What is Thomas Telford?
Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish [[Civil engineering|civil engineer]]. One of his earliest works can still be seen on the bridge across the River Esk in Langholm in [[Dumfries and Galloway]] From 1787 he designed churches, roads and canals in [[Shropshire]]. He built 40 bridges in Shropshire, including major crossings of the [[River Severn|Severn]] at Buildwas, and [[Bridgnorth]]. The bridge at Buildwas was Telford's first iron bridge. In 1793 he managed the detailed design and construction of the Ellesmere Canal, to join the ironworks and [[Colliery|collieries]] of [[Wrexham]] with [[Chester]], using the existing Chester Canal, and then the [[River Mersey]]. This involved the spectacular [[Pontcysyllte Aqueduct|Pontcysyllte Aqueduc]]<nowiki/>t over the [[River Dee, Wales|River Dee]] in the Vale of Llangollen, where Telford used a new method of construction consisting of troughs made from [[cast iron]] plates and fixed in [[masonry]]. Running for over 1,000 feet (300 metres) 126 ft (38 m) above the valley floor, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct has nineteen arches, each with a 45 ft (14 m) span.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|title=Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1303/|access-date=2023-03-12|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en}}</ref> [[File:Pontcysyllte_aqueduct_arp.jpg|thumb]] Then he designed lots of projects in his native Scotland, including the building of the [[Caledonian Canal]], as well as [[Harbor|harbours]] and [[Tunnel|tunnels]] and some 920 miles (1,480 km) of new roads and over a thousand new bridges in the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]] of Scotland. He built the [[Menai Suspension Bridge]], the longest [[suspension bridge]] at the time. He was called the Colossus of Roads (a [[pun]] on the [[Colossus of Rhodes]]), and he was elected as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which he held for 14 years until his death.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Heffer|first=Simon|date=2017-01