemed his pledge of "not recpiiring classifi- 

 cation of subjects," and that he has produced a most admirable and 

 agreeable confusion. As to the literary portion of the work, which 

 Telford's diflidence imposed on the editor, it is very scanty and unsa- 

 tisfactory; and although we could excuse this from Telford, we can 

 make no concession lo the editor. Instead of this work being called 

 the " Life of Telford, written by himself," it should be the " Life of 

 Telford," with the part of "hinijielf" by Mr. Rickman; and thus 

 the name of Telford would be redeemed from the slur cast on it by 

 this compilation. Altogether, Telford is most singularly unfor- 

 tunate, that when, having taken some care to maintain his reputation, 

 he should have confided the task to one so manifestly incompetent. 

 To deny that the \\ork has some merit would be absurd ; for it would 

 be impossible that Telford could be associated with an enterprise 

 without conferring some lustre on it ; but our opinion of the conqii- 

 lation as a whole is, that neither the quantity of information comniii- 

 jiicated, nor its quality, are at \x\\ eonjinensurate Mith thy extent vf 



its assumptions or the magnitude of its price. The drawings of 

 Telford, it is true, are to be found in the library of the Instituticm 

 of Civil Engineers, but who can find time to study them there :' Few 

 men can afford to sacrifice, in such researches, their leisure and I heir 

 time. 



The work commences with a descriptive narrative of the works of 

 Telford, and such short snatches of his life as the editor has left un- 

 pruned. Thomas Telford was an orphan of a working mason in an 

 obscure part of Scotland, and this avowal which his sense of innate 

 dignity [irompted stands in solitary contrast with the lack of farther 

 information. We find him successively working at Edinburgh ami at 

 Somerset House, then of a sudden superintending works in Ports- 

 mouth Dock-yard, and afterwards county surveyor of Shropshire. We 

 see no proof of merit which could warrant this rapid rise, and we look 

 in vain to the work for an explanation of the circumstances which 

 thus determined his career in fulnre life. We can appreciate the 

 studious and laborious attention with which he cultivated his mental 

 powers, but we must look to other operations for the causes of his 

 promotion, and we may believe that had it not been for the patronage 

 of his schoolfellow, Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, his career might, 

 have been in a lower grade, and his reputation of less extent. As 

 county surveyor, we find Telford first engaged as a civil engineer ; 

 and here he had full scope for his favourite pursuit of bridge-building. 

 The first bridge the construction of which he superintended was one 

 of three arches over the Severn, and soon afterward he constructed 

 the second east-iron bridge in England, at Buildwas, the first having 

 been at Colebrookdale. This consisted of a single arch of 130 feet 

 span, of which the iron-work was executed, in \7'Mh by the Cole- 

 brookdale Company, by contract with the county magisi rates, for 

 6,034;. I3s. 3d. Of this bridge an engraving is given in the Atlas; 

 and besides these, he erected forty smaller bridges in the county. 

 This led to further employment in the same line, and he also at- 

 tempted some works as an architect, though with very little credit to 

 his taste. The parish church of Bridgenorth, in Shropshire, which 

 had been the chapel of a Norman Castle, he rebuilt in a mixture of 

 the Greek and Roman styles. 



In 1793 we find him engaged in one of his first great works, the 

 Ellesmere Canal, the managing committee of which was principally 

 composed of county magistrates. Telford's management of this com- 

 plicated work was such as fully lo justify their confidence in him, and 

 he thus acquired new means of displaying the boldness and originality 

 of his mind. Here we find descriptions of two works of magnitude, 

 the Chirk Aqueduct and that of Pont-y-cysylte. 



" The Ccriup, nr Chirk valley, is 710 foct in width ; (holiiuiks arc steep, 

 with a flat alluvial meaduw lictwrcii tlicm, throufcli wliith llio river passes. 

 Tu preserve the canal level, tlie .surface of its water must be' maintained at 

 G.'i feet above the ineadiiw, and 70 abuve the water in the river. There are 

 10 arches, eaeli of which is 40 feet span. The first stmie of this aqueduct 

 was laid on the 17lh .fuiie, 1790. Previously to tliis time, such canal aque-. 

 ducts had been uiiifuniily made tu relaiii the water necessary for navigation, 

 by means uf puddled earth retained by masonry ; and in order lu oblnin 

 sufheient breadth lor this superslruetiire, the masonry of the piers, abut- 

 ments and arehi'S was of massive strength ; and after all this expense, and 

 every imaginable precaution, the frosts, by sw'cUing the moist puddle, fre- 

 quently created fissures, burst the masonry, and suffered the water to es- 

 cape, nay, .sometimes actually threw down the aqueducts ; instances of this 

 kind having occurred even in llie works of the justly celebrated Briiulley. 

 It was evident that the uiereased pressure of the puddled earlli Avas the 

 chief cause »i such failun's ; I tlu'refore )iad reeuurse to the ibllowiiiR 

 scheme in order to avoid using it. Tlie spaudrills of the stone arelies wen; 

 constructed with longitudinal walls (as at Kirkcudbright Bridge), instead 

 of being filled with earth, and across these the can.al bottom was formed l>y 

 cast-iron plates at each side, infixed in square stone masonry. Those l)o|. 

 toiii plates had flaiiches on their edges, and w'ere seciu'ed by nuts ami 

 screws at every junctun-. Tlw sides 'jf the canal were made waterproof by 

 ashler niasoinv, backed with liavil liunit briiks, laid iu Parker's cement, 

 on the outside of which was rnbhle stone work, like the rest of the aque- 

 duct. The towing-path had a thin bed id' 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, b feet 6 inches, and the depth of 

 the water in the canal is 5 feel. 



"By this mode of eonslruelion the quantity of masonry is nun h dimi- 

 nished, and the iron hoKoiu plate forms a continued tie, and pievenis the; 

 side walls from separation liy lateral prcs.sure of the conlaineil water. 

 There b<'iiig a quarry of cxeelli.'iil flat bedded rubblc-stone within a quarter 

 of a mile of the site, and Unie-kilns within two miles, the whole, with (he, 

 exeojilion of quoins, coping and lining the sides of the water-\\'ay, wliirh 

 are of ashler masonry, is of rubble work, laid in lime morlar; the nialeri.il.s 

 and workmanship ciiually cxeclb'iit. The ediliec w;us completed in the 

 year 1801, and is still in a perfect stale ; the total cost was £'20,8'J8." 



" .\boul four miles north of Chirk, the aqueduct of Pont y-c\'.syllc forni.s 

 a slill more striknig object than that which I have just described. The 

 ij'.'itli bank vi tltc rivcj- l)ve \.\\ tliis place is iibrupl ; on tlw south >Jd ' ikg 



