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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part29_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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the justness or insufficiency of any mechanicalcontrivance, that



the soundest opinions on a matter of this kind can be obtained."

It would appear that the Committee came to the general conclusion



that the construction of the proposed bridge was practicable and

safe; for the river was contracted to the requisite width, and the



preliminary works were actually begun. Mr. Stephenson says the

design was eventuallyabandoned, owing more immediately to the



difficulty of constructing the approaches with such a head way,

which would have involved the formation of extensive inclined



planes from the adjoining streets, and thereby led to serious

inconvenience, and the depreciation of much valuable property on



both sides of the river.*[9] Telford's noble design of his great

iron bridge over the Thames, together with his proposed embankment



of the river, being thus definitelyabandoned, he fell back upon

his ordinary business as an architect and engineer, in the course



of which he designed and erected several stone bridges of

considerablemagnitude and importance.



In the spring of 1795, after a long continued fall of snow, a

sudden thaw raised a heavy flood in the Severn, which carried away



many bridges--amongst others one at Bewdley, in Worcestershire,--

when Telford was called upon to supply a design for a new structure.



At the same time, he was required to furnish a plan for a new

bridge near the town of Bridgenorth; "in short," he wrote to his



friend, "I have been at it night and day." So uniform a success had

heretofore attended the execution of his designs, that his



reputation as a bridge-builder was universally acknowledged.

"Last week," he says, "Davidson and I struck the centre of an arch



of 76 feet span, and this is the third which has been thrown this

summer, none of which have shrunk a quarter of an inch."



Bewdley Bridge is a handsome and substantial piece of masonry.

The streets on either side of it being on low ground, land arches



were provided at both ends for the passage of the flood waters;

and as the Severn was navigable at the point crossed, it was



considered necessary to allow considerably greater width in the

river arches than had been the case in the former structure.



The arches were three in number--one of 60 feet span and two of 52

feet, the land arches being of 9 feet span. The works were



proceeded with and the bridge was completed during the summer of

1798, Telford writing to his friend in December of that year--



"We have had a remarkably dry summer and autumn; after that an early

fall of snow and some frost, followed by rain. The drought of the



summer was unfavourable to our canal working; but it has enabled us

to raise Bewdley Bridge as if by enchantment. We have thus built a



magnificentbridge over the Severn in one season, which is no

contemptible work for John Simpson*[10] and your humble servant,



amidst so many other great undertakings. John Simpson is a

treasure--a man of great talents and integrity. I met with him



here by chance, employed and recommended him, and he has now under

his charge all the works of any magnitude in this great and rich



district."

[Image] Bewdley Bridge.



Another of our engineer's early stone bridges, which may be

mentioned in this place, was erected by him in 1805, over the river



Dee at Tongueland in the county of Kirkcudbright. It is a bold and

picturesque bridge, situated in a lovely locality. The river is



very deep at high water there, the tide rising 20 feet. As the

banks were steep and rocky, the engineer determined to bridge the



stream by a single arch of 112 feet span. The rise being

considerable, high wingwalls and deep spandrels were requisite; but



the weight of the structure was much lightened by the expedient

which he adopted of perforating the wings, and building a number of



longitudinal walls in the spandrels, instead of filling them with

earth or inferiormasonry, as had until then been the ordinary



practice. The ends of these walls, connected and steadied by the

insertion of tee-stones, were built so as to abut against the back






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