This thesis has been written as a series of inter-related studies of the most important aspects of the construction and development of the turnpike road system in north-east Scotland. The first study is an examination of the general development and construction of the drove, parish, turnpike and military roads that traversed this part of Scotland. In the second study an examination is made of the development of road construction techniques, throughout the United Kingdom, that took place in the hundred years prior to the construction of turnpike roads in north-east Scotland. This study includes a detailed examination of the construction of Scotland's military roads, the work of Metcalf, Abercrombie, Hopkin and other early road engineers, and concludes with studies of McAdam's methods of road construction and of Telford's specifications for the Highland roads, the Glasgow-Carlisle road and the Holyhead road. In the third study an examination is made of the organisation and methods used to construct and maintain the turnpike roads constructed in north-east Scotland. Particular attention has been paid to the physical dimensions and construction of the carriageways, and the provision and formation of drains. This study includes an examination of the way that contracts for road and bridge construction were organised and let, and of the supervision of the construction processes provided by both the road overseers and the road trustees. The fourth study comprises a series of case studies describing the construction of six individual turnpike roads in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Kincardineshire. These roads were selected for study as they were affected by diverse geographical and financial influences. Because bridges were a necessary and integral part of the road system, the final study examines the problems, both financial and constructional, that befell turnpike trusts as a resut of either inheriting bridges constructed previously by other authorities of building major bridges themselves.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:592324 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Day, Thomas |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU044463 |
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