Table Of ContentEarly dam builders in Britain
G. M. Binnie
•
V
Thomas Telford, London i
Published by Thomas Telford Limited, Thomas Telford House,
1 Heron Quay, London E14 9XF
First published 1987
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Binnie, G. M.
Early dam builders in Britain
1. Dams — Great Britain — Design and construction
I. Title
627'.8'0941 TC558.G72
ISBN 0 7277 0395 1
© G. M. Binnie, 1987
All rights, including translation, reserved. Except for fair copying, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher, Thomas Telford
Limited, 1 Heron Quay, London E14 9XF
Typeset by Pentacor Limited, High Wycombe, Bucks
Printed in Great Britain by Redwood Burn Limited, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Bound in Great Britain by Robert Hartnoll (1985) Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall.
To the memory of my wife Elspeth who inspired me to write this
book but did not live to see it published
Preface
Queen Victoria's reign commenced shortly after the passing of the
Municipal Corporations Reform Act dated 1834 and coincided with a
large number of dams built by these public authorities. As a
consequence, water engineers became heavily involved in dam design
and construction and my previous book, Early Victorian Water
Engineers, dealt mainly with their dam building activities. Encour
aged by the reception this book has received, I decided to write this
companion volume which, with the exception of the last chapter,
covers the earlier periods in Britain. Whilst the limited Roman dam
remains in Britain are very modest compared with those in other
parts of the Roman empire, they are not without interest and the first
chapter is devoted to them. With only speculation covering the Saxon
period, the structures built during the Norman, Mediaeval, Eliza
bethan and Stuart periods are somewhat better recorded and form the
main content of the second chapter. Excluding dams constructed in
connection with canals, the third chapter covers the Georgian period.
The fourth chapter gives examples of dams built for storing water for
canals which, by the end of the Georgian period, had become fairly
numerous. The fifth chapter describes the contributions of the art of
dam design made by John Rennie and Thomas Telford. The last
chapter on Thomas Hawksley and J. F. Bateman overlaps in time the
periods covered by my previous book but it includes new historical
research not previously published.
Acknowledgements
I give my warmest thanks to Professor A. W. Skempton, FRS, who
read the whole draft and made many constructive suggestions.
Amongst the many other people who have helped me, I wish
particularly to thank Robert Arah, Dr Barry Burnham, Sir Thomas
Chitty Bt, Dr N. Cochrane, Stephen Goode, B. K. Herbert, Michael
Hyde, Dr Andrew Hughes, Jeremy Hodgkinson, David Macdonald,
Alan Reid, Peter Russell, Dr Grace Simpson, Dr Roderick Smith,
J. E. Taylor and Alan Twort.
I am very grateful to the partners of Binnie & Partners for allowing
me to have the facilities of their word processing, drawing and
printing departments. Albert Tyler and Geoff Benfield prepared most
of the drawings.
I thank Dr K. Steer for his permission to quote from his
unpublished thesis cThe Archaeology of Roman Durham' and the
University of Durham for making it accessible.
I also thank Mr P. Broadbent, Sports and Social Club and Parkgate
Recreational Services of Rotherham Engineering Steels for making
available to me the results of their recent work at Ravenfield.
I acknowledge with gratitude the permission I have been given to
reproduce illustrations, drawings and photographs as follows from
the archives and collections of the following persons or organisations:
Mr A. Reed, Honorary Secretary of the Lanchester Archaeological
Society: Fig. 1.2
Professor B. D. G. Jones and Dr P. R. Lewis: Fig. 1.7
Dr Grace Simpson: Figs 1.8 and 1.9
The Institute of British Geographers: Fig. 2.1
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne: Fig. 2.3
Central Library, Newcastle upon Tyne: Fig. 2.4
Crown Copyright/RAF Photograph: Fig. 2.5
Tyne and Wear County Council from the collection of the Laing
Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne: Figs 2.8 and 2.9
Bodleian Library (G. A. Gen Top. 4to. 82. Page 162): Fig. 2.18
MrJ. McDonnell: Fig. 2.19
Mr P. Broadbent: Figs 2.23 and 2.24
EARLY DAM BUILDERS IN BRITAIN
Vlll
DrO. Bedwin: Fig. 2.27
Professor A. W. Skempton: Figs 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.2, 4.21
The Royal Society: Fig. 3.5
British Waterways Board: Figs 3.7, 4.4, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26, 4.27, 5.1,
5.2,5.8
Mr P. Cragg:Fig. 3.8
Spink & Son Ltd: Fig. 3.10
Mr W. H. Gordon-Smith: Fig. 3.15
Thames & Hudson: Fig. 3.16
The Newcomen Society: Figs 3.17 and 3.18
Sotheby Parke Bernet and Mr T. J. Robson: Fig. 4.3
North West Water Authority: Figs 4.5, 4.7a, 4.7b, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11,
4,12
Professor R. B. Schofield: Fig. 4.13
British Waterways Board and Sir W. Halcrow & Partners: Fig.
4.14
Sir William Halcrow & Partners: Figs 4.16 and 4.17
National Library of Scotland: Fig. 5.5
Lothian Regional Council: Fig. 5.6
Institution of Civil Engineers: Figs 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14
Messrs Watson-Hawksley: Figs 6.5, 6.6, 6.13, 6.17, 6.18
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Library: Figs 6.8, 6.9, 6.11, 6.14
Messrs Rofe, Kennard & Lapworth: Fig. 6.19
I am grateful to His Grace, the Duke of Marlborough, for being
given permission to photograph the Lince dam (Fig. 3.13) and the
Cascade dam (Fig. 3.14), to Mr F. C. Hall for permission to
photograph the Hammer Mill dam (Fig. 2.28), to Mr I. M. Wallace
for permission to photograph the works at Ashburnham Furnace and
to Mr F. J. Banks for his permission and help in levelling the
Oldstead Grange dam, also his help in levelling the Kilburn dam. All
other drawings and photographs are from my own collection.
I thank also Mrs Amanda Jones and Miss Beverley Wexler who
typed seemingly endless drafts from which the text finally emerged.
Finally, I thank Mr J. M. L. Scott for making arrangements for the
timber sluice and tampion at Burghley lake to be lifted out of the
water so that I could photograph them.
Contents
1. Roman period
Lanchester. Dolaucothi. Haltwhistle
2. Saxon to Stuart times
Water power in the Middle Ages. Weirs in northern England.
Trew's weir. Fishponds. Wealden iron industry
3. Georgian period
Shropshire iron industry. Textile industry. Weirs. Lead mining.
Robert Thorn (1775-1847). Ornamental lakes
4. Canals
General. The first canal reservoirs. The three trans-Pennine canals.
The Leeds and Liverpool canal reservoirs. The Rochdale canal
reservoirs. The Huddersfield canal reservoirs. Brent reservoir
5. Rennie and Telford
Rudyard Lake. Glencorse reservoir. Knypersley reservoir. Rotton
Park reservoir. Knighton and Belvide reservoirs
6. Hawksley and Bateman
Review of designs after two dam failures. The first dam trench
grouting 1879. Cowm reservoir. Spring Mill reservoir
Bibliography
Notes and References
Index
