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Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed the 'Colossus of Roads' (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes), and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death.
The town of Telford in Shropshire was named after him.
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 Dumfries and Galloway. 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 there. Two years later he found work at HMNB Portsmouth 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 in Shropshire. His projects included renovation of Shrewsbury Castle, the town's prison (during the planning of which he met leading prison reformer John Howard), the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth and another church, St Michael's, in Madeley. Called in to advise on a leaking roof at St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury in 1788, he warned the church was in imminent danger of collapse; his reputation was made locally when it collapsed three days later, but he was not the architect for its replacement.
As the Shropshire county surveyor, Telford was also responsible for bridges. In 1790 he designed Montford Bridge carrying the London–Holyhead road over the River Severn at Montford, the first of some 40 bridges he built in Shropshire, including major crossings of the Severn at Buildwas, and Bridgnorth. The bridge at Buildwas was Telford's first iron bridge. He was influenced by Abraham Darby's bridge at Ironbridge, and observed that it was grossly over-designed for its function, and many of the component parts were poorly cast. By contrast, his bridge was wider in span and half the weight, although it now no longer exists. He was one of the first engineers to test his materials thoroughly before construction. As his engineering prowess grew, Telford was to return to this material repeatedly.
In 1795, the bridge at Bewdley in Worcestershire was swept away in the winter floods and Telford was responsible for the design of Bewdley Bridge. The same winter floods saw the bridge at Tenbury also swept away. This bridge across the River Teme was the joint responsibility of both Worcestershire and Shropshire and the bridge has a bend where the two counties meet. Telford was responsible for the repair to the northern (Shropshire) end of the bridge.
Among other structures, this involved the spectacular Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen, where Telford used a new method of construction consisting of troughs made from cast iron plates and fixed in masonry. Extending for over with an altitude of above the valley floor, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct consists of nineteen arches, each with a span. Being a pioneer in the use of cast-iron for large scaled structures, Telford had to invent new techniques, such as using boiling sugar and lead as a sealant on the iron connections. Canal engineer William Jessop oversaw the project but left the detailed execution of the project in Telford's hands. The aqueduct was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
The same period also saw Telford involved in the design and construction of the Shrewsbury Canal. When the original engineer, Josiah Clowes, died in 1795, Telford succeeded him. One of Telford's achievements on this project was the design of Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct, the cast-iron aqueduct at Longdon-on-Tern, pre-dating that at Pontcysyllte, and substantially bigger than the UK's first cast-iron aqueduct, built by Benjamin Outram on the Derby Canal just months earlier. The aqueduct is no longer in use, but is preserved as a distinctive piece of canal engineering.
The Ellesmere Canal was left uncompleted in 1805 because it failed to generate the revenues needed to finance the connecting sections to Chester and Shrewbury. However, 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 1801 Telford devised a master plan 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 of new roads, over a thousand new bridges (including the Craigellachie Bridge), numerous harbour improvements (including works at Aberdeen Harbour, Dundee, Peterhead, Wick, Portmahomack and Banff), and 32 new churches.
Telford also undertook highway works in the Scottish Lowlands, including of new roads and numerous bridges, ranging from a 112 ft (34 m) span stone bridge across the Dee at Tongueland in Kirkcudbright (1805–06) to the 129 ft (39 m) tall Cartland Crags bridge near Lanark (1822).
In 1809, Telford was tasked with improving the Howth Road in Dublin, to connect the new harbour at Howth to the city of Dublin as part of wider plan to improve communication between Dublin and London. The milestones that are a feature of this route from Howth to the GPO on O'Connell Street still mark the route. He also drafted the first design of the Ulster Canal. Irish engineer, William Dargan, was trained by Telford.
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.
Many of Telford's projects were undertaken due to his role as a member of the Exchequer Bill Loan Commission, an organ set up under the Public Works Loans Act 1817 (57 Geo. 3. c. 34), to help finance public work projects that would generate employment.
On the island of Anglesey a new embankment across the Stanley Sands to Holyhead was constructed, but the crossing of the Menai Strait was the most formidable challenge, overcome by the Menai Suspension Bridge (1819–26). Spanning , this was the longest suspension bridge of the time. Unlike modern suspension bridges, Telford used individually linked iron eye bars for the cables.
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 Menai counterpart.
Further afield Telford designed a road to cross the centre of the Isle of Arran. Named the 'String road', this route traverses bleak and difficult terrain to allow traffic to cross between east and west Arran avoiding the circuitous coastal route. His work on improving the Glasgow – Carlisle road, later to become the A74, has been described as "a model for future engineers."
Telford improved on methods for the building of macadam roads by improving the selection of stone based on thickness, taking into account traffic, alignment and slopes.
The punning nickname 'Colossus of Roads' was given to Telford by his friend, the eventual Poet Laureate, Robert Southey.
In 1821, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
In 1820, Telford was appointed the first President of the recently formed Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held until his death.
On the 23rd August Mr Telford was taken seriously ill of a bilious derangement to which he had been liable ... he grew worse and worse … surgeons attended him twice a day, but it was to no avail for he died on the 2nd September, very peacefully at about 5pm. … His old servant James Handscombe and I were the only two in the house 24 when he died. He was never married. Mr Milne and Mr Rickman were, no doubt, Telford's most intimate friends. ... I went to Mr Milne and under his direction … made all the arrangements about the house and correspondence. ... Telford had no blood relations that we knew of. The funeral took place on the 10th September in. ... Mr Telford was of the most genial disposition and a delightful companion, his laugh was the heartiest I ever heard; it was a pleasure to be in his society.Diaries of George Turnbull (Chief Engineer, East Indian Railway Company) held at the Centre of South Asian Studies at Cambridge University, EnglandPages 15 to 18 of George Turnbull, C.E. the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893: scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007
Thomas Telford was buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey; a statue was erected to him nearby, in St Andrew's Chapel adjoining the north transept.'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p. 41: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966
Throughout his life Telford had a great affection for his birthplace of Eskdale and its people and in his will left legacies to the two local libraries at Westerkirk and Langholm. "Thomas Telford 1757–1854" in Langholm Online , retrieved 12 May 2018
George Turnbull states that Telford wrote and gave him a poem:Diaries of George Turnbull (Chief Engineer, East Indian Railway Company) held at the Centre of South Asian Studies at Cambridge University, EnglandPages 19 to 21 of George Turnbull, C.E. the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893: scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007
(Turnbull includes notes that explain nine references to Burns's life in the poem.)
Turnbull also states:Page 18 of George Turnbull, C.E. the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893: scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007
His ability and perseverance may be understood from various literary compositions of after life, such as the articles he contributed to the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, such as Architecture, Bridge-building, and Canal-making. Singular to say the earliest distinction he acquired in life was as a poet. Even at 30 years of age he reprinted at Shrewsbury a poem called "Eskdale", … Some others of his poems are in my possession.
Another example, later in Telford's life, was To Sir John Malcolm on Receiving His Miscellaneous Poems (1831).Malcolm (1769-1833) was of an Eskdale family like Telford.
| 1832 | Broomielaw Bridge, Glasgow |
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