Would you, as a parliamentary agent, undertake to prepare and conduct an ordinary road bill through parliament for 200l., to include all expenses, where there is no opposition?—I would undertake any number at that sum, provided the proofs before mentioned were admitted to be made by affidavit in the county, in like manner as the proofs are now given to facilitate the passing of inclosure bills.
Jovis, 6º die Maii, 1819.
Thomas Telford, Esquire, called in; and Examined.
You are, I believe, a civil engineer?
Yes, I am.
The roads which have been formed by direction of the Parliamentary Commissioners for the Holyhead road, and under your management, having been described to this Committee as being very perfect, will you have the goodness to state your opinion as to the present condition of the different turnpike roads of the kingdom, and what improvements you would recommend in their direction and management. In the first place, state to the Committee in what respect you consider the roads of the kingdom at present to be defective, either in their formation or management?—
With regard to the roads in England and Wales, they are in general very defective, both as to their direction and inclinations, they are frequently carried over hills, which might be avoided by passing along the adjacent valleys; at present the inclinations are inconveniently steep, and long continued. I might instance many principal lines, over which I have had frequent occasion to travel: I shall select the great road from Holyhead, through North Wales to Shrewsbury; and from thence by Birmingham and Coventry to London. On the Welsh portion of it, those parts which have been improved under the direction of the Parliamentary Commissioners for the Holyhead road, the inclinations were formerly (in many instances) as much as one in six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, the width at the same time frequently not exceeding twelve feet, without protection on the lower side, and the roadway itself of improper construction. The improvements which have lately been made in North Wales, I beg leave to submit as models for roads through hilly countries, although these improvements have been made through the most difficult and precipitous district of that country, the longitudinal inclinations are in general less than one in thirty; in one instance, for a considerable distance, there was no avoiding one in twenty-two, and in another, for about two hundred yards, one in seventeen; but in these two cases, the surface of the roadway being made peculiarly smooth and hard, no inconvenience is experienced by wheeled carriages. On flat ground, the breadth of the roadway is thirty-two feet, where there is side cutting not exceeding three feet, the breadth is twenty-eight, and along any steep ground and precipices, it is twenty-two, all clear within the fences; the sides are protected by stone walls, breast and retaining walls and parapets; great pains have been bestowed on the cross drains, also the draining the ground, and likewise in constructing firm and substantial foundations for the metalled part of the roadway. From Shrewsbury upwards, the road at present is encumbered with many hills, all of which might be avoided, or much improved. There is a very long one between Shrewsbury and Heygate, several between that point and Shiffnal, two between Shiffnal and Wolverhampton, one between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, viz. at Wednesbury, &c. Maiden Hill, between Birmingham and Coventry; Braunston Hill, between Dunchurch and Daventry; a continued succession of hills between Daventry and Towcester; afterwards the well-known Brickhill and Hockliffe hills, besides the very circuitous and imperfect road between South Mims and Barnet.
Another instance I would beg leave to mention to the Committee, is the road between the towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, on the way to Bath, which consists of nearly a succession of very high and inconveniently steep hills, although very easy inclinations might be obtained by passing along the side of the river Severn.
I have mentioned these two instances as examples of the present imperfections of main roads, and it is quite evident they might all be readily avoided by lines of new road, easily to be accomplished. These, I presume, the Committee will admit are sufficient to show the present state of many other roads in the kingdom, they not having been selected as more particularly defective than others.
The shape, or cross sections and drainage of the roads, are quite as defective as the general direction and inclinations; there has been no attention paid to constructing a good and solid foundation for the roadway; the materials, whether of gravel or stones, have seldom been sufficiently selected and arranged; and they lie so promiscuously upon the road as to render it inconvenient to travel upon, and promote its speedy destruction. The shape of the road, or cross section of the surface, is frequently hollow in the middle; the sides encumbered with great banks of mud, which have accumulated sometimes to the height of six, seven and eight feet; these prevent the water from falling into the side-drains; they also throw a considerable shade upon the road itself, and are gross and unpardonable nuisances. The materials, instead of being cleansed of the mud and soil with which they are mixed in their native state, are laid promiscuously upon the road; this, in the first instance, creates an unnecessary expense of carriage to the road, and afterwards nearly as much in removing it, besides inconvenience and obstruction to travelling; the materials should therefore be cleansed on the spot where they are procured, from every particle of earth, by screening, or if necessary, even by washing; some additional expense might in the first instance be incurred by these operations, but it would be found by much the most economical and advantageous mode in the end. In all cases, materials in their native state are composed of particles and pieces of different sizes, it is most important that those should be separated, and that the largest size should be reduced to not more than six or eight ounces in weight, and laid in the bottom part of the road; those that are under that weight or size may be laid on the top or surface of the road; the surface itself should be made with a very gentle curve in its cross section, just sufficient to permit the water to pass from the centre towards the sides of the road, the declivity may increase towards the sides, and the general section form a very flat ellipsis, so that the side, at the time, should (upon a road of about thirty feet in width) be nine inches below the surface in the middle. Connected with the cross section are the side drains which are to receive the water, and which drains, in every instance, I particularly recommend to be on the field side of the fence, with apertures in that fence for the water to pass from the sides of the road into them.