Thomas Telford's genius is reflexted in the variety and great technical skill of his achievements, most of which are still in use today. It is perhaps Telford's work on canals which attracts most attention now; the Ellesmere canal with its magnificent queducts and Pontycysyllte and Chirk; the Caledonian, cutting its way through the Great Glen and his last canal the Birmingham and Liverpool junction that illustrates the improvements in canal building made to compete with the railways.
His appointment as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers showed that he was recognised as the real founder of his profession.
Written by Rhoda M Pearce
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