CHAP. IV. 



RENNIE'S CANALS. 



149 



Kendal ; the total length of the main line being 75 f miles, 

 and the branches two miles more. The aqueduct over the 

 Lune is the principal architectural work on the canal, con- 

 sisting of five semicircular arches of 75 feet span each ; 

 the soffits being 50 feet, and the surface of the canal 

 62 feet above the average level of the river. The 

 total length of the aqueduct which forms a prominent 

 feature in the landscape is 600 feet. The whole is 

 built of hard sandstone, the masonry being in imitation 

 of rockwork, the top surmounted by a handsome Doric 

 cornice and balustrade. It exhibits, in fine combina- 

 tion, the important qualities of strength, durability, and 

 elegance in design ; and even at this day it will bear 

 a favourable comparison with the best works of its kind 

 in the kingdom. 



Mr. Bennie continued throughout his life to be 

 extensively consulted as a canal engineer. 1 Though 

 navigations were then mostly valued for purposes of 

 internal communication, he seems early to have appre- 

 ciated the uses of the railway, if not as a substitute for 

 them, at least as an adjunct. Thus, when laying out a 

 new branch of the Grand Trunk Canal at Henley, in 

 the Potteries, he recommended the addition of a short 

 descending railway, connecting the navigation directly 



1 The following canal works of Mr. 

 Ronnie may be mentioned : The 

 Aberdeen and Inverarie, 12 miles 

 long, laid out and constructed by him 

 in 1796-7 ; the Calder Reservoirs and 

 improvement of the Trent and Mersey 

 Canal at Rudyard Valley, near Leek, 

 1797-8 ; a branch of the Grand Trunk 

 Canal to Henley, with a railway con- 

 necting it with the manufactories. 

 He also made elaborate reports on the 

 Leominster Canal (1798) ; on the 

 Chelmer and Black water Navigation ; 

 Somersetshire and Dorsetshire Canal ; 

 Homcastle Navigation; River Foss 

 Navigation; Polbrook Canal (1799); 

 Rotherhithe and Croydon; Thames 

 and Medway (1800) ; and River Lea 

 Navigation (1 804) . Among the works 



surveyed by him, but which were not 

 carried out, were these : a canal through 

 the Weald of Kent (1802-3) ; a ship- 

 canal between the Thames and Ports- 

 mouth (1803) ; a ship-canal between 

 the Medway and Portsmouth (1810) ; 

 a ship-canal from Chichester Harbour 

 to Chichester (1804); and a ship- 

 canal from Bristol to the English 

 Channel (1811). He was also em- 

 ployed by the Gloucester and Berkeley 

 Canal Company, the Birmingham 

 Canal Company, and the Leeds and 

 Liverpool Canal Company, as their 

 consulting engineer ; and various im- 

 portant improvements in these navi- 

 gations were earned out by his advice 

 and under his superintendence. 



