James Meadows Rendel (engineer) - Plymouth Partnership

Plymouth Partnership

He soon entered into partnership at Plymouth with Nathaniel Beardmore, and his practice rapidly grew. In 1826 he erected Bowcombe Bridge, near Kingsbridge, Devon, when hydraulic power was first applied to the machinery for making swing bridges. In 1831 he introduced a new system of crossing rivers by means of chain ferries worked by steam, and in 1832 he constructed a floating bridge on this principle, crossing the Dart at Dartmouth. Between 1832 and 1834 similar floating bridges were erected at Torpoint and Saltash across the Tamar, which greatly facilitated the intercourse between Devon and Cornwall. For these achievements a second Telford medal was awarded to Rendel in 1838. The Torpoint Ferry still operates, albeit much updated. A similar floating bridge was implemented as the Woolston ferry between Woolston, Hampshire and Southampton in 1836.

During this period Rendel was also engaged in reporting on harbours and rivers in the southwest of England, and thus acquired that mastery of hydraulic engineering on which his fame chiefly rests. In 1829 he designed the harbour which was afterwards executed at Par in Cornwall; in 1835 he carried out works on the Bude harbour, dock, and canal, and in 1836 he designed Brixham harbour and the breakwater at Torquay. In 1836-37 he designed, as a terminus to the Great Western Railway, the Millbay Docks, Ply mouth, afterwards executed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1843-44 he constructed canals in Devon, and was engaged on the Colchester and Arundel navigation; and in 1844 he designed harbour improvements for Newhaven and Littlehampton in Sussex. At the same time he was largely employed on marine works by the Admiralty and other government departments, as well as by public companies. The exchequer loan commissioners engaged him in 1835-37 in the repair of the Montrose suspension bridge after its fall. There he introduced the principle of trussing the framing of the roadway. This system of preventing the undulation, by which so many structures of the kind have been destroyed, was quickly acknowledged to be essential to their safety.