Thomas Telford Ironwork
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Andrew
"These places mean something and it's the job of a photographer to figure-out what the hell it is."
Robert Adams
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Ernst Hass
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Regards
David
An enjoyable documentary of something that many locals probably don't know much about, it makes interesting reading and viewing.
Regards
David
Interesting even for non locals too.
Nicely thought out bit of work.
Derek
There is some information on the web about this but BBC's Coast also covered this when mentioning the Caledonian Canal - can't work out why part of the iron work would be transported so far in that day an age - the mind boggles
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3222 posts
9 years
Slap in the middle of England
A recent posting of Abraham Darby's iron bridge reminded me of an almost forgotten example of Telford's road building. He was the father of civil engineering and went so far as to design every aspect of his new roads, from the carriageway to the fences that lined it and the toll houses that collected their revenue.
The coaching road from London to Birmingham passed through a deep valley to the west of Coventry, near to the village of Alspath. Horses were changed here and refreshments were taken but the valley bottom was waterlogged and the sides filled with springs making for a very muddy and difficult route. The stopping place was known as the Old Mirey Den which, in later times became known as Meriden after Telford engineered major improvements to the road. The modern A45 bypasses Meriden today and the marvels of yesterday are all but forgotten
The road today as it descends into Meriden
Telford's original fencing (a standard design) runs alongside but is in a shocking state of repair.
Over 200 years of weathering has pitted the cast iron and produced a wonderful patina on this finial
The same pattern of post is used for gate supports (even if the gate is totally overgrown)
Repairs are almost non existent
And all is just left to the ivy and the elements
The only bit that has been maintained is the kissing gate on the footpath leading from the parish church of St. Lawrence, on top of the hill, in Alspath, to the Queen's Head public house!
Despite what the pictures might show, it was lashing down with rain half the time (that's the blurred bit to the right of the last image) so I was pleased with what I actually got. One bonus was finding a patch of rare white violets
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