Document 35, p 2
| Tyne Bridge there: so far as the Magistrates of that Town were concerned there | ||||
| with and (which thro’ the [fan?] down the River and in the Tides way suffered | ||||
| an almost total demolition) Mr Wooler on faith of Boreings made by a | ||||
| Surveyor a person employed by the Magistrates of the County for that purpose | ||||
| who reported that a Bed of Clay laid at no more than four feet under the Bed | ||||
| of the River, at a place about 50 yards above or westward of the Bridge Built | ||||
| by Sir Walter Blackett, formed a proper design for Building a Bridge upon | ||||
| the Foundation described upon the principles of piling and planking under | ||||
| the Piers, and which was begun accordingly in the year 1774 and after Building | ||||
| the North Land breast. Mr Pickernel was recommended in the beginning of | ||||
| the year 1775 to the County by Mr Wooler and Employed as Surveyor under him | ||||
| for the erection of this Bridge; who having sunk the foundation Pit for the first | ||||
| Pier from the North Abutment, as directed, to the depth of four feet below the Bed | ||||
| of the River to find the Bed of Clay; instead thereof came to a Stratum of a very | ||||
| different nature; which after Examining he reported to Mr Wooler, then at | ||||
| Hull viz A Quicksand full of Bubbley Springs, and of so loose a texture | ||||
| that by hand only a Barr of Iron entered into 46 feet without meeting | ||||
| any resistance; and that a trial pile of whole Timber, Entered 26 feet, | ||||
| at 2 ½ inches P. Stroke of the Ram without stoping; and that the Gentlemen | ||||
| concerned were eye Witnesses to the facts.* | ||||
| Upon the above report Mr Wooler declared his opinion; that the attempt | ||||
| -ing to sett 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 imprudence itself-And again that this wretched Quick | ||||
| -sand renders the attempting a Bridge on such principles (that is of piling | ||||
| and planking under the Piers) little better than folly-a Quicksand which | ||||
| from its resistance to the Iron Barr cannot be deemed much better than | ||||
| a heap of Chaff For says he "Let it again be supposed 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 four feet thick) | ||||
| 2 shall | ||||
Note: Mr Smeaton's Memorial concerning Hexham Bridge, p 2
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| An entry outlined like this has a note which may be seen by hovering over it. |
Transcribed by CTW and TB