Thomas Steers

Thomas Steers was born in 1672 in Kent and died in 1750. He was England's first major civil engineer and built many canals, the world's first wet dock, the Old Dock, and a Theatre. He designed Salthouse Dock but it was completed after his death by Henry Berry

He learned about hydraulics as a soldier for William of Orange in the Netherlands, and fought at the Battle of the Boyne. In 1717 he built several docks at Liverpool, as well as St George's Church on the site of the Liverpool Castle, the Old Ropery Theatre, a dry dock, pier, and several others.

He was mayor of Liverpool from 1739-1740. He was responsible for the fortification of Liverpool during the Jacobite rebellion in 1745.

There was also a Thomas Steers, lime burner of Greenwich (probably the owner and/or digger of "Jack Cade's Cavern" and of a nearby sand mine) who was born about this time and in the right area, but who was probably not the same person. Other Steers were involved in pottery. This hints at an extended Steers family with interests in kilns and building mortar.

River and Canal Works

Steers surveyed the rivers Irwell and Mersey from Bank Quay at Warrington to Manchester in 1712. An Act of Parliament authorizing an improvement was passed in 1721 and the work, which included eight locks in a distance of 15 miles to overcome a rise of 52 ft, completed about 1725. It is generally believed he was the engineer. [cite book|author=L.T.C. Rolt|title=Navigable Waterways|date=1969|publisher=W & J Mackay & Co Ltd, Chatham, England]

His most significant navigation achievement was the Newry Canal, in Ireland, which is the first summit-level canal in the British Isles from Newry, Carlingford Lough to Lough Neagh, built to transport coal from the Tyrone collieries to Dublin. The 21 miles of canal had 21 locksamd he surveyed it by 1736 and supervised it until 1741, when his place was taken by Acheson Johnson who completed it in 1745. His assistant was Henry Berry who later was engineer on the Sankey Canal, the first English canal.

In 1742, he was responsible for the Douglas Navigation which connected the Ribble estuary to Wigan and carried coal from Wigan to Liverpool and Ireland.

References

ee also

* Newry Canal
* Douglas Navigation
* Mersey and Irwell Navigation
* Old Dock
* Henry Berry

External links

* http://sinlung.com
* http://www.riverbannloughneagh.org/newry_canal_gallery.htm
* [http://www.lmu.livjm.ac.uk/lhol/ Liverpool History online]
* [http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/doc00/EDOC8867AD.htm Maritime and fluvial cultural heritage]