Thomas Penson
Encyclopedia
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. Montgomeryshire is still used as a vice-county for wildlife recording...
from 1817, and designer of a number of masonry arch bridge
Arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side...
s over the River Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
and elsewhere.
Penson's father had been County Surveyor of Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
, responsible for a bridge at Overton-on-Dee
Overton-on-Dee
Overton-on-Dee is a small rural town and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales....
which collapsed. Thomas Penson designed its replacement.
Penson was a pupil, along with Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
, of the architect and bridge designer Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison (architect)
Thomas Harrison was an English architect and engineer. He built a number of bridges, including Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He also rebuilt parts of Chester and Lancaster castles...
. He relied on contractors to build his bridges, such as David Davies
David Davies (industrialist)
David Davies was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1874 and 1886. Davies was often known as David Davies Llandinam , in order to differentiate him from others of the same name.Davies was the son of David Davies and his wife Elizabeth...
, who built Llandinam
Llandinam
Llandinam is village in Powys, central Wales, between Newtown and Llanidloes, located on the A470.Llandinam was the family home of David Davies who was responsible for much of the development of the South Wales Valleys and the export of coal in the 19th century...
Bridge in 1846.
In February 1852, the Severn flooded, damaging a number of bridges for which Penson went on to design replacements.
Penson designed a two-span cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
arch bridge at Caer Howell in 1858 to replace a timber structure destroyed by floods. Against his advice, a suspension bridge
Suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
designed by James Dredge had been built in 1854, only to collapse four years later under the weight of three lime wagons, killing one man. He also designed a church at Newtown, Powys, and Montgomery
Montgomery, Powys
The historic county town of Montgomery in Powys, Wales lies just three miles from the English border in the Welsh Marches. It is best known for its castle, Montgomery Castle, begun in 1223, and its parish church, begun in 1227. However its origins go back much further, as seen by the Celtic Iron...
jail.
Other structures credited to Thomas Penson include:
- Caersws Bridge, at CaerswsCaerswsCaersws is a village and community sitting on the River Severn, at miles west of Newtown, Powys, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.- History & Amenities :...
, 1821, three ellipticalEllipseIn geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
masonry arches - Long Bridge, at LlanidloesLlanidloesLlanidloes is a town along the A470 road and B4518 road in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire , Mid Wales.It is the first town on the River Severn...
, 1826, three-span masonry arch bridge, replaced a wooden bridge - Long Bridge, at Newtown, 1827, masonry arch widened by Penson with cast iron arches in 1857
- Felindre Bridge, at Mount Severn, 1848, segmentalCircular segmentIn geometry, a circular segment is an area of a circle informally defined as an area which is "cut off" from the rest of the circle by a secant or a chord. The circle segment constitutes the part between the secant and an arc, excluding the circle's center...
or elliptical masonry arch bridge - Short Bridge, at Llanidloes, 1849, masonry arch bridge
- Brynderwen Bridge, at AbermuleAbermuleAbermule is a village in Powys, mid Wales, located on the River Severn. The Montgomeryshire canal runs through Abermule, the canal is very close to the river.- Amenities :...
, 1852, 33m span cast iron arch bridge, Grade 2 Listed - Cilcewydd Bridge, 1861, masonry arch bridge
- Llanfyllin Union Workhouse, 1838, 250 pauper workhouse Grade 2 Listed