Thomas
Telford
Thomas Telford (August 9, 1757 - September 2, 1834)
was born in Westerkirk, Scotland. He was a stonemason, architect
and civil engineer - a noted road-, bridge- and canal- builder.
Early career
At
the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a stonemason, and some of his
earliest work can still be seen on the bridge across the river Esk
in Langholm in the Scottish borders. He worked for a time in Edinburgh
and in 1782 he moved to London where (after meeting architects Robert
Adam and Sir William Chambers) he was involved in building additions
to Somerset House. Two years later he found work at Portsmouth dockyard
and - although still largely self-taught - was extending his talents
to the specification, design and management of building projects.
In 1787, through his wealthy patron William Pulteney, he became
Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire, England. At this time,
'civil engineering' was a discipline still in its infancy, so Telford
was set on establishing himself as an architect. His projects included
renovation of Shrewsbury's Castle, the town's prison (during planning
of which he met leading prison reformer John Howard), a church (St
Mary Magdalene) in Bridgnorth and another at Madeley.
As county surveyor, Telford was also responsible for bridges. In
1790 he designed a bridge carrying the London-Holyhead road over
the Severn river at Montford, the first of some 40 bridges he built
in Shropshire, including major crossings of the Severn at Buildwas,
Bridgnorth and Bewdley. The Buildwas bridge was Telford's first
iron bridge (he was heavily influenced by the famous bridge at Ironbridge),
but was 30 ft (10 m) wider in span and half the weight. As his engineering
prowess grew, Telford was to return to this material again and again.
Ellesmere Canal
Telford's reputation in Shropshire led to his appointment in 1793
to manage the detailed design and construction of the Ellesmere
Canal, linking the ironworks and collieries of Wrexham via the north-west
Shropshire town of Ellesmere, with Chester (utilising the existing
Chester Canal), and then the River Mersey.
Among other structures, this canal involved building an aqueduct
over the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen; for the spectacular
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Telford used a new method of construction
consisting of troughs made from cast iron plates and fixed in masonry.
Eminent canal engineer William Jessop oversaw the project, but the
detailed execution of the project was very much left in Telford's
hands.
Engineer in demand
The Ellesmere Canal was finally completed in 1805 but alongside
his canal responsibilities, Telford's reputation as a civil engineer
meant he was constantly consulted on numerous other projects. These
included water supply works for Liverpool, improvements to London's
docklands and the rebuilding of London Bridge (c.1800).
Most notably (and, again, William Pulteney was influential in his
1801 appointment), Telford devised a masterplan to improve communications
in the Highlands of Scotland, a massive project that was to last
some 20 years. It included the building of the Caledonian Canal
along the Great Glen (and redesign of sections of the Crinan Canal),
some 920 miles of new roads, over a thousand new bridges, numerous
harbour improvements (including works at Aberdeen, Dundee, Peterhead
and Banff, to name but four), and 32 new churches.
Telford also undertook highway works in the Scottish Lowlands, including
184 miles of new roads and numerous bridges, ranging from a 112
ft (34 m) span stone bridge across the Dee at Tongueland in Kirkcudbright
(1805-1806) to the 129 ft (39 m) tall Cartland Crags bridge near
Lanark (1822).
Telford was consulted in 1806 by the King of Sweden about the construction
of a canal between Gothenburg and Stockholm. His plans were adopted
and construction of the Göta canal began in 1810. Telford travelled
to Sweden at that time to oversee some of the more important initial
excavations.
The 'Colossus of Roads'
During his later years, Telford was responsible for rebuilding sections
of the London to Holyhead road (a task completed by his assistant
of ten years, John MacNeill; today, the route is the A5 trunk road).
Between London and Shrewsbury, most of the work amounted to improvements
(including the Archway cutting in north London and improvements
at Barnet and South Mimms). Beyond Shrewsbury, and especially beyond
Llangollen, the work often involved building a highway from scratch.
Notable features of this section of the route include the iron bridge
across the River Conwy at Betws-y-Coed, the ascent from there to
Capel Curig and then the descent from the pass of Nant Ffrancon
towards Bangor.
On the island of Anglesey a new embankment across the Stanley Sands
to Holyhead was constructed, but the crossing of the Menai Straits
was the most formidable challenge, finally overcome by the Menai
Suspension Bridge (1819-1826).
Telford also worked on the north Wales coast road between Chester
and Bangor, including another major
suspension bridge at Conwy, opened later the same year as its counterpart
at Menai.
(The punning nickname Colossus of Roads was given to Telford by
his friend and Poet Laureate Robert Southey.)
Late career
Other works by Telford include the St Katharine Docks (1824-1828)
close to Tower Bridge in central London, the Gloucester and Berkeley
Ship Canal (today known as the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal),
the second Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal (1827),
and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal (today part of the
Shropshire Union Canal) - started in May 1826 but finished, after
Telford's death, in January 1835. At the time of its construction
in 1829, Galton Bridge was the longest single span in the world.
In 1820, Telford was appointed the first President of the recently
formed Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held until his
death. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Town of Telford
When a new town was being built in the Wrekin area of Shropshire
in 1968, it was named Telford in his honour.
Bibliography
Thomas Telford L. T. C. Rolt, Longmans (1958)
Ditto, Penguin (1979), ISBN 014022064X
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