James Trubshaw was an English builder, architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 and civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

. His civil engineering works include the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge

Grosvenor Bridge (Chester)

The Grosvenor Bridge is a single-span arch road bridge constructed from stone. It crosses the River Dee at Chester in England. The bridge is located on the A483 Grosvenor Road . Views upriver from the bridge include Chester Castle and Handbridge. The view downstream from the bridge encompasses the...

 in Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, then the longest stone span. He also pioneered the technique of underexcavation with the straightening the leaning tower of St Chad's in Wybunbury

Wybunbury

Wybunbury is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 3¼ miles to the south east of Nantwich and 3¾ miles to the south of Crewe. The parish also includes the settlements of Clannor Heath, Daisy Hill, The...

, Cheshire.

Early life and career

He was born to stonemason, builder and engineering contractor, James Trubshaw and his second wife Elizabeth (née Webb), at the Mount near Colwich

Colwich, Staffordshire

Colwich is a civil parish and village in Staffordshire, England. It is situated off the A51 road, about 3 miles north west of Rugeley, and 7 miles south east of Stafford...

 in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, the second son in a family of seven sons and two daughters. He was educated in Rugeley

Rugeley

Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...

, but left school aged only eleven to start work in his father's business. His earliest experience included working on buildings such as Sandon Hall

Sandon Hall

Sandon Hall is a 19th century country mansion, the seat of the Earl of Harrowby, at Sandon, Staffordshire, northeast of Stafford. It is a Grade II* listed building set in of parkland....

, Fonthill Abbey

Fonthill Abbey

Fonthill Abbey — also known as Beckford's Folly — was a large Gothic revival country house built around the turn of the 19th century at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt...

, Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 and Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

. In 1795, he worked on Wolseley Bridge near Colwich, and many of his early projects were bridges.

On the death of his father in 1808, Trubshaw started a building business in Stone

Stone, Staffordshire

Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...

; an early commission was to rebuild Ashcombe Hall. He worked for a time in partnership with the Lichfield

Lichfield

Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...

 architect Thomas Johnson (1794–1865), who was to become his son-in-law. In 1827, Trubshaw became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

, and presented several papers there. He later became the chief engineer of the Trent and Mersey Canal Company

Trent and Mersey Canal

The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....

, and superintended the construction of reservoirs, feeders and railways for the company.

Although he received only a limited education, he was a gifted practical engineer. His obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine

The Gentleman's Magazine

The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...

described him as a man "of original genius, of great natural talent, and persevering energy ... gifted with an instinctive perception of all great mechanical principles, uniformly guided by excellent common sense."

Bridges

His best-known work is the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge over the River Dee

River Dee, Wales

The River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries....

 at Chester, Cheshire (1827–33). Designed by 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...

, the project had been dismissed as impractical by prominent engineers of the time including 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:...

. Its single stone span of 200 feet was considered the longest in the world when it was completed in 1833. The Institution of Civil Engineers, to whom Trubshaw presented models of the bridge showing its method of construction, described his methods as having "excited the admiration of the Profession." Trubshaw himself said that he was "convinced the arch will be the largest and finest stone arch in Europe and will consequently be a lasting monument to the glory and superiority of Great Britain."

He also constructed many other bridges, including Exeter Bridge over the Derwent

River Derwent, Derbyshire

The Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 66 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For half its course, the river flows through the Peak District....

 in Derby

Derby

Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

 (1850; now demolished).

Leaning tower of St Chad's

Trubshaw is also known for stabilising the leaning tower of the church of St Chad's Church, Wybunbury

St Chad's Church, Wybunbury

St Chad's Church, Wybunbury was an Anglican church in the village of Wybunbury, Cheshire, England. The body of the church has been demolished but the tower still stands. The tower has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. The site of the church is a Scheduled...

, Cheshire, in 1832. At that date, the 29.3 m tower inclined to the north east by 1.6 m, due to its location on sloping sandy soil with underlying saliferous bed

Halite

Halite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...

s, and it had tilted an average of 12 mm per year since 1790. Trubshaw pioneered a method which involved no "wonderful machining or secret inventions" and was described in the Architectural Magazine of 1836:

"Mr Trubshaw, after examining well the outside of the foundations, commenced
digging down the inside. After having got below the level of the footings (lowest
stones of the foundation), he proceeded to bore a row of auger-holes clear through
under the foundations of the high side, the holes nearly touching each other. These
holes he filled with water; and, corking them up with a piece of marl, let them rest for
the night. In the morning, the water had softened the marl to a puddle; and the
building gradually began to sink, another row of holes were bored, but, not exactly so
far as the first row. They were filled with water as before; and the high side not only
kept sinking, but the fracture in the centre kept gradually closing up. This process was
continued till the steeple became perfectly straight, and the fracture imperceptible."

This is the earliest documented application of the technique of underexcavation, which has since been successfully used to stabilise the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 (1993–8) and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa...

 (1999–2001). Trubshaw's work accords with modern conservation principles as it was invisible, used the minimum intervention required and could be reversed or repeated if necessary. Despite the extreme instability of the ground, the straightened tower of St Chad's stood without further intervention for over 150 years; it was restabilised using reinforced concrete foundations in 1989.

Other works

Trubshaw's other works include a column commemorating the landing of George IV

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 at Ramsgate

Ramsgate

Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 (1821), Ilam Hall, Staffordshire, near Ashbourne

Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Ashbourne is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales, England. It has a population of 10,302.The town advertises itself as 'The Gateway to Dovedale'.- Local customs :...

 (1821–6), Weston House, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

 (now demolished) and the orangery and lodges of Heath House, Checkley

Checkley

Checkley is a village and civil parish near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire...

, Staffordshire (1830–1).

He designed several Commissioners' Church

Commissioners' Church

A Commissioners' church is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act of 1818 and 1824. They have been given a number of titles, including Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches and Million Act churches...

es, including St James' Church, Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

, Staffordshire (1833–4), St James' Church, Congleton

Congleton

Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Dane, to the west of the Macclesfield Canal and 21 miles south of Manchester. It has a population of 25,750.-History:The first settlements in...

, Cheshire (1847–8) and Holy Trinity, Hanley, Staffordshire (1848–9). He also rebuilt St Michael's Church, Great Wolford, Warwickshire and St Lawrence's Church, Chorlton, Staffordshire.

Personal life

Trubshaw was described as tall and athletic. In 1801, he married Mary Bott of Stone; they had three sons and three daughters. Their eldest son, Thomas Trubshaw (1802–42), also became an architect; their eldest daughter married the architect Thomas Johnson, and their daughter Susanna was a poet and essayist. The family settled in Little Haywood

Little Haywood

Little Haywood is a village in Staffordshire, England. It lies beside a main arterial highway, the A51 but traffic through the village is mainly light, owing to this bypass. Nearby also is the West Coast Main Line railway, the Trent and Mersey Canal and beside it, the river Trent...

near Colwich in Staffordshire in 1809, and Trubshaw remained there until his death in 1853. He is buried at Colwich, where the parish church contains a memorial to him.

Further reading

• Bayliss A. The Life and Work of James Trubshaw, 1777–1853: Staffordshire Builder, Architect and Civil Engineer (Anne Bayliss; 1978) (ISBN 0-9506405-0-6)