John Padmore - extraordinary local engineer

Come and hear local historian, Tony Coverdale, talking about John Padmore, an important but little known engineer who was working in the Avon Valley over a century before the arrival of Brunel and the Great Western Railway. 

February 20th - 7.30pm at St Thomas a Becket church

£8.00 Widcombe Association members/£10 non members -Ticket price includes light refreshments. (Please book your tickets below)

John Padmore was at the centre of local engineering innovation in the early 18th century. He built Ralph Allen's railway, used to transport stone from Combe Down to the River Avon at Dolemeads as well as the cranes used to lift the stone from Ralph Allen’s Wharf onto boats in the river.  He was also responsible for the Great Crane in Bristol used to load and off-load sea-going ships and the locks on the Avon Navigation, enabling boats to by-pass the numerous weirs on the River Avon between Bristol and Bath. 

His other innovations included an early floating harbour, water powered battery and rolling mills in Swansea, applying technology that had been developed in the Avon Valley and engines to raise water from the River Avon at Conham.

(Image BRLSI/Victoria Art Gallery)