Isambard's Gift
This article summarizes some research I have carried out, on and off, over a period of more than 25 years. It should provide some answers to that vexed question: did Isambard Kingdom Brunel deliberately align the Box Tunnel on the Great Western Railway such that the rising sun shines right through it on his birthday?
Click on the icon to download the article from the December Genealogists' Magazine, © Peter Maggs and Genealogists' Magazine 2016.
This article summarizes some research I have carried out, on and off, over a period of more than 25 years. It should provide some answers to that vexed question: did Isambard Kingdom Brunel deliberately align the Box Tunnel on the Great Western Railway such that the rising sun shines right through it on his birthday?
Click on the icon to download the article from the December Genealogists' Magazine, © Peter Maggs and Genealogists' Magazine 2016.
| isambards_gift-ed.pdf |
Note added 12 April 2020. Unfortunately, having smugly criticised Lady Noble's biography of Marc Brunel where she dismissed his daughter Emma Joan, and got the name of her husband and his parish wrong, I proceeded to spell the name of his actual parish incorrectly... In the published text, George Harrison's parish was given as 'Langden Hills' in Essex; it is, of course 'Langdon Hills'. I have corrected this in the downloadable file, hence the 'ed'.
Note added 8 December 2024. An incomplete knowledge of the history of Brunel's works led to the following statement in this piece: "none of his bridges ever failed catastrophically". Subsequent research shows that Brunel's skew railway bridge carrying the Great Western Railway over the Uxbridge Turnpike in Hanwell, West London, did fail catastrophically—twice—and was later almost destroyed by fire. While the fire was accidental, it resulted from an excessive amount of timber in the bridge which was used to lighten and strengthen it following two girder failures. See Anatomy of a Bridge published in 2024.
Note added 8 December 2024. An incomplete knowledge of the history of Brunel's works led to the following statement in this piece: "none of his bridges ever failed catastrophically". Subsequent research shows that Brunel's skew railway bridge carrying the Great Western Railway over the Uxbridge Turnpike in Hanwell, West London, did fail catastrophically—twice—and was later almost destroyed by fire. While the fire was accidental, it resulted from an excessive amount of timber in the bridge which was used to lighten and strengthen it following two girder failures. See Anatomy of a Bridge published in 2024.