Special report: Thomas Telford's legacy all around us
He was known as the Colossus of Roads. If Abraham Darby was the father of the Industrial Revolution, then Thomas Telford was a pretty impressive guardian.
The civil engineer, who died 183 years ago yesterday, transformed Britain, and his impact was felt nowhere more keenly than in Shropshire.
So much so that when plans to extend the faltering Dawley New Town were being drawn up in 1968, housing minister Anthony Greenwood declared that it would be named after him.
Thomas Telford was born in the Scottish border village of Westerkirk, Dumfries. He never knew his father John, a shepherd who died four months after his birth, and he was brought up in poverty by his mother Janet Jackson.
After leaving school at 14 he found work as an apprentice stonemason, and his interest in civil engineering was probably sparked by his work building new roads and a farmhouse on the estate of a local duke.
Despite the nature of his day job, with its intensive long hours, Thomas spent his nights studying construction techniques, and by the age of 25 he had secured work in London building an extension to Somerset House for Scottish architect Sir William Chambers.
He continued his on-the-job training at Portsmouth dockyard where he learned about different materials and project management – but it was in 1786, at the age of 29, when Telford's big breakthrough came.
A few years earlier he had renewed his childhood friendship with Sir William Pulteney who, like Telford, hailed from Dumfries.
But while Telford was a poor, jobbing construction worker, Pulteney was anything but. Having married wealthy heiress Frances Pulteney in 1760 – he was born William Johnstone, but changed his name after his wedding – he was reputedly the richest man in Britain.
He was also elected MP for Shrewsbury in 1775, and having reacquainted himself with Telford, he commissioned the young man to turn the derelict Shrewsbury Castle into a palatial house fit for one of the great movers and shakers in British politics.
He created more than just a house. On the site where the original Norman motte and bailey had stood, he created a panoramic viewing platform and the folly Laura's Tower, while the main castle building was re-modelled into a home that was impressive even for a man of Pulteney's elevated status.
The MP was grateful. So much that he created a special position for the young man, and in 1787, at the age of 30 he became Shropshire's first surveyor of public works – a post he held until his death in 1834.
During his time as Shropshire's surveyor, Thomas Telford had a huge impact on the county's architecture and infrastructure.
His notable works include:
Shrewsbury prison: The Dana was designed by J H Haycock, but in 1787 Telford was brought in to supervise construction. He met John Howard, the famous prison reformer, and remodelled the plans to create a more humanitarian institution.
In 1792 he completed Montford Bridge over the River Severn, near Shrewsbury, the first of 40 bridges Telford built in the county. Telford used red sandstone, obtained from Nesscliffe Hill four miles away, and the bridge cost £5,800 to build about £780,000 at todays prices.
In 1788 he carried out the first excavations in the site of the Roman city of Uriconium now the major tourist attraction which is Wroxeter.
In 1793, Telford was appointed engineer for the Ellesmere Canal. The construction of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct saw the canal being built in the air at Trevor, near Llangollen. It was the biggest engineering feat of its day, taking 10 years to complete, finally opening in 1805. Its piers stand more than 120ft high, carrying the canal in an iron trough fixed in masonry for the 1,000ft span across the River Dee, just 11ft 10in wide and 5ft 3in deep. One cannot help but wonder whether the first boatmen to cross the river felt any pangs of anxiety at floating in such a narrow vessel at such great height.
The A5. Well, at least the modern A5. The Romans had also made a contribution with their Watling Street. Telford was in the vanguard of the roads revolution which more or less literally paved the way for our modern road transport system today. The Government turned to Telford to improve the road from Shrewsbury to Holyhead and, separately, that from Shrewsbury to London.
In the Welsh section he would not tolerate steep gradients. His improvements to Holyhead Road took place in stages between 1815 and 1829. Through North Wales it still follows the original line surveyed and chosen by Telford.
Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct. The worlds oldest surviving cast-iron aqueduct is no longer in use, but is listed as an ancient monument and represents another engineering landmark. Built in 1795, it dispensed with the need for heavy, solid, masonry structures, carrying the water in a trough made by 1in thick iron plates.
Three churches. His first and best was St Mary Magdalene in Bridgnorth, dating from 1792. Less well regarded are St Michaels at Madeley (1793-96), and St Leonards at Malinslee (1805) which both share an unusual octagonal shape.
The other Iron Bridge. Cantlop Bridge over Cound brook, near Shrewsbury, is a Grade II-listed building and scheduled monument.
In 1820 Telford became the first president of the newly-formed Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1826 he completed the Menai Suspension Bridge in North Wales, which had the longest span in the world.
But, as with all things, there came a time for Telford to pass on the torch to the new generation.
Back in 1753 Bristol wine merchant William Vick had left a bequest in his will of £1,000 – equivalent to £140,000 today – with instructions that when the interest had accumulated to £10,000 (£1,370,000), it should be used for the purpose of building a stone bridge across the River Avon.
By 1829, Vick's bequest had reached £8,000, but it was estimated that a stone bridge would cost 10 times that, so a competition was held to find a design for the bridge with a prize of £105. After rejecting 17 of the 22 entries, the judging panel called in Telford to make the final call, but he rejected all five remaining designs.
But a young engineer called Isambard Kingdom Brunel was undeterred, and his design picked up support in the local press. After finally managing to talk the judges round, he was awarded the contract and the 1,352ft Clifton Suspension Bridge is to this day considered one of the great wonders of engineering.
Telford would not live to see the completion of his final major project, the Shropshire Union Canal. By linking the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey with the canals of Worcestershire and Staffordshire, this created what was effectively a national canal network – the precursor to the railways and motorways of today.
Brunel died aged 77 on September 2, 1834 at his home in London. His funeral was held on September 10 at Westminster Abbey, where he is buried.
While in this neck of the woods his name will always be associated with Telford New Town, created out of the communities of Wellington, Oakengates, Madeley and Dawley, it was not the first town to be named in his honour. The small town of County Line in Pennsylvania changed its name to Telford in 1857.
