Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834)

Thomas Telford was the pre-eminent civil engineer of his generation, and was responsible for improving the country’s roads and canals at a time when inadequate communications within Britain were putting a brake on the economic growth of the nation. His most notable work was the improvement of the road between London and Holyhead, which involved the construction of the impressive suspension bridge over the Menai Straits, still in use today. The Telford Collection is the largest source of archive and illustrative material outside London (Institution of Civil Engineers), relating to the life and works of Thomas Telford, and contains facsimiles of all known Telford archival material, as well as a large number of books, prints, plans and photographs documenting Telford’s projects. It has unique manuscript versions of Telford’s autobiography and a large amount of original correspondence relating to its publication.