274 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[August, 



stc]! In :h^- lucr : an.l if > ou nniiive il. it would l;e necessary also to remove 

 llie ilejiosit that HouliI Ijc accumulated. 



Mr. Joliii TImperley, formerly resident engineer of the Ayr anrl CnlJcr Na- 

 vigation, was then called to prove lliat in that Navigation the oblique weirs 

 were of no advantage, and that dredging to a great e.\tent «as still necessary. 

 and was now carried on at a oonsiderahle expense. The only portion of his 

 evidence relating to the matter before the Committee was the loUowing :— I 

 do not agree with Mr. Cubitt Ihat in floods the water will pass oft just as 

 freely as il his oblifjue weirs were not in the river at all— it is impossible. I 

 do not think Mr. Cubltt's weirs will be nearly strong enough. I have seen a 

 vessel washed over the top of the dam nn the Ayr and Calder, and it was not 

 a very unusual occurrence, as they could not always stop the boat; the rope 

 might slip or break, and ihen the boat would go over the dam. I have not 

 examined the Severn, but from what I have heard, 1 have no doubt the river 

 might be improved up to Worcester w ilhout weirs. If weirs are used they 

 should not be solid. 



Cross-examined \j Mr. Talbot.— I only know personally about the Severn, 

 from l)aving once driven over the Haw l^ridge. There are many mills on the 

 Ayr. The weirs were originally put in to keep up the water 'for the mills. 

 There are dam boards in these weirs, and if tliere is a heavy fresh it is difficult 

 to remove them. They require repairing sometimes. The Calder is a tortuous 

 liver. 



Re-examined by Mr. 'Wortley.— The Calder is a tortuous river, but the Ayr 

 is not. 



By Mr. fiodson. — The water at the highest floods goes straight over the 

 weir, but it goes at right angles wlien it is a moderate stream ; at six or seven 

 inches water it goes at right angles, but at six or seven feet it goes over 

 straight. lagreewiih Mr. M'alker thai it is possible, after dredging up to 

 Moreester to the depth of six feet, furiher to improve the river so that ships 

 might come up. 1 do not know the exact depth of the Gloucester & Berkeley 

 Canal. 



By Captain M'innington.- 1 believe tliat the Ayr and Calder Navigation is 

 not wider above the oblique weirs than at any other part. 



Mr. Fidljames, examined by Mr. Wood. I am an architect and engineer, 

 and am surveyor to the county of Gloucester. I have erected a bridge over 

 the Jsis, su]ierinlended the removal of the old Over Bridge, and have put up 

 large flood-gates on the Severn six miles above Gloucester, &c. 1 have been 

 cemployed by the landowners between Worcester and Gloucester to oppose 

 this measure, and have made observations accordingly. There are about 

 20,000 acres between Worcester and Gloucester under Hood water-mark, (or 

 the level of the banks) and the parties employing me own about half that 

 quantity. 1 have been used to the Severn all mv life, and from observations 

 made during the last ten or fifteen years, I find' that, on an average, there 

 is one summer flood in five years, tliree land floods per annum, and three 

 winter floods in two years. Summer floods are wholly injurious, and so are 

 back water or land floods, but the winter floods are sometimes useful, inas- 

 much as Ihey dej^sit a sediment which is beneficial. In 1839 the whole crop 

 of hay on this extent of land was either carried away or destroyed. The loss 

 «as about 3/. per acre, and nearly the whole tract is grass land. I believe 

 that the weir at I plon would cause a flood to overflow these low lands for 

 miles, which would not ri.se above the banks if there were no weir there. 

 [Here the witness statcl, in answer to various questions, that he entirely 

 agreed w ith Mr. Walker's evidence, and on Mr. Pryme informing Mr. Wood 

 that tht? weir at Upton « as abandoned, he turned his attention' to the im- 

 provemmt as eflected by dredging up to Diglis.] I do not approve of Mr. 

 tubitt s mode of dredging, because he does not take the centre of the stream, 

 as proposed by Mr. Walker; by dredging near the banks they would be 

 liable to slip in. I do not ap[irove of the mode of forming the'side walls, 

 because there would not be enough stuff to fill up the space between the 

 walls and the banks. I should not recommend the landowners to assent to 

 Mr. Cubitt s plan of dredging up to Diglis, suppc sing that the weir was not 

 putm at I.' plon. Mr. KulTjames was further examined, but his evidence 

 mainly coincided with that of Mr. Walker 



Cross-examined by Mr. Craig.-The 10,000 acres I spoke of are subject to 

 floods. I Ihnik about 200 of them belong to Mr. Hyett. They are about 

 ten mi es from the proposed weir at Upton Ham. Part of them are H mile 

 from the Severn. About 000 acres belong to Mr. Fulljames, a near relation 

 of mine. A boiU 158 acres belong to Mr. Yorke. They are all below flood 

 mark, arid are o miles below the proposed weir. The witness was examined 

 at considerable engih. but his evidence was merely a repetition of what has 

 been alreaily piibliihed in that of other witnesses. In answer to questions 

 by hir VV. Kae he said ;— By doing away with the weir at Upton, steam tugs 

 could come up to Diglis. Vessels lugged by a steamer would require thr?e 

 men for general piirposes. Steam boats have been tried on the river, but 

 were discontinued for want of water. 



Mr. Cubitt was recalled by the Committee, and confirmed his former evi- 

 dence. In answer to .(ucstions by Mr. Bailey, he said— I ,im not aware of 

 tlie length of the drains of W„rce.ster nor of the fall.— (Mr Bailey then 

 stated the dimension .and fall.) I do not think, if such ;s the dimension and 

 fall. ..ur work.s will aflect it 1 think covering up the mouth of the drain 

 would be beneficial rather than oiherwise. as it would prevent the effluvia 

 from reaching the city. It is i.ossible to widen the river to so great a width 

 and to put in a weir across it at so great a length that it sh.all be able to take 

 the whole water of the river at summer tune or flood lime- therefore -is- 

 sumiiig 1 make a weir of great length across the bed of the river, and widen 

 out the river lo admit free access to the weir, and make the weir so long tliat 

 SIX inches of water along the weir should be of a sectional area eiiu.al to the 

 whole of the r ver, of the same heightabove and below the weir; and itmust 

 beevidcntto those who think about it, that there is as much water way at the 

 lieiglit of two feet six inches as in any cross section of the river above or be- 

 ow, at any dead level. It is, therefore, possible to make a weir which sh.all 

 be an obstruction to a certain height, and after Ihal height shall be no ob- 

 fM"'/'".'-.. ,"'*"■""' 'lie weir consists not in its obliquity but its length. 

 (Mr.uibitt then produced a model to show the amount of obstruction that 

 would be occasioned by llie weirs, the details of which he explained to the 



Committee.) He .alsos;iid iliat he e.u.t.i , ■,. , .■.^■•„.-iouuque 



or .ii."». — !•:.■■ -i/iiiu iioi aitt/tt tne stream at all ; others might say it could 

 not be effected, but it was a fact which could not be affected by their state- 

 mentsr I could produce a model in which water could pass over a weir, but 

 I have an objection lo do so, since they never act well on any scale. 1 have 

 lieard dredging down the centre of the stream mentioned as preferable to my 

 plan ; my only objection to it would be its expense ; 1 kept expense constantly 

 in view in my arrangement. I said in my cross-examination that it was 

 feasible to dredge up to Worcester. Vie could sooner build a lock and weir 

 at Upton than we could dredge from Upton to Worcester; dredging would 

 take one season more. It does not appear to me that there is any mateiial 

 objection to that plan being followed. It would be impracticable' to dredge 

 from Worcester to Stourport : millions might do it, but hundreds of thousands 

 would not ; it would be quite out of question to dredge to the Dog and Duck 

 on account of the fall. With six feet navigation over the lock sills, vessels 

 from 80 to 120 tons could come up from the sea, through the Gloucester and 

 Berkeley Canal, up to M'orcester and Stourport; steam boats could pass 

 through the leaks without difficulty. If ihe bill passed I should be content 

 to confine myself to one lock and weir this winter, and in the spring I would 

 commence the others together. I think it woidd be best to commence below 

 Worcester; I would engage to get the Diglis lock completed before Clirist- 

 mas. Suppose the bill passed, omitting the Upton weir, I would put all the 

 lower Severn in a fit state for dredging by that time. 1 would finish the 

 Diglis lock and weir at the same time ; and 1 would be content that further 

 operations should depend upon the effect of those works. 



By Mr. Lowndes. — 1 admit the level near Lord Sandys's drain may be 

 raised 18 inches. 



Mr. Cubitt and Mr. Giles then entered into mutual discussion and explana- 

 tion as lo the effect of the works upon the drainage at Holtflcet and the .Sal- 

 warp, when it appeared that in consequence of the section being very small, 

 Mr. Giles had supposed the hne representing the level formed hj the Bevere 

 Island weir to be horizontal, whereas in fact it sloped one inch per mile. 



The Committee came to the following resolution : — 



" That the preamble of the Bill is proved ;" and then proceeded to con- 

 sider the Bill clause by clause. The Bill was idtimalely postponed until next 

 ■Session, in consequence of the early conclusion of the Session, 



REVIEVrS. 



The True Principles of Pointed or Clirisiian Architecture : Bet forth in 

 Two Lictures, dilivired at St. Mlarie's, Oscolt. By A. Welbv Pugin, 

 Architect and Professor of Ecclesiastictl Antiquities in that CcUege. 

 Small 4to. London: J. Weale, lS-11. 



That this new work of Mr. Welby Pugin's will excite much interest, 

 both amone his professional brethren, and amateurs, may be confidently 

 pronounced by us beforehand, since whatever comes from him must 

 command attention ; but that it will please every one is more than we 

 dare assert; or rather we are certain that a good deal in it will prove 

 unpalateable to a good many folks. By not a few, this volume — and 

 a very handsome and tasteful volume it is — will be opened with 

 anxious misgivings and apprehensions for themselves and their pro- 

 ductions, since Mr. Pugin is known to be a tolerably plain-spoken man, 

 and if anything rather overstrict than at all lax in his critical opinions. 

 He is not one of those who keep beating about the bush, who fearful 

 of giving offence, or of being thought too severe, rather hint at than 

 utter what may be unpalateable trutlis. On the contrary, he gives 

 free utterance to what he tliinks, and he both thinks and speaks to the 

 purpose ; consequently what he does say must ou that very account be 

 all the more provoking to those who woidd be exceedingly glad to be 

 able to gainsay not a little that his book contains. 



Among tlie malcontents will be those who have been taught, or who 

 teach others to look upon c/ass/ca/ architecture, as the very perfection 

 of the art — as its culminating point both in taste and genius, and who 

 even consider it to be the highest merit of us moderns to be able to 

 transplant a portico from a Grecian or Roman temple. The follow ing 

 extract will at once convince our readers, that Mr. Pugin will scanda- 

 lize those whose orthodoxy is of the above kind. 



Grecian architecture is essentially wooden in its construction ; it originated 

 in Kooden buildings, and never did its professors possess either suflicient 

 imagination or skill to conceive any departure from the original type. \'itni- 

 vius shows that their buildings were formerly composed of trunks of trees, 

 with lintels or brestsummers laid across the top, and rafters again resting on 

 them. This is at once the most ancient and barbarous mode of building that 

 can be imagined ; it is heavy, and, as I before said, essentially wooden ; but 

 is it not extraordinary that when the Greeks commenced btuldiiig in stone, 

 the properties of this material d'l! not suggest to them some different and 

 improved mode o/ construction ' Such, however, was not the case ; they set 

 up stone pillars as they had set up trunks of wood ; they laid stone lintels as 

 they had laid wood ones, //«/ nc)-o.vs,- they even made the construction appear 

 still more similar to wood, by carving triglyphs, which are merely a repre- 

 sentation of the beam ends. The finest temple of the Greeks is constructed 

 on the same principle as a large wooden cabin. As illustrations of history 



