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TELFORD, THOMAS. 



TELFORD, THOMAS. 



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being forty feet wide, and from one hundred and seventy to one hun- 

 dred and eigbty feet long; and one of them at Clachnacarry, near 

 Inverness, was made under circumstances of especial difficulty, the 

 earth being a soft mud, into which an iron rod might easily be thrust 

 to a depth of fifty-five feet. The means adopted for conquering this 

 difficulty are fully detailed in the engineer's own narrative. 



Of other canals constructed wholly or partially under Telford's 

 superintendence it is sufficient to mention the Glasgow, Paisley, and 

 Ardrossan (which was never completed to the length originally in- 

 tended) ; the Macclesfield ; the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction ; 

 the Gloucester and Berkeley (completed under his direction) ; the 

 Birmingham, which was completely remodelled and adapted to the 

 conduct of a very extensive traffic, by him ; and the Weaver naviga- 

 tion, in Cheshire. He also constructed a new tunnel, 2926 yards 

 long, 16 feet high, and 14 feet wide, at Harecastlc, on the Trent and 

 Mersey Canal, the original tunnel of Brindley having been found too 

 small ; and he executed many important works connected with the 

 drainage of the fen country, especially of Bedford Level. On the Con- 

 tinent likewise he superintended the construction of the Gotha Canal, 

 in Sweden, a navigation of about one hundred and twenty English 

 miles, of which fifty-five are artificial canal. This navigation rises 

 one hundred and sixty-two feet from the Lake Wenern, at one 

 extremity, to the summit level, and falls three hundred and seven 

 feet to the Baltic, at the other: the rise and fall are effected by fifty- 

 six locks. The canal is forty-two feet wide at the bottom, and ten 

 feet deep. Telford visited Sweden in 1808 to make the surveys and 

 preliminary arrangements, and again in 1813, taking with him, under 

 the sanction of the British government, several experienced workmen 

 to instruct the natives in the works then in progress. Upon the com- 

 pletion of the canal a Swedish order of knighthood and other honours 

 were conferred upon Telford. 



The works executed by Telford under the Commissioners of High- 

 land Roads and Bridges are of great importance. His survey was 

 delivered to the Lords of the Treasury in 1802, and in the following 

 year the Commission was appointed. Of the works committed to 

 their superintendence Telford observes that " the whole of Scotland, 

 from its southern boundary, near Carlisle, to the northern extremity 

 of Caithness, and from Aberdeenshire on the east to the Argyleshire 

 islands on the west, has been intersected by roads ; its largest rivers, 

 and even inferior streams, crossed by bridges ; and all this in the 

 space of twenty-five years, under the same board, and (with some few 

 exceptions) by the same individual Commissioners ; " and all this was 

 done under the direction of Telford alone. The practical operations 

 under this Commission embraced about a thousand miles of new road, 

 with twelve hundred bridges, in a mountainous and stormy region, of 

 which five only, when Telford wrote his narrative, had required to be 

 renewed. It should be explained that the operations of the Com- 

 mission were not confined to the objects defined in its title, but 

 embraced also the Glasgow and Carlisle road ; the Lanarkshire roads; 

 the improvement of several harbours, of which the principal are those 

 of Peterhead, Banff, Fraserburgh, Fortrose, Cullen, and Kirkwall ; 

 and the erection of several Highland churches and manses under a 

 parliamentary grant of 1823. Nor were these Highland churches 

 and manses the only buildings in which Telford acted as an architect ; 

 he had, mauy years previously, erected a church at Bridgenorth, from 

 his own design. 



In the improvements of the great road from London to Holyhead, 

 under another parliamentary Commission, appointed in 1815, Telford 

 had a further opportunity of carrying into effect his system of road- 

 making. This road, and the works connected with it, is probably the 

 most perfect specimen of Telford's skill as an engineer, and appears to 

 have been regarded by him with much satisfaction. The Menai sus- 

 pension-bridge, especially, is a noble example of his boldness in 

 designing and practical skill in executing a work of novel and difficult 

 character. 



Among the other works of Telford are many bridges of considerable 

 size, in which he adopted the important principle of making the 

 spandrils hollow, and supporting the roadway upon slabs laid upon 

 longitudinal walls, instead of filling up the haunches with a mass of 

 loose rubbish, which may press very injuriously upon the arch, aud 

 often proves of serious inconvenience when the masonry of the bridge 

 need any repair. He employed this mode of construction in a large 

 arch, of 112 feet span, erected over the Dee, near Kircudbright, in 

 1805 and 1806, and in many subsequent bridges. In his ' Life ' will 

 be found particulars of the ingenious alteration of Glasgow old bridge, 

 by the addition of a projecting footpath of cast iron on each side, so 

 as to leave the whole width of the stone structure for carriages ; and 

 of the new bridge designed by him for crossing the Clyde at Glasgow, 

 and commenced in 1833 ; of the light and elegant Dean bridge, at 

 Edinburgh ; Path-head bridge, of five arches of 50 feet span, over a 

 ravine about eleven miles south of Edinburgh ; Morpeth bridge ; 

 Tewkesbury bridge, erected between 1823 and 1826, with a light iron 

 arch of 170 feet span, and only 17 feet rise; the Over bridge at 

 Gloucester, and mauy others. The last-mentioned bridge has an arch 

 of peculiar form, previously employed by Perronet in the Neuilly 

 bridge. The general body of the arch is an elliptical curve of 150 

 feet span and 35 feet rise, but the external arch stones at the sides of 

 the bridge form segmeutal curves of the same span, but of only 13 



feet rise : the two arches are coincident at the crown, and are con- 

 nected by a vaulted form on the haunches of the bridge. " This 

 complex form," observes Telford, "converts each side of the vault of 

 the arch iuto the shape of the entrance of a pipe, to suit the con- 

 tracted 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; a precaution rendered necessary in this instance owing to 

 the liability of the bridge to very trying floods." 



Telford executed some important harbour-works at Aberdeen and 

 Dundee ; but his most striking performance of this class is the St. 

 Katherine Docks, London. Owing to the very limited space which 

 could be obtained, it was necessary to construct these docks of 

 irregular forms, aud to adopt unusual arrangements respecting tho 

 warehouses ; and these arrangements, combined with the admirable 

 machinery employed, reduced the time requisite for unloading a 

 vessel in an astonishing degree. He constructed two docks, com- 

 municating with the river by a tide-lock 180 feet long and 45 feet 

 wide, with three pair of gates, so that either one very large or two 

 smaller vessels may pass the lock at one time ; and steam-engines are 

 provided, capable of filling the locks in a few minutes by pumping 

 water from the middle of the river, so that vessels are enabled to pass 

 in and out of the docks with great rapidity so long as there is a 

 sufficient depth of water to receive them outside the lock. The cast- 

 iron turn-bridge over this lock is an excellent specimen of that kind of 

 machinery, being easily worked by two persons at each cud, although 

 it supports a carriage-way 24 feet wide. These docks were constructed 

 much more quickly than is usual for works of such magnitude, and 

 more quickly than the engineer could fully approve, although he 

 admitted the urgency of the case as a justification of a course against 

 which he could not but enter his protest. One of the latest engage- 

 ments of Telford was the survey of Dover harbour, undertaken, in 

 January 1834, at the request of the Duke of Wellington, as warden of 

 the Cinque Ports, with a view to the adoption of measures to check 

 the accumulation of shingle at the entrance. 



In addition to the works which he executed himself, Telford was 

 frequently applied to for his judgment upon important schemes, and 

 in this way he made many reports to parliament. For many years he 

 was employed to report upon all public works of engineering character 

 for which loans were required of the Exchequer Loan Commissioners. 

 Among his reports are sevei'al of considerable interest, especially upon 

 proposed canals between London and Birmingham, and between the 

 English and Bristol Channels, and on the supply of water to the 

 metropolis, one of the last objects to- which he devoted his attention. 

 For some years before his death he had gradually declined as much as 

 possible forming new engagements, and had made preparations for the 

 publication of such a selection from his papers as might leave on 

 record an authentic account of the important works in which for more 

 than half a century he had been engaged. Having made arrangements 

 with his executors for the completion of his work in case he should 

 not live to finish it, he set about it with ardour, and had many of the 

 plates completed, the manuscript in a very forward state, and arrange- 

 ments made respecting the paper, type, &c. before bis death. The 

 book was not published until 1838, chiefly owing to the illness and 

 death of Mr. Turrell, the engraver, and the difficulty of getting the 

 plates completed. It forms a thick 4to volume, entitled ' Life of 

 Thomas Telford, civil engineer, written by himself; containing a 

 descriptive Narrative of his Professional Labours ;' and it contains a 

 preface and supplement, by the editor, Mr. Rickman, and a very 

 copious appendix of illustrative reports and other documents. The 

 plates, eighty-three in number, constitute a companion volume, in 

 large folio, to which is prefixed a fine portrait of Telfor J, engraved by 

 W. Raddon, from a picture by S. Lane. From this work the materials 

 of the preceding notice of his principal works are chiefly derived; 

 and from the supplementary notice, by Mr. Rickman, and some 

 other sources, are collected the following additional biographical 

 particulars. 



Before leaving his native district, Telford acquired some distinction 

 as a poet. He wrote in the homely style of Ramsay and Fergusson, 

 and contributed small pieces to Ruddiman's ' Weekly Magazine,' 

 under the signature of 'Eskdale Tarn.' He wrote a short poem, 

 entitled * Eskdale,' descriptive of the scenes of his early years, which 

 was originally published in a provincial miscellany, subsequently 

 reprinted at Shrewsbury, at the request of his friends, and afterwards 

 inserted in the appendix to his life. Another pleasing fragment of his 

 composition is given at the end of the first volume of Dr. Currie's 

 ' Life and Works of Burns,' published at Liverpool in 1800 : it is an 

 extract from a poetical epistle sent by Telford, when at Shrewsbury, 

 to the Ayrshire poet, recommending him to take up other subjects of 

 a serious nature, similar to the ' Cottar's Saturday Night.' He taught 

 himself Latin, French, Italian, and German, so as to read them all 

 with facility, and to converse readily in French : and he has left 

 valuable contributions to engineering literature, in the articles Archi- 

 tecture, Bridge, Civil Architecture, and Inland Navigation, in Brewster's 

 ' Edinburgh Encyclopaedia,' in which work Mr. Rickman says he was 

 a shareholder. He was well acquainted with algebra, but he held 

 mathematical investigation in rather low estimation. In his early 

 years he appears to have been tinctured with democratic opinions ; 



