London and Birmingham Railway - Boxmoor Skew Bridge 1836/7

 

Supplied on DVD are digital images of the original civil engineering records for Boxmoor Skew Bridge, Hemel Hempstead. The 2 pages from ledger records give details of the manpower and types and quantities of materials used in constructing this bridge at approximately montly intervals between January and October 1836.

 

Also on the DVD will be an image of a drawing of the newly constructed bridge by J. C. Bourne taken from an original lithograph published in 1839. The bridge still exists, and still carries the railway; today part of the "West Coast Main Line". For comparison a photograph of the bridge in 2007 is included. This shows how photographically accurate Bourne's drawing is.

 

Also on the DVD is an image of an engraving showing the Boxmoor area around the time of the opening of the railway in 1838.

 

The bridge construction records 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. The front cover of the ledger is show top left of this page.

  £5