London and Birmingham Railway - Nash Mills and Boxmoor Canal Bridges 1836/7

 

Supplied on DVD are digital images of the original civil engineering records for the building of Nash Mills (Kings Langley) and Boxmoor Canal Bridges on this railway in 1836-7. The location is near Hemel Hempstead. These pages from ledger records give details of the types and quantities of materials used (e.g. mortar, cement, stone, brick, ironwork) at approximately monthly intervals through 1836 with some finishing works in 1837. There are particularly interesting comments relating to the diversion of the Grand Junction Canal, for the Boxmoor bridge, with information on the number of navvies employed and their wages.

 

Also on the DVD is an image of Nash Mills canal bridge just after completion. This is from a lithograph by J. C. Bourne published in 1839.

 

The standard written contract for these two bridges is contained within contract 5B of the London and Birmingham Railway and this was publsihed in the 1840's. I will give guidance on how this may be obtained free in digital format.

 

For these two bridges it is thus possible to bring together the contract, the construction record and a contemporary image.

   

The construction details are from a ledger (approx A4 size) containing the original civil engineering records for contracts 4B, 5B and 6B of the building of the London & Birmingham Railway in 1836/7. This is an approximately 10 mile section from Kings Langley (just north of Watford tunnel) to Tring station. These 3 consecutive contracts were probably recorded together as they were all awarded to W&L Cubitt. Today this railway forms part of the "West Coast Main Line" in the vicinity of Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted.  

 £5