The Royal S ociety of Edinburgh The 250th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Telford The RSE: Educational Charity & Scotland’s National Academy 22-26 George Street Edinburgh EH2 2PQ e-mail: [email protected] Collected papers from a commemorative Tel. 0044 (0)131 240 5000 Minicom: (0)131 240 5009 conference held on 2 July 2007 www.royalsoced.org.uk Cover Image: Esk or ‘Metal’ Bridge (1822-1916) on the Glasgow to Carlisle Road [10th Report of Commissioners for Repair of Roads and Bridges in Scotland. House of Commons, 25 March 1824] CONTENTS Acknowledgements.................................................................................2 Preface....................... ..................................................................................4 Editorial.........................................................................................................5 Programme..............................................................................................6 Speakers’ Papers..........................................................................................8 Appendix One: Biographies ...................................................................51 The 250th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Telford: 2 July 2007 Conference organiser: Mr Duncan Welsh © The Royal Society of Edinburgh: July 2007 ISBN: 978 0 902198 40 1 Requests to reproduce all or part of this document, larger print versions or more copies, should be submitted to: Stuart Brown The Royal Society of Edinburgh 22-26 George Street Edinburgh EH2 2PQ e-mail: [email protected] Tel: 0044 (0)131 240 5000 Minicom: 0044 (0)131 240 5009 www.royalsoced.org.uk Opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily represent the views of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, nor its Fellows. 1 The Royal Society of Edinburgh wish to acknowledge the support of 2 and thank the Organising Committee: Mr Bob Kibble Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh Mr David Lockwood Dumfries and Galloway Council Professor John Mavor FRSE FREng (chairman) Vice-President, The Royal Society of Edinburgh Mr Graeme Munro Former Director and CEO, Historic Scotland Professor Roland Paxton FRSE Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh 3 Preface Thomas Telford FRS FRSE (1757-1834) Thomas Telford was a pioneering civil engineer, whose enormous legacy of roads, bridges, canals and harbours, has stood the test of time and is still in widespread use by the travelling public today. Born the son of a shepherd in Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, in 1757 and honoured by being buried in Westminster Abbey in 1834, he led a productive life constructing impressive structures across Britain – from the Caledonian Canal in Scotland to the Menai Suspension Bridge in Wales – to projects further afield, in Sweden, Poland, Panama, Canada and India. Telford was a key figure in the establishment of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 1818, he became its first President in 1820. In recognition of his prolific genius, Telford became a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) in 1803, having been nominated by three Fellows – Professors John Playfair and Dugald Stewart, and Dr. James Gregory – all associated with the Scottish Enlightenment, and the founding of the Society in 1783 for the “advancement of learning and useful knowledge”. They would have been truly impressed with his ability to turn then unimaginable feats of engineering into awe-inspiring realities, through his vision and practical skills. The RSE decided to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of its most famous Fellows in a Conference, having broad appeal to experts and the public alike, and devoted to his achievements. This booklet contains summaries of the papers read by the speakers at this celebratory event, and is a keepsake for the delegates. A small group, under my direction, helped to plan the Conference – within the context of UK-wide Telford celebrations, coordinated by Michael Chrimes, Head of Knowledge Transfer at the ICE – once the Meetings Committee of the RSE, chaired by Professor David Ingram, had given the go-ahead. The technical programme was under the direction of Professor Roland Paxton, FRSE, FICE, Honorary Professor at the School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, and Vice-Chairman of the ICE’s Panel for Historical Engineering Works. Others who contributed to my organising group included: Professor Quentin Leiper, then Senior Vice president of the ICE; Graeme Munro, Former Director and CEO, Historic Scotland; Alan Muirden, RCAHMS; Michael Chrimes, ICE; Nat Edwards, Education & Interpretive Services Manager, National Library of Scotland; David Lockwood, Museums Manager, Dumfries & Galloway Council; and, Lia Brennan, former Events Officer at the RSE. Professor John Mavor FRSE FREng Vice-President, RSE (Physical & Engineering Sciences) 4 Editorial In drawing up this conference programme, hopefully to attract the informed general public, the emphasis has been not only to promote and add to knowledge of Telford’s immense achievement from recent research, both nationally and internationally, but also to review its present-day relevance and significance, all within the incredibly tight limitations of a one-day event. The first session is almost entirely on the theme of identifying and managing Telford’s thriving canal legacy in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Canada. The second session commences with a overview of the work of the Royal Commission of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland [RCAHMS], Scotland’s premier body for recording the historic built environment in Scotland. The Commission has cooperated with the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Panel for Historical Engineering Works [PHEW], on the recording of such Telford works as land reclamation, canals, roads, bridges, harbours, and water supply. This overview is complemented by presentations on Telford’s harbour work and Highland churches. In the third session the theme is more general, commencing with an American perspective on Telford’s bridge work and its influence, and continuing with a review of his London to Holyhead Road, the equivalent of a modern motorway, which fundamentally influenced road construction for 1½ centuries. This session concludes with an overview of Telford’s ubiquitous Scottish road and bridge work, including his largest Highland bridge at Dunkeld. The final session outlines Telford’s iron bridge mastery in extending bridge spans by means of a standard, light-weight cast iron arch, and the achievement of landmark structures at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the Llangollen Canal and the world’s first great suspension bridge at Menai Straits which increased bridge spans some six-fold. Menai Bridge established the suspension bridge as the means of achieving the longest spans. This is exemplified today by the world’s longest span suspension bridge at Akashi Straits, the subject of the closing keynote lecture from Japan. The Society is greatly indebted to the speakers, all leading authorities on their subjects, for coming, for their outstanding contributions and for providing, instead of the usual abstracts, these so much more acceptable mini-versions of their lectures. Also for making them available in time for publication at the conference. I should also like to acknowledge the invaluable support in implementing the programme from our chairman Professor Mavor, the Society’s supporting staff, not least Duncan Welsh in preparing this publication, and our eminent chairmen from the Institution of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Professor Roland Paxton FRSE Honorary Professor, Department of Civil & Offshore Engineering, Heriot-Watt University Vice-Chairman, ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works 5 CONFERENCE PROGRAMME 08.45 Registration and Coffee 09.05 Opening Remarks and Introduction of the President Professor John Mavor FRSE FREng, Vice-President, Royal Society of Edinburgh 09.10 RSE Welcome Sir Michael Atiyah OM FRS HonFREng HonFMedSci HonFRSE HonFFA PRSE THEME 1: CANALS Chairperson: Professor Quentin J Leiper President, Institution of Civil Engineers 09.20 Refurbishing Telford’s Legacy on the Caledonian and Crinan Canals George Ballinger Head of Engineering - Technical, British Waterways 09.45 Preservation of Pont Cysyllte Aqueduct - Supreme Structural Achievement of the Canal Age Mark Duquemin, Asset and Programme Manager, British Waterways, Wales and Border Counties 10.10 Von Platen and Telford’s Gotha Canal, Sweden, 175 Years On Claes-Göran Österlund Director, AB Göta Kanalbolag 10.35 Telford’s Canadian Work Alistair MacKenzie Past-President, The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering 11.00 Tea and Coffee THEME 2: GENERAL AND HARBOURS Chairperson: Drew Hill Chairman, Institution of Civil Engineers East of Scotland Region 11.20 Recording Telford’s Work for the National Monument Record of Scotland Dr Miles Oglethorpe Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland 11.45 Telford’s Harbours from Northern Scotland to St Katharine’s Dock, London Mike Chrimes Head of Knowledge Transfer, Institution of Civil Engineers 6 12.10 Telford’s Highland Churches and Manses The Very Rev Allan Maclean of Dochgarroch 12.35 Lunch THEME 3: GENERAL AND ROADS Chairperson: Allen Beene Representative of the President, American Society of Civil Engineers 13.40 An American Perspective on Telford Professor Henry Petroski Chairman, ASCE History and Heritage Committee, Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University 14.05 Telford’s London to Holyhead