On Tour With Thomas Telford

On Tour With Thomas Telford. Thomas Telford, an innovative and enterprising Scot, was the leading engineer of his generation. As the eighteenth century turned to the nineteenth his unprecedented use of iron produced two wonders of the world, Pont-cysyllte Aqueduct and the Menai Bridge. The great man spent his whole life travelling round his myriad projects: Chris Morris follows in his footsteps, celebrating the two hundred year old structures and frequently including a slice of modernity as a counterpoint. The strong graphic images in this book are presented with a conventional photographic quality. On Tour with Thomas Telford.

Thomas Telford, the son of a shepherd, was born in Westerkirk, Scotland in 1757. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a stonemason. He worked for a time in Edinburgh and in 1792, he moved to London where he was involved in building additions to Somerset House. Two years later, he found work at Portsmouth dockyard. In 1787, he became surveyor of public works for Shropshire. By this time, Telford had established a good reputation as an engineer and in 1790 was given the task of building a bridge over the River Severn at Montford. This was followed by a canal that linked the ironworks and collieries of Wrexham with Chester and Shrewsbury. This involved building an aqueduct over the River Dee. On the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Telford used a new method of construction consisting of troughs made from cast-iron plates and fixed in masonry. After the completion of the Ellesmere Canal Telford moved back to Scotland where he took control of the building of Caledonian Canal. Other works by Telford include the Menai Suspension Bridge (1819-1826) and the Katherine's Docks (1824-1828) in London. Telford was also an important road builder. He was responsible for rebuilding the Shrewsbury to Holyhead road and the North Wales coast road between Chester and Bangor. During his life, Telford built more than 1,000 miles of road, including the main road between London and Holyhead. Thomas Telford died in 1834. Thomas Telford.

In July 1802 Thomas Telford was requested by the Lords of the Treasury to make a survey of the interior of the Scottish Highlands the result of which he communicated in his report presented to Parliament in the following year. Thomas Telford and Dunkeld Bridge.