Thomas Telford - Telford Memorial, Bentpath, Dumfries and Galloway
N 55° 11.995 W 003° 05.282
30U E 494396 N 6117041
This fine granite memorial was erected to Thomas Telford in 1928 by the Institute of Civil Engineers in conjunction with Eskdale and Liddesdale Archaeological Society. The words are Telford's own from a poem he wrote.
Grade C listed.
Waymark Code: WM9X0T
Location: Southern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/08/2010
Views: 2
The biographer Samuel Smiles in his book The Life of Thomas Telford quotes this poem as remembered as attributable to Telford's upbringing.
"The following, from the verses in memory of William Telford, relates
to schoolboy days, After alluding to the lofty Fell Hills, which
formed part of the sheep farm of his deceased friend's father, the
poet goes on to say:"
"There 'mongst those rocks I'll form a rural seat,
And plant some ivy with its moss compleat;
I'll benches form of fragments from the stone,
Which, nicely pois'd, was by our hands o'erthrown"
Thomas Telford was shepherd's son from a very rural valley. Scotland had a policy of providing a simple education to every boy. From this rudimentary education, Thomas went to be apprenticed to a stone mason's in Langholm. He was a self taught engineer and at the end of his career became first president of Civil Engineers Institute.
Streetmap
OSGB NY308900
Grade C listing