The advantages derived from the construction of these new roads were found to be so great, that it was proposed to do the like for the remainder of the line between London and Edinburgh; and at the instance of the Post-Office authorities, with the sanction of the Treasury, Mr. Telford proceeded to make detailed surveys of an entire new post-road between London and Morpeth. In laying it out, the main points which he endeavoured to secure were directness and flatness; and 100 miles of the proposed new Great North Road, south of York, were laid out in a perfectly straight line. This survey, which was begun in 1824, extended over several years; and all the requisite arrangements had been made for beginning the works, when the result of the locomotive competition at Rainhill, in 1829, had the effect of directing attention to that new method of travelling, fortunately in time to prevent what would have proved, for the most part, an unnecessary expenditure, on works soon to be superseded by a totally different order of things.
The most important road-improvements actually carried out under Mr. Telford's immediate superintendence were those on the western side of the island, with the object of shortening the distance and facilitating the communication between London and Dublin by way of Holyhead, as well as between London and Liverpool. At the time of the Union, the mode of transit between the capital of Ireland and the metropolis of the United Kingdom was tedious, difficult, and full of peril. In crossing the Irish Sea to Liverpool, the packets were frequently tossed about for days together. On the Irish side, there was scarcely the pretence of a port, the landing-place being within the bar of the river Liffey, inconvenient at all times, and in rough weather extremely dangerous. To avoid the long voyage to Liverpool, the passage began to be made from Dublin to Holyhead, the nearest point of the Welsh coast. Arrived there, the passengers were landed upon rugged, unprotected rocks, without a pier or landing convenience of any kind.*[3] But the traveller's perils were not at an end,—comparatively speaking they had only begun. From Holyhead, across the island of Anglesea, there was no made road, but only a miserable track, circuitous and craggy, full of terrible jolts, round bogs and over rocks, for a distance of twenty-four miles. Having reached the Menai Strait, the passengers had again to take to an open ferry-boat before they could gain the mainland. The tide ran with great rapidity through the Strait, and, when the wind blew strong, the boat was liable to be driven far up or down the channel, and was sometimes swamped altogether. The perils of the Welsh roads had next to be encountered, and these were in as bad a condition at the beginning of the present century as those of the Highlands above described. Through North Wales they were rough, narrow, steep, and unprotected, mostly unfenced, and in winter almost impassable. The whole traffic on the road between Shrewsbury and Bangor was conveyed by a small cart, which passed between the two places once a week in summer. As an illustration of the state of the roads in South Wales, which were quite as bad as those in the North, we may state that, in 1803, when the late Lord Sudeley took home his bride from the neighbourhood of Welshpool to his residence only thirteen miles distant, the carriage in which the newly married pair rode stuck in a quagmire, and the occupants, having extricated themselves from their perilous situation, performed the rest of their journey on foot.
The first step taken was to improve the landing-places on both the Irish and Welsh sides of St. George's Channel, and for this purpose Mr. Rennie was employed in 1801. The result was, that Howth on the one coast, and Holyhead on the other, were fixed upon as the most eligible sites for packet stations. Improvements, however, proceeded slowly, and it was not until 1810 that a sum of 10,000L. was granted by Parliament to enable the necessary works to be begun. Attention was then turned to the state of the roads, and here Mr. Telford's services were called into requisition. As early as 1808 it had been determined by the Post-Office authorities to put on a mail-coach between Shrewsbury and Holyhead; but it was pointed out that the roads in North Wales were so rough and dangerous that it was doubtful whether the service could be conducted with safety. Attempts were made to enforce the law with reference to their repair, and no less than twenty-one townships were indicted by the Postmaster-General. The route was found too perilous even for a riding post, the legs of three horses having been broken in one week.*[4] The road across Anglesea was quite as bad. Sir Henry Parnell mentioned, in 1819, that the coach had been overturned beyond Gwynder, going down one of the hills, when a friend of his was thrown a considerable distance from the roof into a pool of water. Near the post-office of Gwynder, the coachman had been thrown from his seat by a violent jolt, and broken his leg. The post-coach, and also the mail, had been overturned at the bottom of Penmyndd Hill; and the route was so dangerous that the London coachmen, who had been brought down to "work" the country, refused to continue the duty because of its excessive dangers. Of course, anything like a regular mail-service through such a district was altogether impracticable.
The indictments of the townships proved of no use; the localities were too poor to provide the means required to construct a line of road sufficient for the conveyance of mails and passengers between England and Ireland. The work was really a national one, to be carried out at the national cost. How was this best to be done? Telford recommended that the old road between Shrewsbury and Holyhead (109 miles long) should be shortened by about four miles, and made as nearly as possible on a level; the new line proceeding from Shrewsbury by Llangollen, Corwen, Bettws-y-Coed, Capel-Curig, and Bangor, to Holyhead. Mr. Telford also proposed to cross the Menai Strait by means of a cast iron bridge, hereafter to be described.
Although a complete survey was made in 1811, nothing was done for several years. The mail-coaches continued to be overturned, and stage-coaches, in the tourist season, to break down as before.*[5] The Irish mail-coach took forty one hours to reach Holyhead from the time of its setting out from St. Martin's-le-Grand; the journey was performed at the rate of only 6 3/4 miles an hour, the mail arriving in Dublin on the third day. The Irish members made many complaints of the delay and dangers to which they were exposed in travelling up to town. But, although there was much discussion, no money was voted until the year 1815, when Sir Henry Parnell vigorously took the question in hand and successfully carried it through. A Board of Parliamentary Commissioners was appointed, of which he was chairman, and, under their direction, the new Shrewsbury and Holyhead road was at length commenced and carried to completion, the works extending over a period of about fifteen years. The same Commissioners excrcised an authority over the roads between London and Shrewsbury; and numerous improvements were also made in the main line at various points, with the object of facilitating communication between London and Liverpool as well as between London and Dublin.
The rugged nature of the country through which the new road passed, along the slopes of rocky precipices and across inlets of the sea, rendered it necessary to build many bridges, to form many embankments, and cut away long stretches of rock, in order to secure an easy and commodious route. The line of the valley of the Dee, to the west of Llangollen, was selected, the road proceeding along the scarped sides of the mountains, crossing from point to point by lofty embankments where necessary; and, taking into account the character of the country, it must be acknowledged that a wonderfully level road was secured. While the gradients on the old road had in some cases been as steep as 1 in 6 1/2, passing along the edge of unprotected precipices, the new one was so laid out as to be no more than 1 in 20 at any part, while it was wide and well protected along its whole extent. Mr. Telford pursued the same system that he had adopted in the formation of the Carlisle and Glasgow road, as regards metalling, cross-draining, and fence-walling; for the latter purpose using schistus, or slate rubble-work, instead of sandstone. The largest bridges were of iron; that at Bettws-y-Coed, over the Conway—called the Waterloo Bridge, constructed in 1815—being a very fine specimen of Telford's iron bridge-work.
Those parts of the road which had been the most dangerous were taken in hand first, and, by the year 1819, the route had been rendered comparatively commodious and safe. Angles were cut off, the sides of hills were blasted away, and several heavy embankments run out across formidable arms of the sea. Thus, at Stanley Sands, near Holyhead, an embankment was formed 1300 yards long and 16 feet high, with a width of 34 feet at the top, along which the road was laid. Its breadth at the base was 114 feet, and both sides were coated with rubble stones, as a protection against storms. By the adoption of this expedient, a mile and a half was saved in a distance of six miles. Heavy embankments were also run out, where bridges were thrown across chasms and ravines, to maintain the general level. From Ty-Gwynn to Lake Ogwen, the road along the face of the rugged hill and across the river Ogwen was entirely new made, of a uniform width of 28 feet between the parapets, with an inclination of only 1 in 22 in the steepest place. A bridge was thrown over the deep chasm forming the channel of the Ogwen, the embankment being carried forward from the rook cutting, protected by high breastworks. From Capel-Curig to near the great waterfall over the river Lugwy, about a mile of new road was cut; and a still greater length from Bettws across the river Conway and along the face of Dinas Hill to Rhyddlanfair, a distance of 3 miles; its steepest descent being 1 in 22, diminishing to 1 in 45. By this improvement, the most difficult and dangerous pass along the route through North Wales was rendered safe and commodious.
[Image] Road Descent near Betws-y-Coed.
Another point of almost equal difficulty occurred near Ty-Nant, through the rocky pass of Glynn Duffrws, where the road was confined between steep rocks and rugged precipices: there the way was widened and flattened by blasting, and thus reduced to the general level; and so on eastward to Llangollen and Chirk, where the main Shrewsbury road to London was joined.*[6]
[Image] Road above Nant Frrancon, North Wales.