Document 3, Copy letter from Mr Wooler, 19 July 1775, p 1
| 3 | ||||
| A Copy of A Letter from Mr Wooler* dated at Hull the 19th July 1775 | ||||
| Sir | ||||
| Having just now the favr of your letter of the 16th wherein you give me an account | ||||
| of the ground under the intended first Pier of Hexham Bridge, being a Quick Sand | ||||
| o | ||||
| full of bubbley Springs and so lo⁁se a texture that by hand only-a Barr of Iron | ||||
| enter’d into it 46 feet without meeting any resistance, and that your trial Pile | ||||
| of whole Timber enter’d 26 feet at 2 ½ inchs P. stroke of the ram without stopping, | ||||
| and that the gentlemen concerned were Eye wittnesses to the facts. | ||||
| This is realy a most unhappy circumstance for them as after all their trouble | ||||
| and expences hitherto, the attempting to set a Bridge upon such an enormous | ||||
| depth of Quicksand, over a river so subject to great Floods as the Tyne, may be | ||||
| deemed so hazardous as to be next to imprudance itself: Upon the report of their | ||||
| Surveyor last year of a Bed of firm Clay being found from side to side 4 feet | ||||
| d | ||||
| below the Bed of the river, which it was ju⁁ged easy to reach for a Foundation, the | ||||
| Plan was form’d which you have to proceed by: but this wretched Quicksand renders | ||||
| the attempting a Bridge on such Principles little better than folly: For let it be sup- | ||||
| posed for instance that all the Piers of the Bridge were executed according to that | ||||
| Plan, and that the Piles under them were all whole Timber, Coffer Piles & all and | ||||
| were driven |
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| e | ||||
| Iron Barr cannot be de⁁med much better than a heap of Chaff – Let it again be | ||||
| suppos’d, that a Flood like that which overturned the late Bridge should happen, | ||||
| It cannot be doubted, that when the loose Gravel under the Bed of the river (only | ||||
| 4 feet thick) shall be swept away between any of the Piers; but that the Quicksand | ||||
| under it will presently follow like water itself, and an Excavation may be made | ||||
| in a few hours, as deep or deeper as any of the Piles which guard the Piers, when | ||||
| a downfall must be the immediate consequence. On these Principles therefore | ||||
| the Bridge ought not to be attempted in this Spot, and if no better ground can be | ||||
| found in any other situation, there is but one Method of dealing with such ground | ||||
| which has succeeded where expence was not regarded, and that is: by carrying a | ||||
| solid Wall quit [sic] through the river, from side to side, about 6 feet high, & in this case | ||||
| it must be 42 feet broad. This Wall must stand on sleepers of whole Timber laid | ||||
| thick, that is, from 12 to 18 inches asunder, on the Quicksand 5 feet below the Bed of | ||||
| the River; its surface must be of large Stones all properly jointed, and will be | ||||
| about a foot above the present bed of the River; it must be guarded in front and | ||||
| rear | ||||
Note: This is quoted at length in Smeaton's Memorial, document 35
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Transcribed by CTW and TB