224 .lolIX METCALF, ROAD MAKER. PART III. 



his new road. At another part of the contract there was 

 a bog to he crossed, and the surveyor thought it impos- 

 sible to make a road over it. Metcalf assured him that 

 he could readily accomplish it ; on which the other 

 offered, if he succeeded, to pay him for the straight road 

 the price that he would have to pay if the road were 

 constructed round the bog. Metcalf set to work accord- 

 ingly, and had a large quantity of furze and ling laid 

 upon the bog, over which he spread layers of gravel. 

 The plan answered effectually, and when the materials 

 had become consolidated, it proved one of the best parts 

 of the road. 



It would be tedious to describe in detail the construc- 

 tion of the various roads and bridges which Metcalf 

 subsequently executed, but a brief summary of the more 

 important will suffice. In Yorkshire, he made the roads 

 between Harrogate and Harewood Bridge ; between 

 Chapeltown and Leeds; between Broughton and Ad- 

 dingham ; between Mill Bridge and Halifax ; between 

 Wakefield and Dewsbury ; between Wakefield and Don- 

 caster ; between Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Saddle- 

 worth (the Manchester road); between Standish and 

 Thurston Clough ; between Huddersfield and Highmoor ; 

 between Huddersfield and Halifax, and between Knares- 

 borough and Wetherby. In Lancashire also he made a 

 large extent of roads, which were of the greatest import- 

 ance in opening up the communications of that count v. 

 Previous to their construction, almost the only means 

 of communication between districts were by horse-track's 

 and mill-roads, of sufficient width to enable a laden horse 

 to pass along them with a pack of goods or a sack of corn 

 slung across its back. Metcalf s principal roads in Lan- 

 cashire were those constructed by him between Bury 

 and Blackburn, with a branch to Accrington ; between 

 Bury and Haslingden ; and between Haslingden and 

 Accrington, with a branch to Blackburn. He also made 

 some highly important main roads connecting York si lire 



