New Town or Engineer?
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford - designer.engineer honoured in new town name in Shropshire
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was designed by and built under the supervision of James Brindley. However, his canal was 22 miles long and rather winding. In parts there was no towpath; it was quite shallow and became known as the ??crooked ditch??.
Another canal builder, Thomas Telford, was employed to improve the course of the canal. Between 1824 and 1829 he cut out a lot of the winding loops and this reduced the length of the canal from 22 to 14 miles; that's one third of the total distance! It therefore became even quicker to transport goods along the canal.
Telford was born in Westerkirk, Scotland in 1757, another scotsman to find success in the Midlands area..
Via a circuitious route, he became public surveyor for Shropshire and was tasked with building a bridge over the River Severn at Bildwas This lead to involvement in canals and other bridges; the Menai Suspension Bridge, the Caledonian Canal and the main road from London to Holyhead are some of his achievements. In total, he built more than 1,000 miles of road and 1,200 bridges.
Submitted by: Peter Gallant, 09 February 2004
