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People & Personalities / Telford

In 1799 Telford proposed to replace old London Bridge with a single iron arch spanning 180 metres (600 feet). The design
was never used, and the bridge was eventually replaced by a structure of five stone arches designed by John Rennie

where he made his name and found his But Telford never became grand or formal, Highlands, for instance, supported by
calling, first as an architect and then as a and shunned outward signs of wealth and government commissions, he oversaw the
civil engineer. status. Money never seemed to interest him construction of almost 1,000 miles of roads
It was an extraordinary time to be in much. Thick set, with dark hair, a rugged and countless bridges, including elegant, light
Shropshire, in a region that is now very rural face and a Scottish accent, he was a man iron structures, one of which still survives,
but which at that time was at the forefront of born to hard work outdoors who prided leaping across the river Spey at Craigellachie.
the industrial revolution. The great iron- himself on his practical skills. He was also Telford managed the construction of the
works in Coalbrookdale were pioneering a flexible political operator with a deep, wide Caledonian Canal, running from sea to
new techniques, and the world’s first iron self-taught understanding of theory: his sea across the Great Glen between Inverness
bridge had been built across the river Severn pocket notebooks are full of demanding and Fort William. This relentless, difficult,
just before his arrival. It was here that mathematical calculations and architectural muddy task took two decades and could have
Telford came to know the revolutionary study. He read and wrote late into the night. been the focus of a lifetime’s work. But
possibilities of metal. Telford worked hard and almost non-stop. Telford combined it with an extraordinary
First, in 1797, he built – with help from There was no time and seemingly no desire range of other schemes: rebuilding ports,
others – a short, radical iron aqueduct on for a marriage, family or partner. He had erecting churches, designing water works,
a new canal near what is now the town of no siblings and, after the death of his building bridges and constructing the fastest,
Telford. But this was only a precursor to the mother, no immediate relations, but he had best roads since the Roman era.
great Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, opened in 1805, a number of close lifelong friends. In the Telford’s famous express route from
a ribbon of iron that still carries barges right company he was cheerful, telling London to Holyhead smoothed the journey
38 metres above the river Dee on what is stories and making jokes with a sparkle in to Dublin – a route that grew in importance
now known as the Llangollen Canal, just his eye that made people like him as soon once the new United Kingdom was estab-
over the Welsh border from Shropshire. The as they met. lished in 1801. He upgraded the existing road
Pontcysyllte is Telford’s monument just as from the capital to Birmingham and
the Clifton Suspension Bridge is Brunel’s. On the road on to Shrewsbury, and engineered an elegant
Both structures speak of individual genius Telford was almost always on the move, new section on through the hills of Snow-
and the ability to draw on the skills of others. keeping up a regular progress of inspection of donia, including the fine suspension bridge at
Some say that Telford should have shared his projects that, by the early years of the 19th Menai and another by Conwy Castle –
the credit for his achievements more widely, century, reached into remote corners of the only one to retain its original chains.
though it was his skill in working with a England, Wales and Scotland. Roaming the And still there was more: a canal across
team and managing many projects simulta- country without a break, year in, year out, Sweden, advice to projects in India, Russia
neously that lifted him above the many other he must have travelled farther in Britain than and Canada, the new St Katharine Docks in
able engineers of the time. At Pontcysyllte, any person alive – and even, perhaps, more London. All of it was impressive, but much
for instance, he was aided by a team than anyone ever had before. In the of it was made redundant by technological
including his nominal superior on the canal change: the coming of steam and railways.
project, William Jessop. Men such as Even as he died, in 1834, Telford was going
William Hazledine, the Shropshire ironmas- In the Highlands, he out of date – and he knew it.
ter, went on to provide metalwork for most His creations are his memorial, built so
of Telford’s greatest iron bridges, including oversaw construction well that the vast majority are still in use.
the Menai. of almost 1,000 miles You can drive on Telford’s roads, walk across
Many of Telford’s young pupils also went his bridges and ride boats along his canals.
on to great careers of their own, among them of roads and countless They are worth searching out – and with
Thomas Brassey, who built thousands of them the story of a life that helped build
miles of railways all over the globe, making bridges including modern Britain.
himself rich in the process. In 1820 Telford
became the first president of the Institution elegant, light, iron Julian Glover is a journalist and the author of
of Civil Engineers, a body that shaped – and Man of Iron: Thomas Telford and the Building GETTY
still shapes – the modern profession. structures of Britain (Bloomsbury, 2017)

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