Thomas Telford ‘Colossus of Roads’ 1757 – 1834 By Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University Vice-Chairman Institution of Civil Engineers’ Panel for Historical Engineering Works Glendinning sheep farm, Dumfriesshire – Shepherd’s cottage site Telford 250 cairn commemoration 2007 Westerkirk Churchyard John Telford’s headstone carved by his son, the second named Thomas. John died three months after Thomas’s birth. Langholm Bridge c.1775-78 Telford – stonemason [c.1772-83] Langholm Bridge – mason mark Edinburgh Castle & Glasgow Union Canal terminus 1822 Telford – stonemason in Edinburgh 1780-81 Somerset House, London – Telford – stonemason 1782-84 Roman Baths at Wroxeter, Salop – Telford drawing 1788 Telford – architect [c.1783 – 1790s ] Bridgnorth Church, Salop 1795 Externally a regular Tuscan elevation, inside Ionic, surmounted by a Doric tower 115 ft high. Cost; £6827.11s.9d Bridgnorth Church interior – ‘regularly Ionic’ (Telford ) Ullapool, British Fisheries Society c.1790 Pulteney Town, Wick – harbours 1811,1825-34 (Telford) Argyll Square, Pulteney Town, Wick Montford Bridge Salop 1790-92 Telford first bridge as County Surveyor of Salop Bewdley Bridge, Salop 1795-98 Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct, Shrewsbury Canal 1795-96 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Ellesmere Canal 1794-1805 Telford – Civil Engineer Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Ellesmere Canal 1795-1805 ‘Supreme structural achievement of the Canal Age’ Telford’s wax seal ‘TT’ – on a letter of 1819 Iron Bridge, Coalbrookdale 1779 – 80, 100½ feet span, influenced Telford Buildwas Bridge, Salop – Telford 1796 – 130 ft span, low rise London Bridge - proposed 600ft cast iron span 1800-01 to 1820s. Not erected. Tongland Bridge, Kirkcudbright 1804-08 Note Gothic influence on Telford’s design which influenced some of Mitchell’s Highland Railway bridges Telford 250 commem -orative plaque Scotland: Showing roads, bridges, harbours, piers, canals & railways for which Telford was Engineer – 1790 -1834 – Said to have advanced civilization in the Highlands by a century Bonar Bridge 1812 – 150ft span ‘The first significant prefabricated iron bridge’ (Telford/Hazledine). Ten arches of this type erected in the UK over deep water as far south as Tewkesbury by 1830 Craigellachie Bridge 1812-14 ‘The earliest surviving prefabricated iron bridge’ Telford 250 commemoration visit 2007 Glenshiel Bridge 1817 – Telford’s standard Highland bridge design Dorret’s map 1750 - Military Road to Bernera Highland Roads Commissioners map 1821- Road to Skye Telford plan published in Highland Roads Commissioners’ Report 1821 – note cattle slip Kyle-Rhea cattle slip at ferry in 2009 Kyle-Rhea Ferry to Skye – mainland side 1936 Rhibuie Drove Road 1820 - where it now enters Loch Loyne (formed by Hydro-Electric Board in 1950s) c. 10¼ miles long, cost £7100 or £695 per mile inclusive of cutting, embankments, retaining walls, bridges, 60% more than the adjoining Glensheil Road finished first. This was road- making under great difficulties! One of Telford’s least altered Highland roads, now decaying. Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 – Telford October 2011. Typical retaining wall with batter Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 – Telford October 2011 Typical small bridge Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 – Telford October 2011 Rhibuie Drove Road 1819 Telford October 2011 Typical larger bridge – buttress added later? Rhibuie Road 1819 – Telford October 2011 View from arch Rhibuie Road 1819 - Telford October 2011 Loch Cluanie Rhibuie Road 1819 - Telford October 2011 Exposed running surface Rhibuie Road 1819 Telford October 2011 One of very few mile stones found - no numbering or lettering Rhibuie Road 1819 –Telford October 2011 Larger bridge with substantial retaining wall approaches – note batter Dunkeld Bridge 1808 – Telford’s largest Highland bridge Dunkeld Bridge interior Caledonian Canal plan 1804 – Loch Ness to Muirtown Locks Caledonian Canal – Corpach Sea Lock 1808-12 Caledonian Canal – Neptune’s Staircase, Banavie 1808-11 ‘this series of locks was then the world’s largest . The project significantly advanced canal engineering practice’ Moy turn-bridge Caledonian Canal – Ship being towed in Loch Oich c.1835 Laggan Cutting & Loch Ness St Katherine’s Dock, London 1829 St Katherine’s Dock under construction, London c.1828 Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal 1826-35 and other canals & the Holyhead Road Harecastle Tunnel – 1824-27 (nearly 3,000m long) Birmingham & Liverpool Junction – Stretton Aqueduct Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal – High Bridge, Woodseaves Note the very steep – sloped cutting typifying Telford’s bold practice to obviate lockage Ellesmere & Chester Canal and River Mersey – Ellesmere Port ‘a canal/seaport interchange peak of efficiency of the Canal Age’ Edinburgh & Glasgow Union - Avon Aqueduct 1822 Telford was the consulting engineer. Hugh Baird - engineer Telford’s Roads and Bridges in England & Wales - Holyhead Road 1815-29 Routes shown in broken lines were surveyed but not executed Telford’s ‘General Rules for Repairing Roads’ 1820 - Telford’s construction with hand-pitched road foundation (from 1829 drawing) Holyhead Road gates and mileposts Holyhead Road – Nant Ffrancon Pass, North Wales Menai Bridge suspended centring proposal circa 1810 – a novel concept by Telford Runcorn Suspension Bridge proposal – testing wires 1814 Runcorn Bridge proposal - model 1814 Runcorn Bridge proposal – 1814 Spans 500ft – 1000ft – 500ft Menai Suspension Bridge 1819-26 ‘established this genre as the most economic means of achieving the largest spans’ Conwy suspension bridge 1826 Glasgow and Carlisle Road 1815-25 Ecclefechan Bridge, Glasgow to Carlisle Road, 1826 Dinwoodie Toll House, Dumfriesshire on Glasgow to Carlisle Road 1822-23 Dinwoodie Toll House – Broad eaves Gretna Green Toll House – Marriage House Telford churches and manses – 1825-30 Ullapool Church Over Bridge, Gloucester 1826-28 Tewkesbury Bridge 1823-26 Glasgow Bridge 1833-35 – then widest in UK @ 60 ft - gently curving extrados, c. 3ft from ends to centre. Re-erected to same elevation 1894-99. Aberdeen granite reused. Foundation s 100 ft + deep. Dean Bridge, Edinburgh 1829-32 Dean Bridge Drawing 1832 Dean Bridge interior Dean Bridge interior – crown of arch Dean Bridge slenderness ‘with Glasgow Bridge a fitting crown to Telford’s creative life’ (Gibb) Dundee Harbour – ‘Mr Telford’s Plan’ 1822 Dundee Harbour c.1845 Note - only the lighthouse now remains! Author’s historical Dundee Harbour evolution of site for ‘Discovery Dock’ Aberdeen Harbour – North Pier Telford 250 Commemoration 2007 Aberdeen Harbour – North Pier 1815 Telford’s recreation – going to see Dorothea Jordan in a play - for example in the farce ‘The Devil to Pay’ Westminster Abbey Telford’s grave 1834 and statue .