Old Photograph East Linton Scotland

Old photograph of East Linton, a town in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the River Tyne, five miles east of Haddington. John Rennie, born 7 June 1761, died 4 October 1821, was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, and docks. John, who was the son of a farmer, was born at Phantassie, near East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland, and showed a taste for mechanics at a very early age, and was allowed to spend much time in the workshop of Andrew Meikle, millwright, the inventor of the threshing machine, who lived at Houston Mill on the Phantassie estate. After receiving a rudimentary education at the parish school of Prestonkirk Parish Church, he was sent to the burgh school at Dunbar, and in November 1780 he matriculated at the University of Edinburgh, where he remained until 1783. His older brother George remained to assist in the family agricultural business, achieving notability in this arena. In 1791, John moved to London. England, and set up his own engineering business, having by then begun to expand into civil engineering, particularly the construction of canals. His early projects included the Lancaster Canal, the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, the Crinan Canal, Rudyard Lake and the Rochdale Canal, which passes through difficult country between Rochdale and Todmorden. The Kennet and Avon Canal including the Dundas Aqueduct, Caen Hill Locks and Crofton Pumping Station occupied him between 1794 and 1810. In 1802 he revised the plans for the Royal Canal of Ireland from Dublin to the Shannon near Longford. For many years he was engaged in extensive drainage operations in the Lincolnshire and Norfolk fens, and in the improvement of the River Witham. The Eau Brink Cut, a new channel for the River Ouse, was completed just before his death. In 1790 he married Martha Ann, daughter of E. Mackintosh, who died in 1806, and by her had seven children, two of whom, George and John, became notable engineers. His daughter Anna married the architect Charles Cockerell. He died, after a short illness, at his house in Stamford Street, London, on 4 October 1821, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.



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