Rennie, John

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Rennie, John (1761–1821). Millwright and civil engineer from Phantassie (Lothian). Rennie learned millwrighting from Andrew Meikle, but added an academic education at Edinburgh, consulting in Scotland before his first major project, Watt's Albion Mills in London (1784–8). He continued to advise on mills, but became primarily a civil engineer, of canals, the Kennet and Avon (completed 1810) and Rochdale (1804), the first Pennine crossing; bridges (famously Waterloo (1817), Southwark (1819), and London (1831), excelling in the design of the elliptical arch and use of ironwork); Bell Rock lighthouse (1810) and numerous dock and harbour works (London (1805), Holyhead (completed 1824), and the massive breakwater at Plymouth (from 1811) ); and urban water supplies, including Edinburgh, Manchester, and Leeds. Rennie also developed engineering technologies, with iron mill works (1784), the diving bell (at Ramsgate, 1813), and the steam bucket-dredger, critical to his work at Hull (1803–9), and advised the Admiralty to adopt the steam tug, seen in the Comet (1819).

J. A. Chartres

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