Isambard Kingdom Brunel 200th anniversary

Transcription

1 Isambard Kingdom Brunel 200th anniversary

2 Brunel was challenged by the landscape of Wales to develop innovative engineering solutions Isambard Kingdom Brunel 200th anniversary Works in Wales This year, 2006 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the most innovative of all Victorian engineers; Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Like others before him and since, Brunel was challenged by the landscape of Wales to develop innovative engineering solutions, working with Welsh industry in his pursuit of excellence. Ironwork for his suspension bridges came from Merthyr Tydfil along with rails for the Great Western Railway. Welsh coal fuelled his ships and railways and was the cargo of the SS Great Britain when it sailed from Penarth Dock on its last commercial voyage. As well as fuelling the industrial revolution, Wales was also the birthplace of arguably, the greatest innovation of the nineteenth century, the steam railway locomotive. Thirty years after Trevithick s historic journey of 1804, Brunel was commissioned to build the Taff Vale Railway with its unique skew crossing of the Taff. On the broad gauge South Wales Railway his ideas for bowstring girders and tubular suspension spans were first developed with his only surviving timber work still carrying traffic today. To minimise coal breakage from collieries to docks such as Briton Ferry, Brunel introduced containerisation on the Vale of Neath Railway. The port of Milford Haven was selected by Brunel for the PSS Great Eastern, a ship equipped by Brown Lenox of Pontypridd with a record-breaking size of chain cable. The industrial infrastructure of Wales was created through innovation, a factor crucial today in transforming the economy into a knowledge-based one. For our track record so far see; Welsh Achievements in Science, Technology and Engineering. Find out about this and how innovation can work for your business at

3 Isambard Kingdom Brunel s first major engineering work, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, brought him to south Wales in search of ironwork. The Merthyr ironmasters recognised his skills and he was engaged to build the Taff Vale Railway. The Taff Vale Railway and the South Wales Railway, the latter linking south Wales to the Great Western Railway system, still operate as part of the railway system today. Other lines engineered by Brunel, such as the Vale of Neath, Llynvi Valley and South Wales Mineral Railway, have not fared so well and have closed over the years with the decline of the coal industry. To celebrate the Brunel Bicentenary this year a major exhibition; Brunel: Gweithiau yng Nghymru - Works in Wales, will open in Swansea and then tour south Wales (see below and for further details). At the time of going to press it has not been possible to include other venues taking the exhibition, but further details of these and other events will be advertised on the What s On section of the HERIAN web site; at and the Brunel 200 website; 01/03 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by R. Angus 19:30 Buchanan, author of; Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Pontypridd HS lecture. 01/04 South Wales and West of England 09:45- Industrial Archaeology Conference :30 at Crosskeys College, Gwent. Organised by Oxford House Industrial History Society, the conference will open with Brunel in South Wales by Stephen K. Jones. Contact Tony Dukes Tel: tonyjukes@clara.co.uk or see; 08/04- Brunel: Gweithiau yng Nghymru - 25/06 Works in Wales An examination of the works of the engineer in Wales at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea. Tel; /04 Welsh National Convention of Excellence in Engineering and Technology at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Gwent. The event is a showcase for the talent of young people in Wales featuring the EESW Exhibition of Innovation and technical equipment displays with international key note speakers such as Richard Parry-Jones CBE., FREng of the Ford Group. A talk on Brunel in South Wales will be given by Stephen K. Jones. For further details see or contact Gill James on gill@eesw.org.uk

4 09/04 Bicentenary Birthday Celebration. 10:30 Organised by the Victorian Society, the Institution of Civil Engineers Wales and the South Wales Institute of Engineers to mark Brunel s birthday at the Pontypridd Museum. Following the opening presentation by Stephen K. Jones, the ICE Wales Chairman Chris Gray and SWIE President Phil Hourahaine will present commemorative plaques on the Brunel landmark structures; Newbridge and Goitre Coed Viaducts, to Network Rail. Contact Elaine Davey (Victorian Society); elainedavey@msm.com. After lunch two vintage buses will take visitors to the Hetty Engine House of the Great Western Colliery, the coal of which steamed the Great Western Railway. 10/04 Brunel, Railways and the Briton Ferry Dock at the Briton Ferry Library, Neath Road, Briton Ferry. Running for two weeks, except Good Friday. Contact Huw James, Briton Ferry Heritage Group, Tel: cllr.h.n.james@net.gov.uk 23/04 Brunel: Gweithiau yng Nghymru - 14:15 Works in Wales a presentation by Stephen K. Jones at the Dockside Room, National Waterfront Museum, Swansea. Tel; /05 Bridgend Station Plaque unveiling by the ICE Wales and SWIE. 30/06- Chepstow Plaque(s) to be unveiled by 23/07 Chepstow Town Council, and the ICE Wales and SWIE, as part of Chepstow Festival Week. 02/08 Brunel in South Wales by 19:30 Stephen K. Jones. Pontypridd HS lecture. 03/09 Merthyr Tydfil Transport Festival in the 11:00 - town centre/main car parks. Contact 17:00 Wayne Edwards, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council; Tel: /09- Brunel Festival Neyland special lectures 16/09 and Brunel Heritage Exhibition at Neyland Library. See and for further details. For further information on; 1. Pontypridd HS (Historical Society) lectures, these will take place at the Pontypridd Museum, Bridge Street, Pontypridd and start at 19:30. Contact Brian Davies on Events organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers Wales and the South Wales Institute of Engineers, contact Cherry Cronly on info@swie.org.uk Brunel Statue Neyland

5 Cynllun y logo a darlun SS Great Britain gan Owen Eardley, llun traphont bren Dar gan Glyn Davies, murlun canol tref Merthyr Tudful gan I weld rhestr o brif weithiau Brunel yn Nghymru ymwelwch â r gwefannau isod fyfyrwyr a staff Coleg Merthyr Tudful gyda lluniau a thestun a lluniau lliw gan Stephen K. Jones. To view a gazetteer of Brunel s principal works in Wales visit the websites below Logo design and SS Great Britain illustration by Owen Eardley, Dare timber viaduct photograph by Glyn Davies, Merthyr Town Centre Mural by students and staff of Merthyr Tydfil College with text and colour photography by Stephen K. Jones.