174 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



TIMBER VIADUCTS ON THE SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY. 



Fig. 1. — Transverse SectioB. 



Fig. 2.— Eleration. 



The annexed engravings show a transverse, section and elevation of 

 tlie timber viaducts ado|)ted at the South Eastern R.iilway on the 

 branch from New Cross to the Bricklayers' Arms, and also at the 

 Shakespere Viaduct, between Follieslone aud Dover, under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. William Ciibitt the engineer in chief. 



The parapet or railway A stands '1ft. above the platform, the top 

 rail is 4 in. by 3in. rounded on the top, the upright posts 4 in. by 4 in. 

 with intervening cross-rails; the guards or timbers B, lying alongside 

 the iron rails, are Gin. square. The platform c on the top is 30ft. 

 wide out to out, and consists of timber laid close together 4 in. thick. 

 The 4 longitudinal bearers in the centre D consist of 2 pieces of 

 whole timber 13 in. square, and 1 piece of half timber 5ft. long, 13 by 

 6Ain.. lying on the top of the transverse beams; the two outer bearers 

 E; are half the scantling horizontally and the same verlically. The 

 transverse bearer F consists of 2 pieces of timber 30ft. and 2G ft. 

 long, and 13 in. square. The posts or pjles G, H, are 13 in. square, 

 the two outer piles H are placed 23 ft. apirt from out to out on the 

 top, and are driven in with a batter of 3 in. in a foot. The piles are 

 prevented from spreading by two horizontal ties I, 30 ft. long 12 by 

 6 in., and are bolted on each side of the piles ; there are also 2 dia- 

 gonal struts J, above 9in. square abutting at the feet on cleets nailed 

 on the inner side of the outer piles. 



It will be perceived that the whole of the timbers are well secured 

 with iron bolts. 



The distance in the middle on the top of the platform, between the 

 centre of the rails is 6 ft. 2^ in., and between the centre of the railings 

 4 ft. Uin. 



The horizontal dotted line at the bottom is Trinity Datum. 



DECORATIONS OF THE PALACE AT WESTMINSTER. 



WOOD CARVING, STAINED GLASS, 8lC. 



The present exhibition, under the authority of llie Royal Commissioners of 

 llie Fine ArtS; is held in the St. James's Bazaar. Kins Street, St. James's, a 

 very convenient room. Notices, it will be recollecled, were issued last year 

 calling for specimens of designs in relation to the decoration of the new 

 Houses of Parliament, under ihe several heads of wood carving, stained glass^ 

 arabesque, and heraldic decoration, ornamental paving, metal casting, 8tc. 

 The call seems to have been well responded to, so l^ar as number is concerned,, 

 and proves the existence, in this country, of an adequate number of artists 

 engaged in such pursuits ; but although the works sent in are respectable, 

 they do not impress us by their originality oi conception, or by their superior 

 merits in execution. Much evidently remains to be done, though a greatgood 

 has been effected by calling public attention to departments of art little 

 known, much neglected, and not adequately appreciated. If we look to the 

 designs, we find a want of historic appreciation, an inattention to jwlitical 

 and historic propriety, and the most common-place sources of illustrative 

 detail. One artist brings Lycurgus into the English Hiuses of Parliament, 

 another Moses, a third King David of ScotlanJ, and the Princes of Tara, 

 while more tlian one artist has made the Queen's husband, Prince Albert, a 

 prominent personage, introducing his statue or his arms. 



We may observe of the wood carving that it shows great respectability of 

 attainments in the exhibitors, and the extent to which the art is now culti- 

 vated, owing to the increased encouragement of ecclesiastical decoration. 

 Exhibitors have sent in from many parts ol the country, and particularly 

 from the cathedral towns, the wood-carvers being about 25 in number (the 

 designs and specimens 57), the glass painters 20, and the decorative painters 

 pretty numerous. Most of the leading artists in each branch are contributors. 

 To resume the subject of wood carving, the subject of which is a door for the 

 House of Lords, the general defect we observe, beyond the want of origi- 

 nality in the designs, is the appearance most designs convey of being copied 

 from tombs, altar screens, and west windows, having an air too ecclesiastical, 

 neither have the apjiliances of Gothic art twon well directed. The resources 

 of varied tracery, have, except in rare instances, been neglected, while many- 

 works exhibit a poverty of ornament ; lew artists seem to be aware what a 

 door ought to be, and some have covered their doors with panels in high and 

 low relief, representing various events; none seem tohavestudied the numerous 

 and interesting' specimens which are to be found in Holland, Belgium, and 

 Germany. 'Ihose of Italy do not, we think, aflord stich good studies. 



We shall not speak of the carved specimens generally, as they are for the 

 most part respectable, and no more. * ' 



No. 1 is a poor affair of peer's coronets, and mitres, a wretched idea, which 

 several artists have adopted as their sole emblems and illustrations: 



No. 3, by William Ollett, of Norwich, has four compartments with deco- 

 rated headings, surrounded by a hordurc of the shields of English sovereigns. 

 Mr. Ollett, as well as some others, has, without discrimination, introduced 

 the arms of the Saxon kings, which are an invention of the mediaeval monks, 

 and armorial bearings also were of much later introduction. If they must 

 represent the early princes, as indeed they ought to be represented, let the 

 white horse of fhe Saxons and the raven of the Danes be employed. 



No. 5, by John Steel, is in a modern style, quite out of character. 



William Freeman, jun., has the Barons demanding the Charter of Liberties 

 from King John, a constitutional subject, but one (fa violent character, and 

 calculated to meet with little favour from the Royal Commissioners, who have 

 it is said refused to place among the statues of chief magistrates, that of 

 Oliver Cromnell, the acquirer of Jamaica. 



No. 9. by Samuel Pratt, jun., is a very original design, and one of the most 

 gratifying. He has shown that something may be done with tracery. The 

 coronets are. however, a poor idea. 



S. A. Nash's, No. II, is a very good subject. On the panels of the doors 

 are on one Henry III. (from his tomb in Westminster Abbey) under whom 

 the first traces of a Parliament in the present form exhibited themselves, on 

 the other panel her present Majesty, apprppriaiely uniting the present and 

 the past. In a panel over the door is represented the sitting of 3rd May, 

 1253, in Westminster Hall, when the peers obtaincdjfrom Henry HI. a solemn 

 confirmation of the Great Charter of Liberties.— No. 13. by John Thomas is a 

 good work, the details rich.— John Wolstenhome, of York has contributed 

 No. 15, which is modelled from York and Beverley Minsters, and is too 

 mtich like an altar screen or tomb.— No. 17, by F. W. Brown, is in a tlorid 

 style, bad and inappropriate. His carving is however good.— Wm. Thomas, 

 in No. 19, has some strange work, twelve panels in which figuie the Death of 

 Ananias, the Inqusilion, and similar un-English imaginations. Tills artist 

 has been led astivay by works of the time of the revival. His has relief of Trial 

 by Ordeal, we must say is well executed.— Henry Ringham, of Ipswicb, has a 

 thing like the raullions of a parish church window, and paltry.— The carve 

 to the Cambridge Camden Society, Joseph Rattee has an allair with modern 

 detEuls, and Prince Albert's arms. His carviSg is better. 



' William Allan, of Edinburgh, has a design very ill chosen, comprising 



