456 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January, 



of giving between it and the rock a site for buildings, and other conveniences 

 necessary for connexion with the packets. This is drawn to go southward 

 from the west end of the harbour wall, at A on the plan, and to extend to D, 

 a length of nearly 200 yards. The amount of the works I have described 

 to form this packet station is estimated at £120,000. 



Secondly.— A harbour of refuge is supposed to be obtained by forming a 

 sloping breakwater (from B to C on the plan) 600 yards in continuation of 

 the pier. The area sheltered from the worst winds, and of which no part 

 would have less than 12 feet water at low water, is about 100 acres, which 

 from the apparent facility of procuring stone, » might be executed for about 

 £90,000. Thus the engineering works for the packet harbour and refuge 

 harbour would be £210,000, exclusive of all other buildings and accommo- 

 dation, the expence of which would raise the total cost above that for all the 

 works which I have designed for Holyhead, and then Porth-dyn-llaen would 

 be more contracted in quay room, and inferior in other conveniences, but 

 would have a larger deepwater harbour. * * * 



The relative positions of Holyhead and Porth-dyn-llaen harbours, and the 

 adjacent coast lighthouses, are shown on drawing No. 3. The advocates for 

 Porth-dyn-llaen place in the foreground the objection that Holyhead is often 

 in fog, and point to the excellent land mark afforded by the " rivels," and 

 other high ground in the bay. The reply from the other side is, that there 

 is deep water to the foot of the " head," which is often clear when the sum- 

 mit is in a fog; that it is the land-mark which is of all others best known, 

 which a seaman coming into the channel generally attempts to make : tliat 

 the rivels in Caernarvon Bay are not to be seen in foggy and thick weather 

 until approaching them, when if a mistake has been made, it is difficult to 

 correct it ; and that the rivels at the bottom of the bay, are by no means 

 equal to the head at the projecting point, as a land mark. * * 



On referring to the objections to Holyhead, it may be noticed that they 

 chiefly apply to the harbour as it is. Now, if the measures I have proposed 

 would remedy these defects, which I think they would do, and render it 

 nearly a perfect packet station and harbour of refuge, it is in this improved 

 state that it should be compared with Porth-dyn-llaen in its improved state; 

 for, in a national question of this kind, the true policy I take to be, to select 

 what is capable of being made the best, and if there has been an error in 

 hitherto using Holyhead, to proceed no further, but at once to adopt Porth- 

 dyn-llaen. After, however, doing the best in my power in planning for both 

 places, and supposing the land facilities equal, I have been unable to discover 

 anything like sufficient grounds for preferring improved Porth-dyn-llaen to 

 improved Holyhead for a packet station ; I should say this if the sea dis- 

 tance were equal, which is not the case, Holyhead being nearer by six geo- 

 graphical or seven statute miles. Sir JamesGordon and Captain Beechey 

 state the virtual difference in making the passage, owing to the influence of 

 the tides and to clear the kish sand, as several miles greater than the actual 

 difference ; and on the average of cases the fact will, as I have said before, 

 be so. 



If, then, Holyhead be the better station, independently of the town, the 

 pier, the dock, the government yard, and the present land communication — 

 all these come in to add to the weight of the arguments in its favour — 1 do 

 not think it possible to have at Porth-dyn-llaen so convenient a site for a 

 dock-yard establishment, as I have them upon the plan on west side of the 

 proposed new harbour at Holyhead. For these purposes also, the nearer dis- 

 tance of Holyhead to Liverpool by sea, for the conveyance of materials, is a 

 consideration. 



Notwithstanding all this, a harbour at Porth-dyn-llaen, on the plan I have 

 proposed, would be found very useful as a harbour of refuge for wind-bound 

 vessels, or ships in distress, driven into or near to Caernarvon Bay, or going 

 to Caernarvon, or to the Menai Straits for cargo, and waiting to cross the 

 bar. * * * * * * 



The Railway. — I have now to comply with the part of your instructions 

 that has reference to the communication by railway from the two harbours, 

 and. as I have already stated, this branch must be imperfect, from mv not 

 having vet received any plans of an inland or south line. To the coast line 

 I have given considerable attention. Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Giles have 

 each proposed a line from Chester to Holyhead, and each has been reported 

 on in detail by Sir F. Smith, and Professor Barlow. I have marked npo 

 Ordnance sheets which will be delivered with this report, Mr. Stephenson's line 

 by yellow, and Mr. Giles's by red lines. Nearly the same line was suggested, 

 and is described by Mr. Vignoles, in his report of .November, 1837, to the 

 Commissioners for inquiring into the subject of railwavs in Ireland. 



Both lines, after leaving Chester, follow the west shore of the estuary of 

 the Dee, through Flint, pass under Holywell to Mostvn quav, go round inside 

 the point of Air, thence straight to the south of Rhyl, and continue ahmg 

 the coast until Within a few miles of Conway, when they proceed to the 

 south side of Conway ; after passing which, they again approach the coast, 

 and continue along it to near Penrhyn Park, which they leave on the north 

 or sea-side, and proceed through or near Bangor to the present Menai Bridge, 

 after crossing which they leave the turnpike-road to get to the low ground 

 on the south side of Anglesea, the greatest distance from the road being at 

 two miles west of Mona, where they are 3) miles to the south. From this 

 point they again approach gradually the turnpike-road near Holvhead. 



My decided opinion of the railway, as of the harbour, is that the best line 



' I have not supposed any stone to be taken from the Portb-dyn-llacn 

 Point, which it would be injudicious to do. 



should be selected : and that the railway should be made in a good manner 

 as a great public work. I believe that the cheapest way might be to do the 

 work well, even if the traffic expected upon it were for some time small ; hut 

 I think the traffic upon this line will be great and increasing ; iudeed, that 

 for all but the lowest class of passengers, it will be the general mode of con- 

 veyance from all parts of Ireland to England. The north of Ireland is the 

 most out of its influence, and yet five hours between Belfast and London will 

 be saved by going by the railway from Belfast to Dublin when completed, 

 crossing to Holyhead, and then taking the railway to London. The case for 

 the south and west of Ireland would, of course, be still stronger. Then there 

 is the trade of passengers and goods to and from Holyhead, should the har- 

 bour be extended and used as I have referred to. It is a mistake, therefore, 

 to suppose, that carrying the mails will be the principal business, or that the 

 mail-trains will be the only trains. The Holyhead and Chester line, if this 

 be the line finally adopted, may, when it has attained the same maturity, be 

 nearly as good a line for trade as some of the lines which it will join now 

 are ; and that it will be at once a valuable tributary to all of them, cannot 

 be doubted. I name the above, from seeing in Mr. Bidder's evidence on 

 Mr. Stephenson's plan, that there has been a proposal of haviug only one 

 line, w ith passing places ; an expedient which may have a saving in the first 

 cost to recommend it ; but which the danger, the difficulty of repairing, the 

 uncertainty, and the delay, ought much to outweigh. Also, in place of the 

 very circuitous lines which have been proposed at Bangor, and the Menai 

 Straits, and drawing the trains by horses, or by a fixed engine, up the slope 

 and along the present bridge, which was built, and should be kept for a turn- 

 pike road, I think the line should be continued direct to the Straits, and the 

 Straits crossed by an arched bridge built for the railway. The unfitness for 

 a railway, uf the present suspension-bridge, which is approached by a slope 

 of 1 in 25 ; the interference by engines and trains with the present use of it, 

 which interference will, I am sure, be more frequent and annoying than ap- 

 pears to have been contemplated ; the delay at all times, and particularly in 

 stormy weather; the having to cross Bangor with an embankment of 70 feet 

 in the deepest part ; the numerous curves to reach the bridge, and the repe- 

 tition of similar curves on the Anglesea side, are all objectionable. I think 

 neither the Holyhead road, nor the Menai bridge, should be injuriously in- 

 terfered with. The district, and the traveller who does not wish to go at 

 railway speed, ought not to be deprived of the facilities they have had upon 

 the turnpike roads, which the change of fashion may make more used than 

 they are at present, besides being some check upon tendency to monopoly 

 and its effects. I have shown the circuitous line, and the more direct line 

 recommended by me upon the accompanying plan (No. 4). The railway 

 bridge may cross at the Swelly or Gorred Goch rocks. The position and 

 width of the latter are taken from a survey by Mr. Vignoles; tliey arc nearest 

 the direct line. The late Mr. Kennie and Mr. Telford both proposed fixed 

 bridges over the Straits; the cost was, I believe, the objection. The iron- 

 work of bridges may now be done at half the cost, and the traffic will be 

 very much greater than was then calculated upon. 



I think Mr. Stephenson's plan- of terminating on the west, better than 

 that of Mr. Giles, which takes the east side of Holyhead harbour. Mr. Giles' 

 plan of leaving the Chester and Crewe line before reaching the city of 

 Chester, is much to be preferred to Mr. Stephenson's, which passes to the 

 west of the city, and turns back through it by curves and works of consider- 

 able difficulty. These, if not objectionable to the citizens, are of an expen- 

 sive nature. The distance from Holyhead to London, and to all the principal 

 towns, excepting Liverpool, is one mile shorter by Mr. Giles' than by Mr. 

 Stephenson's plan here ; and of all places, Liverpool is, from having the 

 direct sea communication to Dublin, least interested in the question. By 

 Mr. Giles' line there is one mile less of "railway to make here. The accom- 

 panying plan (No. 5) shows the directions of the two lines near Chester. 

 Short tunnels through the points of Penman Back and Penmau Mawr will, 

 in my opinion, be preferable, in respect of despatch and safety, to embanking 

 outside the perpendicular cliffs, which are heavily struck by the seas. The 

 gradients for both lines are unobjectionable. A very detailed and clear 

 account of each line is given in Sir F. Smith's and Professor Barlow's report, 

 which contains also a proof of the sufficiency, as a question of statistics, of 

 the chains of the Meuai Bridge to carry the railway trains. Mr. Stephenson's 

 line, through Anglesea, is not so straight as Mr. Giles', but the difference in 

 cost would, in some places, be greater than the advantage by the straightness; 

 a medium course may he the best. Near the Menai and approaching Holy- 

 head, Mr. Stephenson appears to keep unnecessarily near the road for the 

 safety of travellers upon it. 



I avoid troubling you with further details. If the Government be a party 

 to any contract, the line as well as the terms will, no doubt, be settled with 

 due reference to the public in the conveyance of passengers as well as mails. 

 If the harbour works be done in a good manner at the public expense, the 

 railway to it should correspond ; whatever is expended in improving and 

 enlarging the harbour will be beneficial to the railway by increasing the 

 traffic upon it; and if the railway is to he made by a Joint-stock Company, 

 there will, I apprehend, be no difficulty at present in obtaining offers from 

 parties who would be ready, with the aid of a fair compensation for carrying 

 the mails, to undertake the work upon a plan approved by the Government. 



- If there is any inaccuracy in my statement of Mr. Stephenson's line, it 

 must be ascribed in part to my not receiving from him any explanation of 

 his line, beyond what the documents which he had previously sent in afforded 



