John Rennie East London

A special exhibition is starting this week, to pay tribute to one of Britain's ...

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the 6ft 4in tall, Scottish born engineer. An exhibition at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) from 29 July, will celebrate his life, displaying items such as an original stone from Waterloo Bridge, paintings, plans of work and original note books.

Rennie, apprenticed as a millwright and the first professional engineer to receive a university education, came to England and initially made his mark as the installer of millwork at Albion Mills beside Blackfriars - the first great steam-powered mill in London.

He then began to receive civil engineering commissions. From 1789 he was surveying canals and construction followed on canals such as Stroudwater (1792-93), Lancaster (1792-03), Crinan (1794-09) and Kennet and Avon (1794-10).



Author Samuel Smiles commended his work on the Lune aqueduct on the Lancaster: "It exhibits in fine combination, the important qualities of strength, durability, and elegance in design." He said.

Those qualities were what characterised Rennie's approach and were reflected in the great bridge and dock designs of the early nineteenth century. Generally, it was Waterloo and Southwark bridges in London that aroused greatest admiration. Waterloo "the finest bridge in Europe" was once described by engineering great Robert Stephenson as "Unrivalled as regards its colossal proportions, its architectural effect, and the general simplicity and massive character of its details."

His great dock schemes - London docks (1801-05), East India docks, Howth and Dun Laoghaire harbours, Plymouth breakwater and Sheerness dockyard, were valued at millions of pounds, and also remain impressive to this day.

John Rennie, engineer and builder ... - History of East End of London

Ever since the Romans found a shallow ford over the Thames, and founded a town there, London had been a major port. But by the 1700s, the growth in shipping and trade between London and the New World was putting a severe strain on moorings upriver. Between 1720 and 1800 trade tripled, and at times nearly 2000 ships were fighting for 500 moorings. Goods had to wait ‘in the offing’, sometimes for weeks. While they lay in their holds in the Thames they were prey to pilfering, vermin and decay.

Eventually, in 1800, Parliament passed an Act to authorise the building of the West India Docks. The City took the opportunity to relieve the crowded Thames by siting the new dock downriver (by the standards of the day) on the Isle of Dogs. Amazingly, the new dock took a mere two years to complete, a testament to the organization and thoroughness of its architect, John Rennie.

But although Rennie was to become, along with Thomas Telford, the most celebrated civil engineer of his age, it was from unlikely beginnings. Rennie was born a farmer’s son on 7 June, 1761, in East Lothian. It was a lucky chance that the innovative engineer, Andrew Meikle, had his workshop nearby. John would visit the works, and soon began making models of the complex mechanisms he saw there. By ten he was producing miniature windmills and steam engines.

At 12, Rennie left school, and took an apprenticeship with Meikle. Mechanisms were an obsession for the boy, and he spent his spare time modelling and drawing machinery. By his late teens, he understood machines inside and out, and had built three corn-mills in his home parish.

But the precocious talent wasn’t satisfied in erecting windmills for local farmers. He moved on to Edinburgh University, where he studied natural philosophy (science) and chemistry. He was equipping himself to move beyond mere mechanic to engineer. And with a recommendation from his Edinburgh tutor, Professor Robison, he was soon taken into the employment of James Watt, in Soho. On his journey south, Rennie took the opportunity of examining some of the new engineering wonders of the day – the aqueduct bridge at Lancaster, the docks at Liverpool, and the works on the Bridgewater canal.

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