Iron Bridge, crossing the River Severn in Shropshire, was opened in 1781—the first arch bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. On 20th July 1784, John Byng writes in his diary:
“Of the iron bridge over the Severn, which we crossed and where we stop’d for half an hour, what shall I say? That it must be the admiration, as it is one of the wonders, of the world. It was cast in 1778, the arch is 100 feet wide, and 55 feet from the top of the water, and the whole length is 100 yards; the country agreed with the founder to finish it for £6000 and have meanly made him suffer for his noble undertaking. After this survey, we entered Mr Bank’s iron furnace (on the hillside) and were most civilly shown by him all the astonishing progress of such (hellish hot) manufactories; he employs 700 workmen and said there were seven other neighbouring furnaces of the same size; judge then of the flourishing state of this branch of trade, and how it must enrich this vicinage and the kingdom! Every cart belonging to this trade is made of iron and even the ruts in the road are shod with iron!”
On 15th September 1784, the first manned flight in England took place. Vincent Lunardi, an Italian diplomat, flew in a hydrogen balloon from the Artillery Ground in London, and gives this account:
“The Prince of Wales, and the whole surrounding assembly... took off their hats, hailed my resolution, and expressed the kindest and most cordial wishes for my safety and success. At five minutes after two, the last gun was fired, the cords divided, and the Balloon rose... On discharging a part of the ballast, it ascended to the height of 200 yards. As a multitude lay before me of 150,000 people, who had not seen my ascent from the ground, I had recourse to every stratagem to let them know I was in the gallery, and they literally rent the air with their acclamations and applause...
“When the thermometer was at 50, the effect of the atmosphere, and the combination of circumstances around, produced a calm delight, which is inexpressible, and which no situation on earth could give. The stillness, extent, and magnificence of the scene, rendered it highly awful. My horizon seemed a perfect circle; the terminating line several hundred miles in circumference... I could distinguish St Paul’s, and other churches, from the houses. I saw the streets as lines, all animated with beings, whom I knew to be men and women, but which I should otherwise have had a difficulty in describing. It was an enormous beehive, but the industry of it was suspended. All the moving mass seemed to have no object but myself.”
George Stephenson was the engineer of Britain’s first railway, opened in 1825. On 26th August 1830, Fanny Kemble, daughter of the actor Charles Kemble, writes a letter to a friend:
“We were introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails... This snorting little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then harnessed to our carriage, and Mr Stephenson having taken me on the bench of the engine with him, we started at about 10 miles an hour. The steam-horse being ill-adapted for going up and down hill, the road was kept at a certain level... You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to be journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying pace.”
The first pedal-driven bicycle was introduced in the mid-19th century. Less restrictive clothing was designed to enable women to ride, but some worried it was improper. In 1889, Canadian journalist Kit Coleman laments:
“No girl over the age of 39 should be allowed to wheel. It is immoral. Unfortunately it is older girls who are ardent wheelers. They love to cavort and careen above the spokes, twirling and twisting in a manner that must remind them of long dead dancing days.”
But in 1895, British writer Louise Jeye exclaims:
“There is a new dawn... of emancipation, and it is brought about by the cycle. Free to wheel, free to spin out in the glorious country, unhampered by chaperone... the young girl of today can feel the real independence of herself, and while she is building up her better constitution, she is developing her better mind.”
The supersonic Concorde was in commercial service from 1976 until 2003. Clive Morgan, a former executive at British Bank of the Middle East, recalls a flight from Bahrain to London in 1978:
“The flight was an unforgettable experience, with a very steep take-off and the moment that the pilot engaged the afterburners to take the aircraft to supersonic flight manifesting itself to the passengers as a gentle push in the back... Thereafter, the only indication of our speed, on what was a very smooth flight, was given by the machmeter positioned on the front bulkhead of the passenger cabin, which recorded Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) in a remarkably short time.
“I was invited, together with other passengers, to the flight deck where I stood behind the pilot and co-pilot as we were crossing the Swiss Alps, and gazed down at the earth 60,000 ft below, and up to the much darker sky above. From this altitude, one could actually see the curvature of the earth... Looking out of my window, I could see below me [an] aircraft... apparently being dragged backwards through the sky as we overtook it, at a speed of about 1,400 miles per hour.”
