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PREFACE EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING

Roads as agents of civilization Their important uses Ancient British trackways or ridgeways The Romans and their roads in Britain Decay of the Roman roads Early legislation relating to highways Roads near London The Weald of Kent Great Western roads Hollow ways or lanes Roads on Dartmoor in Sussex at Kensington

Restricted intercourse between districts Local dialects and customs thereby preserved Camden's fear of travelling into the barbarous regions of the North Rev. Mr Brome's travels in England Old Leisure Imperfect postal communication Hawkers and pedlars Laying in stores for winter Household occupations Great fairs of ancient times Local fairs Fair on Dartmoor Primitive manners of Dartmoor District

Poverty of Scotland Backwardness of agriculture Idleness of the people Andrew Flecher's description of Scotland Slavery of colliers and salters Improvements in agriculture opposed Low wages of the labouring population State of the Lothians and Ayrshire Wretched states of the roads Difficulty of communication between districts Coach started between Edinburgh and Glasgow Carrier's perils between Edinburgh and Selkirk Dangers of travelling in Galloway Lawlessness of the Highlands Picking and lifting of cattle Ferocity of population on the Highland Border Ancient civilization of Scotland

Progress made in travelling by coach Fast coaches established Bad state of the roads Foreigners' accounts of travelling in England Herr Moritz's journey by the basket coach Arthur Young's description of English roads Palmer's mail coaches introduced The first 'Turnpike' roads Turnpike riots The rebellion of 1745 Passing of numerous highway Acts Road-making thought beneath the dignity of the engineer

Metcalf's boyhood His blindness His boldness Becomes a Musician His travels Journey on foot from London to Harrogate Joins the army as musician in the rebellion of 1745 Adventures in Scotland Becomes travelling merchant and horse dealer Begins road-making Builds a bridge His extensive road contracts in Yorkshire and Lancashire Manner of aking his surveys His skill in road-making His last road--his death Roads in the south of England Want of roads on Lincoln Heath Land lighthouses Dunstan pillar Rapid improvement in the roads Application of steam Sydney Smith on improved facilities of communication

THE LIFE OF THOMAS TELFORD

Eskdale Langholm Former lawlessness of the Border population Jonnie armstrong Border energy Westerkirk Telford's birthplace Glendinning Valley of the Meggat The 'unblameable shepherd' Telford's mother Early years Laughing Tam Put to school His school-fellows

Telford apprenticed to a stonemason Runs away Re-apprenticed to a mason at Langholm Building operations in the district Miss Pasley lends books to young Telford Attempt to write poetry Becomes village letter-writer Works as a journeyman mason Employed on Langholm Bridge Manse of Westerkirk Poem of 'Eskdale' Hews headstones and doorheads Works as a mason at Edinburgh Study of architecture Revisits Eskdale His ride to London

Telford a working man in London Obtains employment as a mason at Somerset House Correspondence with Eskdale friends Observations on his fellow-workman Propses to begin business, but wants money Mr. Pulteney Becomes foreman of builders at Portsmouth Dockyard Continues to write poetry Employment of his time Prints letters to his mother

Superintends repairs of Shrewsbury Castle Appointed Surveyor for County of Salop Superintends erection of new gaol Interview with John Howard His studies in science and literature Poetical exercises Fall of St. Chad's Church, Shrewsburg Discovery of the Roman city of Uriconium Overseer of felons Mrs. Jordan at Shrewsbury Telford's indifference to music Politics, Paine's 'Rights of Man' Reprints his poem of 'Eskdale'

Advantages of mechanical training to an engineer Erects Montford Bridge Erects St. Mary Magdalen Church, Bridgenorth Telford's design Architectural tour Bath Studies in British Museum Oxford Birmingham Study of architecture Appointed Engineer to the Ellesmere Canal

Course of the Ellesmire Canal Success of the early canals The Act obtained and working survey made Chirk Aqueduct Pont-Cysylltau Aqueduct, Telford's hollow walls His cast iron trough at Pont-Cysylltau The canal works completed Revists Eskdale Early impressions corrected Tours in Wales Conduct of Ellesmere Canal navigation His literary studies and compositions

Use of iron in bridge-building Design of a Lyons architect First iron bridge erected at Coalbrookdale Tom paine's iron bridge Wear iron bridge, Sunderland Telford's iron bridge at Buildwas His iron lock-gates and turn-bridges Projects a one-arched bridge of iron over the Thames Bewdley stone bridge Tougueland Bridge Extension of Telford's engineering buisness Literary friendships Thomas Campbell Miscellaneous reading

Progress of Scotch agriculture Romilly's account State of the Highlands Want of roads Use of the Cas-chrom Emigration Telford's survey of Scotland Lord Cockburn's account of the difficulties of travelling the North Circuit Parliamentary Commission of Highland Roads and Bridges appointed Dunkeld Bridge built 920 miles of new roads constucted Craigellachie Bridge Travelling facilitated Agriculture improved Moral results of Telford's Highland contracts Rapid progress of the Lowlands Results of parish schools

Highland harbours Wick and Pulteney Town Columnar pier work Peterhead Harbour Frazerburgh Harbour Bannf Harbour Old history of Aberdeen, its witch-burning and slave-trading Improvements of its harbour Telford's design carried out Dundee Harbour

Canal projected through the Great Glen of the Highlands Survey by James Watt Survey by Telford Tide-basin at Corpach Neptune's Staircase Dock at Clachnaharry The chain of lochs Construction of the works Commercial failure of the canal Telford's disappointment Glasgow and Ardrossan Canal Weaver Navigation Gotha Canal, Sweden Gloucester and Berkeley, and other canals Harecastle Tunnel Birmingham Canal Macclesfield Canal Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal Telford's pride in his canals

Increase of road-traffic Improvement of the main routes between the principal towns Carlisle and Glasgow road Telford's principles of road-construction Macadam Cartland Crags Bridge Improvement of the London and Edinburgh post road Communications with Ireland Wretched state of the Welsh roads Telford's survey of the Shrewsbury and Holyhead road Its construction Roads and railways London and Shrewsbury post road Roads near London Coast road, North Wales

Bridges projected over the Menai Straits Telford's designs Ingenious plan of suspended centering Design of a suspension bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn Design of suspension bridge at Menai The works begun The main piers The suspension chains Hoisting of the first main chain Progress of the works to completion The bridge formally opened Conway Suspension Bridge

Resume of English engineering General increase in trade and poulation The Thames St. Katherine's Docks Tewkesburg Bridge Gloucester Bridge Dean Bridge, Edinburgh Glasgow Bridge Telford's works of drainage in the Fens The North Level The Nene Outfall Effects of Fen drainage

Southey sets out to visit the Highlands in Telford's company Works at Dundee Harbour Bervie Harbour Mitchell and Gibbs Aberdeen Harbour Approach to Banff Cullen Harbour The Forres road Beauly Bridge Bonar Bridge Fleet Mound Southey's description of the Caledonian Canal and works John Mitchell Takes leave of Telford Results of Highland road-making

Telford's residence in London Leaves the Salopian First President of Institute of Civil Engineers Consulted by foreign Governments as to roads and bridges His views on railways Failure of health Consulted as to Dover Harbour Illness and death His character His friends Integrity Views on money-making Benevolence Patriotism His Will Libraries in Eskdale supported by his bequests

PREFACE The present is a revised and in some respects enlarged edition of the 'Life of Telford,' originally published in the 'Lives of the Engineers,' to which is prefixed an account of the early roads and modes of travelling in Britain.

From this volume, read in connection with the Lives of George and Robert Stephenson, in which the origin and extension of Railways is described, an idea may be formed of the extraordinary progress which has been made in opening up the internal communications of this country during the last century.

Among the principal works executed by Telford in the course of his life, were the great highways constructed by him in North Wales and the Scotch Highlands, through districts formerly almost inaccessible, but which are now as easily traversed as any English county.

The Highland roads, which were constructed with the active assistance of the Government, and were maintained partly at the public expense until within the last few years, had the effect of stimulating industry, improving agriculture, and converting a turbulent because unemployed population into one of the most loyal and well-conditioned in the empire;-- the policy thus adopted with reference to the Highlands, and the beneficial results which have flowed from it, affording the strongest encouragement to Government in dealing in like manner with the internal communications of Ireland.

While the construction of the Highland roads was in progress, the late Robert Southey, poet laureate, visited the Highlands in company with his friend the engineer, and left on record an interesting account of his visit, in a, manuscript now in the possession of Robert Rawlinson, C.E., to whom we are indebted for the extracts which are made from it in the present volume.

London, October, 1867.

EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING.

Roads have in all times been among the most influential agencies of society; and the makers of them, by enabling men readily to communicate with each other, have properly been regarded as among the most effective pioneers of civilization.

Roads are literally the pathways not only of industry, but of social and national intercourse. Wherever a line of communication between men is formed, it renders commerce practicable; and, wherever commerce penetrates, it creates a civilization and leaves a history.

Roads place the city and the town in connection with the village and the farm, open up markets for field produce, and provide outlets for manufactures. They enable the natural resources of a country to be developed, facilitate travelling and intercourse, break down local jealousies, and in all ways tend to bind together society and bring out fully that healthy spirit of industry which is the life and soul of every nation.

The road is so necessary an instrument of social wellbeing, that in every new colony it is one of the first things thought of. First roads, then commerce, institutions, schools, churches, and newspapers. The new country, as well as the old, can only be effectually "opened up," as the common phrase is, by roads and until these are made, it is virtually closed.

Freedom itself cannot exist without free communication,--every limitation of movement on the part of the members of society amounting to a positive abridgment of their personal liberty. Hence roads, canals, and railways, by providing the greatest possible facilities for locomotion and information, are essential for the freedom of all classes, of the poorest as well as the richest.

In the raw materials required for food, for manufactures, and for domestic purposes, the cost of transport necessarily forms a considerable item; and it is clear that the more this cost can be reduced by facilities of communication, the cheaper these articles become, and the more they are multiplied and enter into the consumption of the community at large.

Let any one imagine what would be the effect of closing the roads, railways, and canals of England. The country would be brought to a dead lock, employment would be restricted in all directions, and a large proportion of the inhabitants concentrated in the large towns must at certain seasons inevitably perish of cold and hunger.

In the earlier periods of English history, roads were of comparatively less consequence. While the population was thin and scattered, and men lived by hunting and pastoral pursuits, the track across the down, the heath, and the moor, sufficiently answered their purpose. Yet even in those districts unencumbered with wood, where the first settlements were made--as on the downs of Wiltshire, the moors of Devonshire, and the wolds of Yorkshire--stone tracks were laid down by the tribes between one village and another. We have given here, a representation of one of those ancient trackways still existing in the neighbourhood of Whitby, in Yorkshire;

Ancient Causeway, near Whitby.

and there are many of the same description to be met with in other parts of England. In some districts they are called trackways or ridgeways, being narrow causeways usually following the natural ridge of the country, and probably serving in early times as local boundaries. On Dartmoor they are constructed of stone blocks, irregularly laid down on the surface of the ground, forming a rude causeway of about five or six feet wide.

The Romans, with many other arts, first brought into England the art of road-making. They thoroughly understood the value of good roads, regarding them as the essential means for the maintenance of their empire in the first instance, and of social prosperity in the next. It was their roads, as well as their legions, that made them masters of the world; and the pickaxe, not less than the sword, was the ensign of their dominion. Wherever they went, they opened up the communications of the countries they subdued, and the roads which they made were among the best of their kind. They were skilfully laid out and solidly constructed. For centuries after the Romans left England, their roads continued to be the main highways of internal communication, and their remains are to this day to be traced in many parts of the country. Settlements were made and towns sprang up along the old "streets;" and the numerous Stretfords, Stratfords, and towns ending' in "le-street" --as Ardwick-le-street, in Yorkshire, and Chester-le-street, in Durham--mostly mark the direction of these ancient lines of road. There are also numerous Stanfords, which were so called because they bordered the raised military roadways of the Romans, which ran direct between their stations.

The last-mentioned peculiarity of the roads constructed by the Romans, must have struck many observers. Level does not seem to have been of consequence, compared with directness. This peculiarity is supposed to have originated in an imperfect knowledge of mechanics; for the Romans do not appear to have been acquainted with the moveable joint in wheeled carriages. The carriage-body rested solid upon the axles, which in four-wheeled vehicles were rigidly parallel with each other. Being unable readily to turn a bend in the road, it has been concluded that for this reason all the great Roman highways were constructed in as straight lines as possible.

On the departure of the Romans from Britain, most of the roads constructed by them were allowed to fall into decay, on which the forest and the waste gradually resumed their dominion over them, and the highways of England became about the worst in Europe. We find, however, that numerous attempts were made in early times to preserve the ancient ways and enable a communication to be maintained between the metropolis and the rest of the country, as well as between one market town and another.

But as these measures were for the most part merely permissive, they could have had but little practical effect in improving the communications of the kingdom. In the reign of Philip and Mary , an Act was passed providing that each parish should elect two surveyors of highways to see to the maintenance of their repairs by compulsory labour, the preamble reciting that "highwaies are now both verie noisome and tedious to travell in, and dangerous to all passengers and cariages;" and to this day parish and cross roads are maintained on the principle of Mary's Act, though the compulsory labour has since been commuted into a compulsory tax.

In the reigns of Elizabeth and James, other road Acts were passed; but, from the statements of contemporary writers, it would appear that they were followed by very little substantial progress, and travelling continued to be attended with many difficulties. Even in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, the highways were in certain seasons scarcely passable. The great Western road into London was especially bad, and about Knightsbridge, in winter, the traveller had to wade through deep mud. Wyatt's men entered the city by this approach in the rebellion of 1554, and were called the "draggle-tails" because of their wretched plight. The ways were equally bad as far as Windsor, which, in the reign of Elizabeth, is described by Pote, in his history of that town, as being "not much past half a day's journeye removed from the flourishing citie of London."

Similar roads existed until recently in the immediate neighbourhood of Birmingham, now the centre of an immense traffic. The sandy soil was sawn through, as it were, by generation after generation of human feet, and by packhorses, helped by the rains, until in some places the tracks were as much as from twelve to fourteen yards deep; one of these, partly filled up, retaining to this day the name of Holloway Head. In the neighbourhood of London there was also a Hollow way, which now gives its name to a populous metropolitan parish. Hagbush Lane was another of such roads. Before the formation of the Great North Road, it was one of the principal bridle-paths leading from London to the northern parts of England; but it was so narrow as barely to afford passage for more than a single horseman, and so deep that the rider's head was beneath the level of the ground on either side.

The roads of Sussex long preserved an infamous notoriety. Chancellor Cowper, when a barrister on circuit, wrote to his wife in 1690, that "the Sussex ways are bad and ruinous beyond imagination. I vow 'tis melancholy consideration that mankind will in habit such a heap of dirt for a poor livelihood. The country is a sink of about fourteen miles broad, which receives all the water that falls from two long ranges of hills on both sides of it, and not being furnished with convenient draining, is kept moist and soft by the water till the middle of a dry summer, which is only able to make it tolerable to ride for a short time."

Nor was the mud any respecter of persons; for we are informed that the carriage of Queen Caroline could not, in bad weather, be dragged from St. James's Palace to Kensington in less than two hours, and occasionally the royal coach stuck fast in a rut, or was even capsized in the mud. About the same time, the streets of London themselves were little better, the kennel being still permitted to flow in the middle of the road, which was paved with round stones,--flag-stones for the convenience of pedestrians being as yet unknown. In short, the streets in the towns and the roads in the country were alike rude and wretched,--indicating a degree of social stagnation and discomfort which it is now difficult to estimate, and almost impossible to describe.

Footnotes for chapter I

In a Devonshire lane, as I trotted along T'other day, much in want of a subject for song, Thinks I to myself, half-inspired by the rain, Sure marriage is much like a Devonshire lane.

In the first place 'tis long, and when once you are in it, It holds you as fast as a cage does a linnet; For howe'er rough and dirty the road may be found, Drive forward you must, there is no turning round.

But tho' 'tis so long, it is not very wide, For two are the most that together can ride; And e'en then, 'tis a chance but they get in a pother, And jostle and cross and run foul of each other.

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