Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt (usually abbreviated to Tom Rolt or L. T. C. Rolt) (11 February 1910 – 9 May 1974
) was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
figures including
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 "one ...
and
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...
. He is also regarded as one of the pioneers of the leisure cruising industry on Britain's inland waterways, and was an enthusiast for
vintage car
A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that en ...
s and
heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
s. He played a pioneering role in both the canal and railway preservation movements.
Biography
Early life
Tom Rolt was born in
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
to a line of Rolts "dedicated to hunting and procreation". His father Lionel had settled back in Britain in
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye ( cy, Y Gelli Gandryll), simply known locally as "Hay" ( cy, Y Gelli), is a market town and community in Powys, Wales; it was historically in the county of Brecknockshire. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as "the to ...
after working on a cattle station in Australia, a plantation in India, and joining (unsuccessfully) in the
Yukon gold rush of 1898. However, Lionel Rolt lost most of his money in 1920 after investing his capital in a company which failed, and the family moved to a pair of stone cottages in
Stanley Pontlarge in Gloucestershire.
Rolt studied at
Cheltenham College
("Work Conquers All")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, head = Nicola Huggett
...
and at 16 took a job learning about steam traction, before starting an apprenticeship at the
Kerr Stuart
Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
History
It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as "James Kerr & Company", and became "Kerr, Stuart & Company" from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a ...
locomotive works in
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
, where his uncle,
Kyrle Willans Kyrle may refer to:
*Cosmo Kyrle Bellew (1883–1948), British film actor
* Kyrle Bellew (1850–1911), English stage and silent film actor
* James Kyrle MacCurdy (1875–1923), British theater actor
* James Kyrle-Money (1775–1843), British soldie ...
, was chief development engineer. His uncle bought a wooden horse-drawn narrow
flyboat The flyboat (also spelled fly-boat or fly boat) was a European light vessel of Dutch origin developed primarily as a mercantile cargo carrier, although many served as warships in an auxiliary role because of their agility. These vessels could displa ...
called ''Cressy'' and fitted it with a steam engine. Then (having discovered the steam made steering through tunnels impossible) he replaced that with a
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
engine. This was Rolt's introduction to the canal system.
Cars
After Kerr Stuart went into liquidation in 1930, Rolt became jobless and turned to vintage sports cars, taking part in the
veteran run to Brighton, and acquiring a succession of cars including a 1924
Alvis 12/50
The Alvis 12/50 is a car introduced by British business Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd in 1923. It went through a series of versions, with the last ones being made in 1932. A range of factory bodies (made by Carbodies and Cross & Ellis ...
two seater 'ducks back' which he was to keep for the rest of his life.
Rolt bought into a motor garage partnership next to the Phoenix public house in
Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart (district), Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of ...
in Hampshire (their breakdown vehicle was an adapted 1911
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series.
Originally named the " 40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, ...
) and together with the landlord of the Phoenix, Tim Carson, and others, formed the
Vintage Sports-Car Club in 1934. He also founded and helped create the
Prescott hill climb. His 1950 book ''Horseless Carriage'' contains a diatribe against the emergence of
mass production
Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
in the English car industry, claiming that "mass production methods must develop towards the ultimate end
f automatic procreation of machines by machines although by doing so, they involve either the supersession of men by machines or a continual expansion of production". His preference for traditional craftsmanship helps to explain his subsequent career.
Cressy
In 1936, Kyrle Willans bought back ''Cressy'', which he had earlier sold, and several trips on the waterways convinced Rolt that he wanted a life afloat. He persuaded Angela Orred to join him in this idyll. She was a young blonde in a white polo-necked sweater, who had swept into his garage in an Alfa Romeo in 1937 and been caught up in the vintage car scene. Rolt bought ''Cressy'' from his uncle and set about converting her into a boat that could be lived on, the most notable addition being a bath.
![Plaque commemorating LTC Rolt - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Plaque_commemorating_LTC_Rolt_-_geograph.org.uk_-_678374.jpg)
By the summer of 1939, Rolt and Angela decided to defy her father's reluctance and married in secret on 11 July. Work on ''Cressy'' was completed at
Tooley's Boatyard
Tooley's Boatyard is a dockyard on the Oxford Canal in the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.
The opening of the Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable supply ...
in
Banbury
Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...
, and on 27 July Rolt and his wife set off up the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
.
War
The outbreak of the Second World War intervened and Rolt, a pacifist at heart, immediately signed up at the Rolls-Royce factory at
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
, working on the production line for the
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
's
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
engine. He was saved from the tedium of the production line by the offer of a job in a bell foundry at
Aldbourne
Aldbourne (pronounced "awld·bawn") is a village and civil parish about north-east of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in a valley on the south slope of the Lambourn Downs – part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. ...
, Wiltshire. The Rolts battled south in ''Cressy'' through storms, reaching Banbury a day before the canals were finally frozen over for the winter. The following March they negotiated the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in flood and battled up the
River Kennet
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which â ...
to reach
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 ...
, near Aldbourne, where Rolt worked for more than a year.
The Rolts' first four-month cruise was described in a book which Rolt initially called ''Painted Ship''. Despite sending the manuscript to many publishers, he had to put it aside, as it was felt that there was no market for books about canals. It was not until a magazine article he wrote came to the attention of the countryside writer
H. J. Massingham
Harold John Massingham (25 March 1888 – 22 August 1952) was a prolific British writer on ruralism, matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. He was also a published poet.
Life
Massingham was the son of the journalist H. W. Massingham ...
that Rolt had the break which led to the book finally being published, in December 1944, under the title ''
Narrow Boat
A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...
''.
Inland Waterways Association
''Narrow Boat'' was an immediate success with critics and public, leading to fan mail arriving at the Rolts' boat at
Tardebigge
Tardebigge () is a village in Worcestershire, England.
The village is most famous for the Tardebigge Locks, a flight of 30 canal locks that raise the Worcester and Birmingham Canal over over the Lickey Ridge. It lies in the county of Worcester ...
where they were then moored.
Two of the letters Rolt received were from
Robert Aickman
Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inl ...
and
Charles Hadfield who were both to figure prominently in the next phase of his life, that of a campaigner. He invited Aickman and his wife Ray to join them on ''Cressy'' and Aickman later described that trip as "the best time I have ever spent on the waterways". It was on this voyage they decided to form an organisation that a few weeks later, in May 1946, at Robert's London flat, was named the
Inland Waterways Association
The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom and was formed in 1946 to campaign for the conservation, use, maintenance, restoration and sensitive development of British Canals and river navigations.
No ...
, with Aickman as chairman, Hadfield as vice-chairman and Rolt as secretary.
This was a critical period for the waterways, which were nationalised in 1947 and faced an uncertain future. The traditional life which Rolt had so movingly described was faced with extinction. He pioneered direct action on the
Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the ...
which stopped
British Waterways
British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...
from closing it, organised a hugely successful Inland Waterways Exhibition, which started in London but toured the country, and proposed the first boat rally at
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire.
Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...
. Aickman, who had a private income, was working full-time on the campaign, whilst Rolt, who had only his writing to support him, and was still living aboard ''Cressy'', struggled to meet all his commitments. Eventually he fell out with Aickman over the latter's insistence that every mile of canal should be saved, and in early 1951 Rolt was expelled from the organisation he had inspired.
By this time also he had decided to bring his life on ''Cressy'' to an end and return to his family home in Stanley Pontlarge. Angela departed to continue the mobile life, joining
Billy Smart's Circus.
Talyllyn Railway
A letter Rolt had sent to the ''
Birmingham Post
The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...
'' in 1950 resulted in the formation of the
Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society
The Talyllyn Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Talyllyn) is a narrow gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865Drummond 2015, page 17 ...
, and he now threw himself into that, becoming chairman of the company which operated the railway as a tourist attraction. "By the time the fateful letter terminating his IWA membership arrived, he was already busy issuing and stamping passengers' tickets from the little station in
Towyn
Towyn ( cy, Tywyn) is a seaside resort in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is also an electoral ward to the town and county councils.
Location
It is located between Rhyl, in Denbighshire, and Abergele in Conwy.
Demography
According to th ...
". His time at Talyllyn gave rise to the 1953 book ''Railway Adventure'', which was the basis of the popular
Ealing comedy
The Ealing comedies is an informal name for a series of comedy films produced by the London-based Ealing Studios during a ten-year period from 1947 to 1957. Often considered to reflect Britain's post-war spirit, the most celebrated films in the ...
film ''
The Titfield Thunderbolt
''The Titfield Thunderbolt'' is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relph and John Gregson. The screenplay concerns a group of villagers trying to keep their branch l ...
''.
Rolt married again, to
Sonia Smith (née South), a former actress. During the war she had become one of the amateur boat-women who worked the canals and had married a boatman. She had been on the council of the IWA. They had two sons, Tim and Dick, and continued to live in Stanley Pontlarge until Rolt's death in 1974.
Author
The 1950s were Rolt's most prolific time as an author. His best-known works were biographies of
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 "one ...
, which stimulated a revival of interest in a forgotten hero,
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE FRSA Doctor of Civil Law, DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railway ...
, and
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...
. His classic study of historic railway accidents, ''Red for Danger'', became a text book for numerous engineering courses. Rolt produced many works about subjects that had not previously been considered the stuff of literature, such as
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...
,
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
s and railways. In his later years he produced three volumes of autobiography, only one of which was published during his lifetime.
Rolt also published ''Sleep No More'' (1948) a collection of supernatural horror stories featuring
ghosts
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
,
possession
Possession may refer to:
Law
* Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance
* Drug possession, a crime
* Ownership
* ...
and
atavism
In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when ...
.
These were modelled after the work of
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...
, but used industrial settings such as railways instead of James' "antiquarian" settings.
''
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural
''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural'' is a reference work on horror fiction in the arts, edited by Jack Sullivan. The book was published in 1986 by Viking Press.
Editor Sullivan’s stated purpose in compiling the volume, ...
'' described ''Sleep No More'' as "An exceptionally original collection of ghost stories ... Rolt had the special talent of combining folkloric spontaneity with artful sophistication." Several of Rolt's stories were anthologised; they were also adapted as radio dramas.
His "Winterstoke" (1954) is a unique perspective on the development of modern Britain from the Feudal system via the
dissolution of the monasteries.
Achievements and honours
![Tom Rolt at Tywyn Wharf - 2005-07-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Tom_Rolt_at_Tywyn_Wharf_-_2005-07-16.jpg)
He was vice-president of the
Newcomen Society Newcomen may refer to:
People
* John Newcomen (c.1613–1630), English first white settler murdered by another white settler in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts
* Matthew Newcomen (c. 1610–1669), English nonconformist churchman
*Thomas Newcomen (16 ...
, which established a ''Rolt Prize''; a trustee and member of the Advisory Council of the
Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
; a member of the
York Railway Museum Committee; an honorary MA of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
; an honorary MSc of the
University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
(1973) and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
. He was a joint founder of the
Association for Industrial Archaeology, which has an annual Rolt lecture. He helped to form the
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages multiple historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of ...
.
A locomotive ''
Tom Rolt
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt (usually abbreviated to Tom Rolt or L. T. C. Rolt) (11 February 1910 – 9 May 1974) was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Tel ...
'' on the
Talyllyn Railway
The Talyllyn Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Talyllyn) is a narrow gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865Drummond 2015, page 17 ...
, the world's first preserved railway, was named in his memory in 1991.
![Tom Rolt Bridge plaque road](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Tom_Rolt_Bridge_plaque_road.jpg)
Rolt observed the changes in society resulting from the industrial-scientific revolution. In the epilogue to his biography of I. K. Brunel he writes two years before
C. P. Snow
Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclope ...
makes similar statements about the split between the arts and sciences:
Men spoke in one breath of the arts and sciences and to the man of intelligence and culture it seemed essential that he should keep himself abreast of developments in both spheres. ... So long as the artist or the man of culture had been able to advance shoulder to shoulder with engineer and scientist and with them see the picture whole, he could share their sense of mastery and confidence and believe wholeheartedly in material progress. But so soon as science and the arts became divorced, so soon as they ceased to speak a common language, confidence vanished and doubts and fears came crowding in.
He set out these ideas more fully in his book ''High Horse Riderless'', a classic of green philosophy.
A bridge (no. 164) on the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
in
Banbury
Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...
bears his name (in commemoration of his book ''Narrow Boat''), as does a centre at the boat museum at
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...
in Cheshire. A blue plaque to Mr. Rolt was unveiled in at
Tooley's Boatyard
Tooley's Boatyard is a dockyard on the Oxford Canal in the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.
The opening of the Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable supply ...
, Banbury on 7 August 2010 as part of the centenary celebrations of his birth.
Bibliography
Rolt's work (arranged by topic in rough chronological order) includes:
[
]
Waterways
* ''
Narrow Boat
A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...
'' (1944,
Eyre & Spottiswoode
Eyre & Spottiswoode was the London-based printing firm that was the King's Printer, and subsequently, a publisher prior to being incorporated; it once went by the name of Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & co. ltd. In April 1929, it was incorporated as E ...
)
* ''
Green and Silver
''Green and Silver'' is the account by Tom Rolt of a voyage through the inland waterways of Ireland just after the Second World War, published in 1949. It is notable because it was one of the last trips by any boat around the triangular loop of t ...
'' (1949,
George Allen & Unwin
George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...
)
* ''The Inland Waterways of England'' (1950, George Allen & Unwin)
* ''The
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
from Mouth to Source'' (1951)
* ''Navigable Waterways'' (1969,
Longmans
Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC.
Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...
; rpt. 1973 by Hutchinson )
* ''From Sea to Sea: The
Canal du Midi
The Canal du Midi (; ) is a long canal in Southern France (french: le Midi). Originally named the ''Canal royal en Languedoc'' (Royal Canal in Languedoc) and renamed by French revolutionaries to ''Canal du Midi'' in 1789, the canal is considere ...
'' (1973,
Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...
)
Railways
* ''Lines of Character'' (1952,
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
), with Patrick Whitehouse
* ''Railway Adventure'' (1953, Constable)
* ''Red for Danger: A History of Railway Accidents and Railway Safety'' (1955,
The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...
)
* ''
Patrick Stirling's Locomotives'' (1964, H. Hamilton)
* ''The Making of a Railway'' (1971, Evelyn)
Biography
* ''
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 "one ...
: A Biography'' (1957, Longmans)
* ''
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...
'' (1958, Longmans)
* ''The
Cornish Giant: The Story of
Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...
, Father of the Steam Locomotive'' (1960, Lutterworth Press)
* ''
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE FRSA Doctor of Civil Law, DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railway ...
: The Railway Revolution'' (1960, Longmans)
* ''Great Engineers'' (1962, G. Bell)
* ''
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
'' (1962,
Batsford)
* ''
Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling.
He ...
: The Prehistory of the Steam Engine'' (1968,
David & Charles
David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing.
David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...
)
Industrial history
From the period of 1958 onwards, Rolt was commissioned by many engineering companies to document their history. Many of these are unpublished internal documents; only the published works are listed here.
* ''
Holloways of Millbank: The First Seventy-Five Years'' (1958)
* ''The Dowty Story'' (Part I, 1962; Part II, 1973)
* ''A Hunslet Hundred: One Hundred Years of Locomotive Building by the
Hunslet Engine Company
The Hunslet Engine Company is a locomotive-building company, founded in 1864 in Hunslet, England. It manufactured steam locomotives for over 100 years and currently manufactures diesel shunting locomotives. The company is part of Ed Murray & S ...
'' (1964)
*
* ''The
Mechanicals: Progress of a Profession'' (1967)
* ''Waterloo Ironworks: A History of Taskers of Andover, 1809–1968'' (1969)
* ''Victorian Engineering'' (1970)
* ''The Potters' Field: A History of the South Devon
Ball Clay
Ball clays are kaolinitic sedimentary clays that commonly consist of 20–80% kaolinite, 10–25% mica, 6–65% quartz. Localized seams in the same deposit have variations in composition, including the quantity of the major minerals, accessory ...
Industry'' (1974)
Autobiography
* ''Landscape with Machines'' (1971, Longman), first part of autobiography
* ''Landscape with Canals'' (1977), second part of autobiography
* ''Landscape with Figures'' (1992), retitled third part of his autobiography
* ''The Landscape Trilogy'' (2001), gathers all three parts of autobiography in one volume
Other
* ''High Horse Riderless'' (1947, George Allen & Unwin), personal philosophy
* ''Sleep No More'' (1948), ghost stories
* ''
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
'' (1949, Robert Hale),
County Books series
The County Books series, by Robert Hale and Company
Robert Hale Limited was a London publisher of fiction and non-fiction books, founded in 1936, and also known as Robert Hale. It was based at Clerkenwell House, Clerkenwell Green. It ceased tra ...
* ''Horseless Carriage: The Motor Car in England'' (1950)
* ''Winterstoke'' (1954), history of a fictional Midlands town
* ''The Clouded Mirror'' (1955), travel
* ''The Aeronauts: A History of Ballooning, 1783–1903'' (1966; rpt. 2006 as ''The Balloonists: The History of the First Aeronauts'')
* ''Two Ghost Stories'' (1994)
Gallery
File:Tom Rolt Bridge.jpg, Oxford Canal, Banbury. Bridge 164 carrying Compton Road over canal
File:Tom Rolt Bridge close.jpg, Closeup of bridge parapet showing name ''Tom Rolt Bridge''
File:Tom Rolt Bridge plaque towpath.jpg, Plaque attached to retaining wall of ''Tom Rolt Bridge'' on mooring side of canal
File:Bridge over the Shropshire Union Canal - geograph.org.uk - 678338.jpg, Bridge over the Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
The canal lies in ...
at Chester
File:L.T.C. Rolt Blue Plaque.JPG, Blue Plaque at Tooley's Boatyard
Tooley's Boatyard is a dockyard on the Oxford Canal in the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.
The opening of the Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable supply ...
See also
*
Canals of the United Kingdom
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's ro ...
*
History of the British canal system
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
References
External links
L. T. C. Rolt website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolt, Lionel Thomas Caswell
1910 births
1974 deaths
People from Chester
English biographers
English autobiographers
English memoirists
English non-fiction writers
English short story writers
English horror writers
Ghost story writers
Talyllyn Railway
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Rail transport writers
Railway historians
British waterways activists
English male short story writers
British people associated with Heritage Railways
English male non-fiction writers
20th-century English male writers