John Blackwell (c. 1775 – 1840) was an English
civil engineer, known for his work as
superintending engineer of the
Kennet and Avon Canal under
John Rennie and later as the canal company's
resident engineer In general, a resident engineer is a person who works at or from the clients' side of a project. He or she possess a high degree of technical and social skills. One of the main goals of the designated role is to foster knowledge transfer. The role e ...
.
Career
Blackwell was employed as an engineer on the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1806, working primarily as
site agent on the
Caen Hill Flight in
Devizes, Wiltshire.
While
John Rennie designed the
flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
, it was likely that construction was undertaken by the Kennet and Avon Canal Company and its engineers.
In 1808, shortly before the completion of the flight, Blackwell moved to work with Rennie on
Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station, near the village of Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England, supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water.
The steam-powered pumping station is preserved and operates on selected weekends. It contains ...
.
The following year, the pair built the remaining locks on the canal—two pound locks
Oakhill Down near
Froxfield
Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish is on the Wiltshire-West Berkshire border, and the village lies on the A4 national route about west of Hungerford and east of Marlborough.
Froxfield vil ...
,
which replaced an earlier single deeper lock. Original plans would have seen the lock be the canal's only
staircase, although this proposal was never seen through.
Blackwell was appointed the company's
resident engineer In general, a resident engineer is a person who works at or from the clients' side of a project. He or she possess a high degree of technical and social skills. One of the main goals of the designated role is to foster knowledge transfer. The role e ...
on 19 July 1814, with a salary of £300 (plus £50 expenses to cover a horse).
Blackwell subsequently undertook essential maintenance of the waterway, ensuring passage for fast boats could be made—allowing transport between London and Bristol in five days.
In 1824, Blackwell was instructed to survey a railway link between the canal and
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
; he had previously surveyed a railway between the
River Avon and the
collieries
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
at
Coalpit Heath
Coalpit Heath is a small village in the parish of Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire.
Background
Due to the expansion of Coalpit Heath and the neighbouring vill ...
.
In his research, Blackwell travelled to the north of England to visit some of the
early railway systems, but remarked that "no great improvements have been made, there are limits to their powers which are nearly approached". The canal company accepted his opinion, and the scheme was cancelled.
He later visited the
Liverpool and Manchester and
Cromford
Cromford is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Derwent between Wirksworth and Matlock. It is north of Derby, south of Matlock and south of Matlock Bath. It is first mentioned in the 11th-century Do ...
railways.
In 1829, Caen Hill had
gas lighting
Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...
installed under Blackwell's supervision.
In 1832, Blackwell met English engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
, who described him as a "bigoted, obstinate, practical man."
The meeting came during Brunel's work on an alternative route to the Black Dog Turnpike near
Claverton. The canal company was concerned that the new road may cause the clay hillside to
slip
Slip or SLIP may refer to:
Science and technology Biology
* Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole
* Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting
* Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy
Computing and ...
into the waterway. Brunel, in return, was disparaging of the canal's upkeep, was dismissive of Blackwell for suggesting a
landslide might be caused by the new road, and said that past slips were "considerably assisted by the bad management of the canal". He felt that Blackwell refused to justify his concerns.
Brunel continued with the project, but once the project was complete, the road did indeed slip as predicted.
Blackwell was inducted into the
Institution of Civil Engineers
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
in 1833.
In the early 1830s, a huge programme of work was undertaken, including the conversion of numerous turf-sided
locks
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
on the
Kennet Navigation into brick and masonry lock chambers.
In approximately 1834, Blackwell built
Ufton Lock, a brand new lock on a dedicated
cut
Cut may refer to:
Common uses
* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force
** A type of wound
** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past
** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment
** Cut (ea ...
near
Ufton Nervet
Ufton Nervet is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England centred west southwest of the large town of Reading and 7 miles
east of Thatcham. Ufton Nervet has an elected civil parish council.
Geography
Ufton Nervet is a strip parish ...
in Berkshire. The new cut, of approximately , bypassed a section of meandering river. The lock only changed the navigation level by approximately , and when the waterway was
restored in the 20th century, the lock was deemed unnecessary and it was removed. Blackwell engineered a similar cut at
Burghfield
Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas a ...
, although the cut both left and rejoined the river above
Burghfield Lock and no rebuilding was required.
One of Blackwell's later projects was
Wilton Water
Wilton Water (or Wide Waters) is a small reservoir, southwest of the village of Great Bedwyn in the English county of Wiltshire, which supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water. The reservoir lies in the parish of Grafton ...
. Initially, Crofton Pumping Station used water from
natural spring
A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fres ...
s. In 1836, Blackwell created the spring-fed reservoir to provide a greater water supply. Blackwell's
sluices and
outfall
An outfall is the discharge point of a waste stream into a body of water; alternatively it may be the outlet of a river, drain or a sewer where it discharges into the sea, a lake or ocean.
In the United States, industrial facilities that discha ...
from the reservoir were given
Grade II listed status in 1986.
Personal life
Blackwell married Frances "Fanny" Cooper in
Burbage, Wiltshire, on 23 August 1808. They had five children—Emma (born in Burbage in 1808), Eliza (born in
Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough.
The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taunton ...
in 1811),
Harriet (born in Devizes in 1814),
Louisa (b. 1817) and
Thomas Evans Blackwell (b. 1819). At the
1861 census, Emma, Eliza and Harriett were all living together in Bath in
John Eveleigh's Beaufort Buildings.
![John Blackwell plaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/John_Blackwell_plaque.jpg)
Blackwell died in
Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
, Berkshire, on 28 September 1840. He was buried in a vault in the churchyard at St Lawrence's Church in the town. A memorial to Blackwell in the church reads:
A plaque dedicated to Blackwell was erected on Prison Bridge, Devizes, after his death, reading:
Thomas became a civil engineer, and upon his father's death became engineer of the Kennet and Avon Canal. He emigrated to Canada in the 1850s.
Footnotes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, John
1775 births
1840 deaths
People from Hungerford
English civil engineers
Kennet and Avon Canal