5th February 2005
"Thomas Telford 1757 – 1834 Scottish Engineer.
Bridge, Road and Canal Constructor"
By Charles Abdy a member of Probus Club of Ewell
Charles (left) gave a very comprehensive and well illustrated talk about Thomas Telford, the son of a Scottish shepherd who only had the basics of education by today’s standards. Thomas was then articled to a stone mason and luckily came under the gaze and tutelage of a wealthy client. He rose to eminence by accepting the technology of iron in place of stone and hence is held in awe whenever road engineering and bridge building is discussed. For his contributions to the science and engineering of crossing mountains and rivers in the most efficient, economical and speediest ways possible are legend.
Charles showed us some stunning pictures of villages and especially Church’s that had Telford’s design and experience as a stone worker and designer. Telford's accomplishments include his early work as surveyor of Shropshire, the county that straddles the English-Welsh border: the stone bridges over the River Severn at Montford, Buildwas and Bewdley all completed in the 1780's. In 1793, Telford began work as engineer for the Ellesmere Canal Company, completing his monumental aqueducts that carried the canal over the valleys of the rivers Ceiriog and Dee in North Wales.
In the early days of the industrial revolution canals were built to transport raw materials especially coal, cast and wrought iron and later steel used in manufactured goods to all parts of the UK. William Telford solved what seemed to be the insurmountable problem of taking the Shropshire Union Canal across the narrow, steep-sided Dee valley in North Wales. His answer was the justly famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct , the longest and highest in Britain. The name simply means, "Connecting Bridge"
Two of Telford's aqueducts shown on the left, the top one shows the later viaduct/railways bridge in the background, built higher and more ornamental at a later date, perhaps to emphasise the higher status of railways over the primitive and slow canals said Charles.
Completed in 1805, just after the Battle of Trafalgar, the 121-foot (36.8 metres) high aqueduct is 1007 feet in length (306.8 metres), carrying the canal in a completely water tight, cast-iron trough supported by 18 stone piers. It is a bit of a shock to see barges merrily and magically glide across an expanse of sky high above the valley below and its road to Chirk (where another Telford masterpiece, the Chirk Aqueduct, takes the canal across the River Ceiriog).
Charles showed the a range of locks able to lift the canal traffic responsible for the Caledonian Canal as Telford had left for Scotland, where he was responsible for the harbour works at Aberdeen, Dundee and other rapidly growing port cities as part of the lowlands industrialisation. In his homeland, he was responsible for building more than 850 miles of roads and associated bridges. He then moved westward, engineering the main highway from Shrewsbury and Chester all the way to Holyhead by carefully selected routes through rugged and barren countryside that provided the least gradient.
A nice photograph showed, Telford's suspension bridge over the River Conwy which seems to go right into the Edwardian Castle itself and decorated with stone to match the castle, we would say today environmentally friendly!. Its wrought-iron links that suspend the deck have hardly rusted. During the same year, Telford also completed his then famous bridge, but a few miles distant, The Menai Bridge (shown left), when built, the longest suspension bridge in the world. It takes the highway across the treacherous Menai Straits to link the Island of Anglesey with the mainland, again as part of the newly formed roads infrastructure.
Telford's works can be seen in many locations they include canals, canal tunnels in the north and the midlands, St. Katherine Docks in London and roads that formed a back bone for traffic. If any man made a difference to countless generations, it must be Thomas Telford. His work in improving highways and bridges, canals and road made much of the Industrial Revolution possible, for they provided means of transporting, men, machinery, raw materials and products.
Charles summarised as follows, towards the end of Telford’s life the start of steam railway engineering and the laying of a vast network of rail track, plus improved designs using the better material of steel meant that much of the canal system was overtaken by “new” technology, hence why perhaps Telford’s name does not perhaps rank with the better know master engineers such as Brunel and Stephenson?
The short summary does not do justice to the many details given by Charles, much of which was supported by a wide variety of photograph, not only of general views but of the close-up details of methods of construction, showing not only the materials available at that period but also the craft transition from wood joints and technology to the adoption of these proven method using the new material of iron.
Ken Robinson gave the vote of thanks after Charles had answered questions from the floor; the membership gave a generous thank-you Charles vote with our traditional applause.
