Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Sir John Rennie
on the north, or Middlesex side, with the Strand, upon a series of brick arches 16 feet wide each. These arches serve for storehouses. The roadway was formed by a layer of well-puddled clay 15 inches thick, then a layer of lime and of fine gravel 3 inches thick, then a layer of equally broken granite, in pieces 2 inches in diameter, 1 foot thick. Through the centre of the masonry of each pier a hole 18 inches in diameter was cut, entering the river on one side of the pier at low water, and from the top of this hole inside the pier cast-iron branch pipes of the same diameter were carried to side drains on each side of the roadway, so that all rain and surface water was effectually carried off into the river, thus preventing leakage.
The piers and abutments were founded in the solid bed of the river, which is strong gravel; they rest upon a wooden platform, supported upon piles 12 inches in diameter driven 20 feet into the bed of the river. The whole of the arches and exterior face of the bridge are built of Cornish granite, from the vicinity of Penryn, and the balustrade is made of fine grey Aberdeen granite.
The contract for the Cornish granite was taken by a very worthy man of the name of Gray, and the price was such as on so large a quantity ought to have enabled him to realize a very handsome profit; but he had no system or machinery adequate for the purpose, and instead of opening quarries properly upon an enlarged scale in the solid rock, by which he would have saved a great deal, he chiefly confined his operations to the loose outlying blocks, which reduced his profits considerably, and in the end it is very doubtful whether he did more than cover his expenses. As the dressing of granite for masonry was entirely new at that time, nothing having been built of this material in London, it was extremely difficult to find masons who would undertake it, even at such enormous prices as 1s. 9d. to 2s. per cube foot, so that the contractors, Messrs. Jolliffe and Banks, could not afford to pay it. Workmen were therefore obtained from Aberdeen, and the price was ultimately reduced from 2s. to 1s.; notwithstanding, however, the prime cost of the stone, the freight, dressing, mortar, and setting complete in the bridge cost about 7s. 2d. to 7s. 3d., so that the total cost was near 7s. 6d. It should be observed, however, that at that time there was a duty of threepence per cubic foot (or ton?) on stone, which has since been taken off. The interior stone consisted of hard sandstone from Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
The bridge and approaches were completed and opened with great ceremony by George IV., then Prince Regent, on the 15th of June, 1817, in commemoration of the battle of Waterloo, after which it was especially named. Twenty-five pieces of artillery were placed on the centre of the bridge, which fired a salute as His Royal Highness, the directors of the Company, and a brilliant suite walked over in procession, when he christened it Waterloo Bridge, and declared it open to the public. His Royal Highness came by water in his state barge, accompanied by the Admiralty and other barges, in which were the ministers and suite; he landed at the stairs on the south-east side of the bridge, and walked over it from south to north; he embarked again on the north-east side, and returned to Whitehall and Carlton House. The sight was very brilliant, the weather magnificent, and everybody seemed to be satisfied.
The total cost of the bridge was 565,000l., which was 10,000l. more than estimated by Mr. Rennie; the approaches, besides the land and buildings, cost a further sum of 112,000l.; so that the total cost of the bridge and approaches was 677,000l., and the land and buildings and contingencies 373,000l., making a total of 1,050,000l. This is certainly a very large sum for a bridge and its approaches; but when its extent is considered, the bridge alone being a quarter of a mile long, and the approaches nearly three-quarters of a mile more, also the great cost of materials and labour of every kind, the stone-cutting costing from 4s. to 6s. a cubic foot in the rough state, timber from 7l. to 14l. per load, and labour in the same proportion (which is more than double the present price), we cannot be surprised at the total cost.
I still continued my duties at the Southwark Bridge, which was completed in March, 1819, and was opened without any ceremony by Sir John Jackson, the chairman of the Company, and the other directors.
CHAPTER II.
Travels in Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Constantinople, and Egypt—Return to England—Death of Mr. Rennie.
I had now received a tolerably good education, both theoretical and practical, as a civil engineer; but before entering fully into practice on my own account, my father thought it advisable that I should travel for a time to study what had been done in ancient and modern times both in architecture and engineering. I accordingly left England on the 7th of June, 1819, in company with my cousin, Colonel, now General, Sir J. Aitchison, and the late Lord Hotham, his friend. We had a thirty-three hours’ passage from Brighton to Dieppe, during which time, having exhausted the captain’s store of bread and cheese, not very abundant, we were glad to fall back on a dozen mackerel, which Lord Hotham’s servant was fortunate enough to catch. We passed through France without much incident; but when the view from the summit of the Jura suddenly burst upon us, the magnificent scene made a most lasting impression upon my memory. The valley of the Rhone, the Lake of Geneva, backed by Mont Blanc and its splendid range of mountains, rose before us as if by magic; we were totally unprepared for it, could scarcely believe our senses, and stood enraptured for nearly half an hour. We then descended to Geneva, where we passed several days very agreeably, examining what was then the picturesque old town, with its clumsy, old-fashioned waterworks; for the improvement of these my father, through the well-known Dr. Marcet, had just made a design for the municipality, which was much approved of, and which I understand has since been partially carried into effect. I here made the acquaintance of General Dufour, so well known for his scientific acquirements, and after a few days went on an expedition to Chamounix, where, as no one then thought of ascending Mont Blanc, we climbed the Montanvert and the Mer de Glace, where I made some experiments with Leslie’s hygrometer. Having returned to Geneva, we started again on the 7th July for a more extended tour in the mountains, going by the lakes of Morat and Bienne, the scene of the great battle of 1476. I examined these two lakes, which were evidently rapidly filling up, but by lowering the outfalls a great part of the whole might be recovered, whereas at present the borders are to a great extent covered with reeds, and the marshes exhale unwholesome effluvia. After passing through Freibourg, where the bridge, then newly opened, was considered one of the wonders of Switzerland, and which, as a most remarkable work of its kind, I examined attentively, we passed on to Berne, and going through the mountains, returned to Geneva. On our way, being at Meyringen, and short of ready cash, we proposed either to return direct to Geneva, or to change one of Herries’ circular notes; but on offering one of these notes to the landlord, he at once said there was no occasion for it, as we were Englishmen, and that was enough. Having produced a large bag of five-franc pieces, he told us to help ourselves, and was with difficulty persuaded to take one of Herries’ notes in exchange. I merely mention this to show how high the name of Englishmen then stood on the Continent.
Leaving Geneva for Italy, we proceeded by the route of the Simplon, the construction of which I had promised to observe very attentively for my father. The first portion only presents, as objects of interest, the excavations through the rock of St. Gingough, near the upper end of the lake. From Martigny we started up the valley of the Rhone, where, though the ground is generally level, the road yet encounters considerable difficulties from the river, which here assumes the character of a torrent, and when swollen by floods sweeps almost everything before it; wandering from side to side it deposits the débris of the one side on the banks of the other, forming, we may say, alternately rapids and almost still pools, which renders it extremely difficult to confine its course within any reasonable limits; so that the art of the engineer is taxed to the uttermost. I thought that in many places the works were not designed with that solidity which is so necessary under such circumstances, and that sufficient precautions were not taken to arrest the progress of the débris. I considered that by providing depositories for it at certain favourable stations, the violence of the floods might have been considerably controlled, a much greater extent of land on both sides of the river rendered available for cultivation, and the extensive marshes, which, operated