1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



331 



PUBLIC WORKS AT AND NEAR LIVERPOOL. 



Probably there are no places in the kingdom, not even excepting the me- 

 tropolis, where a larger amount of money is in process of expenditure in the 

 construction of public works tlian there is at this moment in Liverpool and 

 Birkenhead. Almost in every direction on both banks of the Mersey huge 

 preparations meet the eye ; and, without entering into details, which would 

 necessarily occupy much space, some idea of their extent may be gathered 

 from an outline of the expenditure. In some of the following items the es- 

 timates include the cost of land. In Liverpool there are the following works 

 now in progress : — Assize Courts (corporation), cost 80,000/. ; New Gaol 

 (corporation), cost 100,000/.; Albert Dock and Warehouses (dock com- 

 mitti^e), G00,0OU/. ; New North Dock Works, including land and junction 

 with Leeds Canal (^dock committee), 1,500,000/.; reservoirs, Green-lane, and 

 corresponding works (highway commissioners), 50,000/.; Industrial Schools 

 at Kirkdale (select vestry), 30,000/. ; Gas Extension (New Gas Company), 

 140,000/. ; Shaw-street Park (private shareholders), 2,500/. ; making a gross 

 total of 2,500,000/. All this is, of course, independent of many other works, 

 some in progress and others in contemplation, with prospects of almost im- 

 mediate commencement. Amongst those in progress may he reckoned 

 Prince's Park, now forming by Mr. Richard Vaughan Yates, at the south end 

 of the town; the New Presbyterian Church in Myrtle-street; the Female 

 Orphan Asylum, the Catholic Female Orphan Asylum; the New Northern 

 Hospital (towards which Mr. W. Brown recently contributed 1,000/.) ; St. 

 Martin's Schools, the Catholic Magdalen Asylum at Much Woolton, and St. 

 Mary's Catholic Church, in Edmund Street. Besides other works in contem- 

 plation, we may mention the Daily Courts, on the site of Islington market 

 (now discontinued) ; the intended additional railway tunnel to the north end 

 of the town, by the Liverpool and Manchester RaUway Company ; an addi- 

 tional merchandize station for the Grand Junction Railway Company ; the en- 

 largement of the Lime-street terminus ; and some improvements on the 

 Bridgewater property. These various works altogether will probably absorb 

 not less than anotlier million. So that, in the whole, between three and 

 four millions of money will have to be raised and expended before the va- 

 rious present designs for the promotion of charity, the convenience of com- 

 merce, and the improvement of the town, are completed. But, if much is 

 going on in Liverpool in this way, more, in proportion to population 

 and means, is doing on the Cheshire side of the water, at Birkenhead. Here 

 indeed a town is rapidly rising, which will not be excelled in useful or orna- 

 mental elements by any place in the kingdom ; and the progress of which, in 

 buildings, as well as inuabitants, during the last four or five years, has been 

 unprecedented. The magnitude of the public works in progress at Birken- 

 head may be inferred from the following abstract, which is taken from the 

 estimates: — New Market (Commissioners), 20,000/.; Town-hall (Commis- 

 sioners), 10,000/. ; Park (Commissioners), 25,000/. ; Docks in Wallasea Pool 

 (Commissioners, as trustees), 400,000/. ; Dock Warehouses on the margin of 

 Wallasea Pool (private company), 600,000/; Tunnel from Monk's Ferry to 

 Grange-lane (Chester and Birkenhead RaUway), 20,000/.; making a gross to- 

 tal of 1,075,000/. ; and, further, a proposal has been made, which is now un- 

 der the consideration of the Finance Committee of the Liverpool Corporation, 

 to buy the freehold of all their Wallasea estate, and pay for it in ready 

 money! Besides the works named as being in progress, a cemetery and in- 

 firmary are contemplated, to which may be added a design for the erection of 

 one or more churches. On the two former we believe it is intended to expend 

 about 15,000/, In tnese items we have said nothing about the sums being 

 expended in sewerage and laying mains for water and gas ; they are very 

 large, and in this present year they will exceed any of the past. After these 

 statements, it will be admitted, we thiuk, that there are very few, if any, 

 places where the progression in works of a public nature is greater than in 

 Liverpool and Birkenhead ; and that, if there is any rivalry between them, it 

 should only be as to which shall best accommodate the public. — Manchester 

 Guardian. 



niXSCKX.I.ANSA. 



Two Rudders.— M'e have for somo time noticed and much admired tlie two 

 new iron steam-vessels bui!t by Mr. John Laird, of Birlienlie:i(l, and now plyipg with pas- 

 sengers between Liverpool and Woodside. The "Queen" and the " Prince" are each 

 about 110 feet in length, 22 feet beam, and have engines of tlO h. p. They are of hand- 

 some model, and sit on thewateron an even keel; each tud.when they are stationar>', repre- 

 sents a line bow with a sharp projecting cutwater — a portion of which, within the outer 

 edge is a moveable door that may be instantly loosened to act as a rudder, or firmly fixed 

 (when that end becomes the bow) by means of a dropping bolt, so as to complete and 

 make good, even to a nicety of joint, the thin after portion of the cutwater. The great 

 advantage over all previous plans of two rodders, and we believe only one or two single 

 boats have been built with two rudders {in which each rudder was left naked and unpro- 

 tected), is that the outer edge of each bow-formed extremity, or cutwater, is of standard 

 iron, sufficiently strong to avert the consequence to the rudder, of the cable getting 

 athwart liause, of a bump, or running foul of any floating object, a pier or the like— which 

 was generally fatal to the rud.Ier in tlie former plans,— and at the same time not so thick 

 as to act to any conceivable extent as a stop-water when that end becomes the stern, and 

 it stands abaft the rudder like a stancheon or outer stern-post. In the old plans the rud- 

 der, which became the cutwater, was liable to be carried away on a slight concusasion with 

 any object, or even hy the sea throuph which it was forced. In the present plan the 

 outer-standing part of the cutwater evidently not only protects it from the first of these 

 casualties, but ploughs a way for it, so that it is less liable to be thrust from side to side, 

 or carried away in a sea-way, a danger which is, of course, increased by the velocity of the 

 ship. Mr. Laird, therefore, very appiopriately denominates this main feature of his in- 

 vention (for which he has taken out a patent) "a guard."—* Liverpool Standard.' 



The New Building Act has at last passed into a law, as we have already- 

 occupied many pages of our Journal on the subject, during its progress through parlia- 

 ment this and last year, we must refer our readers, who may be desirous of understanding 

 the nature of the act, to the act itself} it is far too long for us now to attempt an abstract. 



The Royal Kxchangk and the City.— The Royal Kxchnnge is gradually 

 getting out of the hands of the workmen. The sculpture has been placed in the portico, 

 and the figure of Commerce in the centre of the relief is bold and striking, though the 

 other figures are rather ambiguous. The motto on the base of the statue of Commerce 

 is appropriate, " The tfarth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;" but on the frieze the 

 barbarism has been allowed of placing a Latin inscription recording the foundation of the 

 original building in the time of Elizabeth, and its reconstmction in the reign of her present 

 Majesty. The coats of arms, boldly sculptured, are also placed In their respective posi- 

 tions. The encaustic painting, by Prince Albert's German minion, Herr Sang, is ad- 

 vanced, and the shops are being fitted. The pavement is said to be better laid with 

 regard to effect than has been the practice of late years. The Mercers' Company, part 

 proprietors of the Royil Exchange, have at last thought of having their own hall put in a 

 respectable condition, and the chambers and gateways In front of Merchant Tailors' Hall 

 promise another improvement in the neighbourhood of the Exchange. The Gresham 

 Club begins to show itself, and preparations for placing the King William statue are in a 

 forward state. 



A Terra-Cotta Church. — Near BoHon-le-Moors a beautiful church lias 

 recently been built, entirely of terra-cotta— burnt clay— inside, outside, tower, and base- 

 ment, all of the same materials. A correspondent says—*' The church is situated about 

 a mile from Bolton, near the Haugh (called the Hutf). It is built of a kind of fine clay, 

 found near the spot, between the beds of coal, in Mrs. Fletcher's mines ; it is subjected to 

 a great pressure, and then burnt. The colour is rather good — a kind of tawny. The 

 situation, too, is very pretty. The architecture (by Sharp, of Lancaster) is very florid 

 Gothic— too much so, perhaps, for the form of the arches, which cannot be of ar much 

 later date than Edward Hi. ; but I speak doubtingly. The interior is enormously deco- 

 r^^ted— the roof of dark stained oak ; the floor is of tile, inlaid with numbers of crosses ; 

 the steps of the communion encaustic tile; and all other matters to match. The seats 

 are open, not formed into pews. The building, which, I believe, is not yet dedicated, 

 forms a lovely object in the landscape." — ' Liverpool Mercury.' 



The Admiralty have issued orders to build, by contract, two second-rate 

 iron steam-frigates— one to work with paddle-wheels, and the other to have a screw pro- 

 peller. They are each to be 2U3 feet in length, 37 feet in breadth, about 1,3U0 tons burden, 

 and .^00 horse power.—* United Service Gazette.' 



Large Rolling Mill in America.— The * Danville Democrat' says that the 

 , Montour Iron Company are about erecting, at that place, a new rolling mill, which will 

 be the largest and most extensive establishment of the kind in the United States, and 

 which will probably cost iUO,000 dollars. It is calculated that it will turn out annually 

 about 10,000 tous of manufactured iron, a large portion of which is to be railroad iron ; it 

 will contain twenty-two puddUng furnaces, consume all the iron manufactured at three 

 furnaces of the same company, give employment, directly and indirectly, to about 500 

 hands, and is to go into operation early next spring. 



Iron Trade. — We learn, from an official return, that the iron trade on the 

 continent has been rapidly extending, and that the following is vary nearly the relative 

 proportion of the pig and bar iron manufactured in the ditterent States :— Prussia, 199 

 furnaces, worked with charcoal, employ 8,674 workmen, and produce about 120,000 tons 

 of cast iron, equal in value to 730,000/. Wrought iron, in bar and plate, is made at .038 

 forges, employing 6,041) workmen, and producing "3,000 tons, of the value of 230,000^. 

 Bavaria, 44 furnaces, producing 9,000 tons of cast iron, and 141 forges, producing 5,750 

 tons of wrought iron. U'urtemberg, (),400 tons of cast, and 2.500 tons of wrought iron. 

 Grand Duchy of Baden, 7,000 tons of cast, and 4,750 tons of malleable iron. Sixony, 

 7,500 tons of cast, and 4,650 tons of wrought iron. Electorate of Hesse, 4,150 tons of 

 cast, and 000 tons of malleable. Grand Duchy of Hesse, 7,150 tons of cast, and L',400 tons 

 of malleable. Duchy of Nassau, 14,330 tons of cast, and 1,300 tons of bar iron, and 2.375 

 tons of different other sorts of iron, in bars, cast and wrought iron work. Duchy of 

 Brunsivick, 2,150 tons of cast, and 7,180 tons of wrought iron, or work in cast iron. United 

 States of Saxe Weimar, Eisenach, Saxe Meiningen, Aohalt, Scharzbourg, Hohenzollern, 

 Sigmaringen, Reuss, Waldeck, produce 4,035 tons of cast, and 2,240 tons of bar iron, or 

 works in cast iron. German Luxemburg, 7,700 tons of cast iroa. Total production of the 

 States of the Zollverein— cast iron, 11*1,156 tons ; wrought iron, or works in wrought and 

 cast iron, 107,324 tons. In proportion to the population these quantities are not great, 

 since it amounts to about loi lb. for each person throughout the Confederation. In France 

 where this manufacture is yet but imperfectly developed, it amounts to above 221b. ; in 

 Belgium it is about 361b. ; while in England it is as high as 55 lb. to .^6 lb. for each per- 

 son. All, or nearly all, the Zollverein Stales are engaged in the iron manufacture. — 

 * Railway Chronicle.' 



A " New Rig." — Mr. H. Dempster, of Kinghorn, the inventor of the '• new 

 rig," left Berwick-upon-Tweed, by himself, in his famed model yacht, the ' Problem,' late 

 in the evening of the 31st of July, to steer for Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and although he had 

 neithar compass, chart, light, nor even a pump on board, still, in the dark, he passed in- 

 side of the Fern and Coquet Island, and arrived here early next morning. Such a voyage 

 in so small a vessel, must sp«ak in favour of his expeiiment. The advantages of i\Ir. 

 Dempstei 's invention, which he has published, are as follow :— The * Problem' is capable 

 of being made to turn round, as if on a pivot, without tven a sail being altered— attention 

 to sliilting of the helm when she takes a siernway, beiug alt that is necessary to perform 

 the evolution. The vessel can, with ease, be propelled stern foremost, and tacked or wore 

 in that direction. The fore and aft triangle-sails go round without touching a mast. It 

 is in these sails where the principal advantage rests in the rig. Under them a vessel pro- 

 perly managed, will never miss stays la the heaviest sea, or in the h'ghest wind. They 

 are well constructed for lying. to, backing, tilling, or box hauling: and it is his opinion 

 that these two sails may be applied to the largest size tishir.g boats, particularly those that 

 from their size are incapable of being rowed, but aie obliged to set and haul their lines 

 under sail. The hull of the vessel is angular, being 120 degrees at the central point below. ^ 

 — ' Newcastle Advertiser.' 



Windsor Castle. — It has just been determined by Her Majesty's Commis- 

 sioners of Woods and Forests to takedown the old and dilapidated houses in the Lower 

 Ward of Windsor Castle, the residence of the Military Knights, and known as the Lower 

 Foundation. It is in contemplation to form a noble terrace on the site of these houses, 

 to be open to the public, atfording extensive and highly picturesque views over St. Leo- 

 nard's and the Great Park. It is also in contemplation, we understand, to restore the 

 Salisbury Tower, agreeably to the original plans of the late Sir Jeffry Wyatvilie, and aa 

 they were approved of by George IV. When this has been accomplished it will afford a 

 convenient residence for three of the military Knights on the Lower Foundation. The 

 remaining two knights on that foundation will have apartments provided for them at the 

 upper end of Henry VI H's. gateway. No one unacquainted with the locality of the Royal 

 residence can form an idea of the splendid view which will be thrown open from the upper 

 grounds of the Castle by these arrangoments being carried into effect. It is hoped that 

 amongst other improvements, the unsightly and ruinous Horse-shoe cloisters will be razed 

 to the ground, so that the terrace may be extended beyond the Bell-tower. It will then 

 only remain to restore the Garter-tower, in order to effect one of the greatest improve, 

 mtnis ever produced in this portion of the erections connected with the Castle. Several 

 of the houses in Thames-street (portions of which are built over th6 old ditch of the Cas- 

 tlej have been recently purchased by the Crown, and the materials sold. The whole of 

 the remainder of the houses on the Castle side of the street will also be purchased as soon 

 as the necessary arrangements are made, from time to time, with the owners of the pro- 

 perty, by the CommlsBiouers of Woods and Foresti. The northern and eastern terracea 

 will then be extended round the Caatle. 



