Thomas Telford was arguably the greatest civil engineer Britain has ever produced. This book reveals his humble beginnings and then describes his self-propelled rise from journeyman stonemason to famous canal engineer. In 1793 Telford was appointed principal engineer on the Ellesmere Canal (now the Llangollen Canal) in North Wales. An 11-mile section of the canal, including his magnificent Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, has recently been granted UNESCO World Heritage status, putting it in the company of such international icons as the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, and the Tower of London. Completed in 1805, the aqueduct represented a stupendous advance in civil engineering; but it was designed for canal boats and tucked away in a relatively unfrequented valley. Following a rapturous opening ceremony and initial commercial success, a decline of the canal system from about 1840 onwards made it look increasingly redundant. The richly-deserved UNESCO award has put the aqueduct and its canal back in the limelight.This is a personal and professional story, putting Telford's work into its historical and social context, showing him as a remarkable mix of good-natured ambition, talent and resilience. Today there is great interest in Britain's transport infrastructure. The 19th-century engineers who did so much to pioneer and improve it are rightly seen as heroes. It will be appreciated how much is owed to Telford and others for creations that have stood the test of time, built with courage and daring, in an age when major construction projects relied heavily on pickaxes, wheelbarrows, and an extraordinary amount of hard physical labour.

Mae dyfrbont a chamlas Pontcysyllte, a adeiladwyd rhwng 1795 ac 1808, yn gampwaith yn natblygiad cludiant, a dyma waith enwocaf y ddau ffigwr amlwg ym maes peirianneg sifil - Thomas Telford a William Jessop. Dyma'r ddogfen a gyflwynwyd er mwyn adnabod Pontcysyllte yn safle treftadaeth y byd. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru

The beautiful Llangollen Canal runs for 46 miles from its source at Horseshoe Falls across the border between Wales and England, visiting the historic towns of Llangollen, Chirk, Ellesmere, and Whitchurch, as well as ancient villages. It passes through the stunning Vale of Llangollen, enclosed by hills and now part of a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Seasoned stomper Julia Bradbury dons her walking boots once again to explore the canals of Britain and their accompanying towpath trails. Accompanying the four part BBC television series, the walks featured in this book follow a hidden network of locks, bridges, aqueducts and tunnels, perfect for walkers wanting to explore on foot. It was canals that transformed Britain into an economic superpower, the transport arteries at the heart of an expanding industrial age. By the late 1700s Canal Mania was sweeping the nation and a new and growing network of transport superhighways dominated the landscape. Canals had arrived connecting towns and cities with Britain's industrial heartlands and export hubs. Here are four of the best walks, all offering an insight into Britain's industrial heritage. Navigating Highland Glens, rolling countryside, river valleys and our industrial heartland these waterways cut a sedate path through some of the country's finest scenery. Today, over 2,000 miles of restored canals offer a gateway into a different world. This book covers four different walks: 1. Llangollen Canal- 'A Stream Through The Skies' (North Wales) 2. Caledonian Canal- 'From Coast to Coast' (Highlands) 3. Worcester & Birmingham Canal- 'Industrial Revelations' (Birmingham) 4. Kennet & Avon Canal- 'Restoration & Renaissance' (Bath)

Thomas Telford's life was extraordinary: born in the Lowlands of Scotland, where his father worked as a shepherd, he ended his days as the most revered engineer in the world, known punningly as –The Colossus of Roads”. He was responsible for some of the great works of the age, such as the suspension bridge across the Menai Straits and the mighty Pontcysyllte aqueduct. He built some of the best roads seen in Britain since the days of the Romans and constructed the great Caledonian Canal, designed to take ships across Scotland from coast to coast. He did as much as anyone to turn engineering into a profession and was the first President of the newly formed Institution of Civil Engineers. All this was achieved by a man who started work as a boy apprentice to a stonemason. rn He was always intensely proud of his homeland and was to be in charge of an immense programme of reconstruction for the Highlands that included building everything from roads to harbours and even designing churches. He was unquestionably one of Britain's finest engineers, able to take his place alongside giants such as Brunel. He was also a man of culture, even though he had only a rudimentary education. As a mason in his early days he had worked alongside some of the greatest architects of the day, such as William Chambers and Robert Adams, and when he was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire early in his career, he had the opportunity to practice those skills himself, designing two imposing churches in the county and overseeing the renovation of Shrewsbury Castle. Even as a boy, he had developed a love of literature and throughout his life wrote poetry and became a close friend of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. He was a man of many talents, who rose to the very top of his profession but never forgot his roots: he kept his old masons' tools with him to the end of his days. rn There are few official monuments to this great man, but he has no need of them: the true monuments are the structures that he left behind that speak of a man who brought about a revolution in transport and civil engineering.

The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and whose genius we still benefit from today'A biography of great verve ... brings back to vivid life a man who should never have been forgotten' Andrew Marr'An evocative biography of Britain's greatest civil engineer ... Glover catches the thrill of Telford's engineering quite beautifully' GuardianThomas Telford's name is familiar; his story less so. Born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders, his father died in his infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford's life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy. Few people have done more to shape our nation.A stonemason turned architect turned engineer, Telford invented the modern road, built churches, harbours, canals, docks, the famously vertiginous Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Wales and the dramatic Menai Bridge. His constructions were the greatest in Europe for a thousand years, and - astonishingly - almost everything he ever built remains in use today. Intimate, expansive and drawing on contemporary accounts, Man of Iron is the first full modern biography of Telford. It is a book of roads and landscapes, waterways and bridges, but above all, of how one man transformed himself into the greatest engineer Britain has ever produced.

Author and local North Wales photographer Simon Kitchin describes over 100 locations and several hundred viewpoints for the reader to visit. Each location chapter starts with an overview describing historical, literary, geological, and natural history features including the photographic potential of a location.

Barging Round Britain by David Bartley is a beautifully-illustrated guide to a unique and fascinating part of our history: the canal network. Explore the people and places that have forged this national treasure, from the birth of the Industrial Revolution to the leisure explosion on our waterways today. Fully-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book will trace canal routes across the UK, from the Georgian grandeur of Bath to the dramatic splendour of the Scottish Highlands. This is the official tie-in to the ITV series, coming to prime-time TV in January 2015. David Bartley's Barging Round Britain includes a foreword and chapter introductions by the presenter of the TV series, John Sergeant.

Casgliad o 25 taith gylch yn nyffryn Dyfrdwy ac yn y bryniau o gwmpas Llangollen, yn cyflwyno llonyddwch Camlas Llangollen, golygfeydd dramatig creigiau calchfaen Craig y Forwyn, Abaty Glyn y Groes, Castell Dinas Brân a'r rheilffordd stêm, yn cynnwys mapiau eglur a chyfarwyddiadau i gynorthwyo ymwelwyr dyddiol ac ymwelwyr am gyfnod hwy fel ei gilydd. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru