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Thomas Telford A-Go Go
Oct. 25th, 2011 11:29 amIt's the eye of the storm today - I'm attending a family funeral, which has come at a rather convenient time in terms of my workload as it means I can just about flake out for a day...
Yesterday was busy. Very busy. I spent the day in Glasgow, doing research on the Glasgow Water Corporation. I'd hoped for some good in-depth material in the Mitchell Library, and I wasn't disappointed- the letter books of the Committee set up to progress the works were available for consultation. They were very informative, though it's like hearing one side of a detailed telephone conversation. There are some big names mentioned - Thomas Telford and James Watt were involved at various times during the works - and while these were the major focus of interest, there was equally interesting correspondence between various figures like the local member of parliament, local landowners and the suppliers of the iron pipes used during the project. Later this month, I'll be heading down to Birmingham to see the Boulton and Watt papers (suppliers of the steam engines, which is where James Watt came into it) and I'm beginning to conclude that I might have to return to Ironbridge to visit the Telford Collection. The second letter in the letter book went something along the lines of 'Dear Mr Telford, I tried to get in touch with you before, but I understand you were in Shrewsbury...' and most of the time Mr Telford can be contacted via the Salopian Coffee House in London, which I'd guess is where the Shrewsbury crowd hang out when they're in London.
And speaking of Thomas Telford in Shrewsbury, here's a picture taken on the site of Shrewsbury Castle:-
Not a medieval construction, but rather a Thomas Telford pseudo-medieval confection, named 'Laura's Tower', in honour of the child for whom it was reputedly built. It was allegedly the playroom - just the thing to ensure that your boisterous little darling is seen and not heard!!
Anyway, after hurrying home with a head full of early 19th century correspondence (I'm amazed by how utterly timeless the prose style was) I had time for a quick dinner before zooming down the road for the last of the Kilwinning Community Archaeology Project evening meetings. It's been a great project, in terms of both the archaeology and for its ability to bolster community spirit, and despite the trauma of sacrificing two Saturdays (shock, horror! Fancy that!!!) it's been a privilige taking part. Now comes the finds processing and report-writing stage, which is when it all starts to get interesting and everything gets drawn together. We've got a respectable haul of medieval pottery, some of which will be sourced to see if the origin of the clay will be identified, and we get the carbon dates back from the postholes which appear to predate the abbey later this week.
Or next week in my case, since I'll be wandering the wilds of Perthshire with The Great Surveyor...
Yesterday was busy. Very busy. I spent the day in Glasgow, doing research on the Glasgow Water Corporation. I'd hoped for some good in-depth material in the Mitchell Library, and I wasn't disappointed- the letter books of the Committee set up to progress the works were available for consultation. They were very informative, though it's like hearing one side of a detailed telephone conversation. There are some big names mentioned - Thomas Telford and James Watt were involved at various times during the works - and while these were the major focus of interest, there was equally interesting correspondence between various figures like the local member of parliament, local landowners and the suppliers of the iron pipes used during the project. Later this month, I'll be heading down to Birmingham to see the Boulton and Watt papers (suppliers of the steam engines, which is where James Watt came into it) and I'm beginning to conclude that I might have to return to Ironbridge to visit the Telford Collection. The second letter in the letter book went something along the lines of 'Dear Mr Telford, I tried to get in touch with you before, but I understand you were in Shrewsbury...' and most of the time Mr Telford can be contacted via the Salopian Coffee House in London, which I'd guess is where the Shrewsbury crowd hang out when they're in London.
And speaking of Thomas Telford in Shrewsbury, here's a picture taken on the site of Shrewsbury Castle:-
Not a medieval construction, but rather a Thomas Telford pseudo-medieval confection, named 'Laura's Tower', in honour of the child for whom it was reputedly built. It was allegedly the playroom - just the thing to ensure that your boisterous little darling is seen and not heard!!
Anyway, after hurrying home with a head full of early 19th century correspondence (I'm amazed by how utterly timeless the prose style was) I had time for a quick dinner before zooming down the road for the last of the Kilwinning Community Archaeology Project evening meetings. It's been a great project, in terms of both the archaeology and for its ability to bolster community spirit, and despite the trauma of sacrificing two Saturdays (shock, horror! Fancy that!!!) it's been a privilige taking part. Now comes the finds processing and report-writing stage, which is when it all starts to get interesting and everything gets drawn together. We've got a respectable haul of medieval pottery, some of which will be sourced to see if the origin of the clay will be identified, and we get the carbon dates back from the postholes which appear to predate the abbey later this week.
Or next week in my case, since I'll be wandering the wilds of Perthshire with The Great Surveyor...
