Location
The plaque is situated on the outside wall of Storeshed No. 9. An information board explaining Telford's connection with Portsmouth Dockyard has been placed on a wall in the colonnade behind the plaque.
 

Memorial Plaque
Thomas Telford Plaque
 
Information Board
Thomas Telford Information Board
Inscription
THOMAS TELFORD
CIVIL ENGINEER
1757-1834
 
WORKED IN PORTSMOUTH NAVAL
DOCKYARD FROM 1784 UNTIL 1786
 
This plaque was placed here
to commemorate the 250th anniversary
of the birth of Thomas Telford

 

Further Information
The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth on the 8th June 2007. It has been placed on a portion of brickwork which, unlike the rest of the building has not been recently re-pointed. Indeed the mortar visible around the plaque may well have been placed there under Telford's supervision.
 
Thomas Telford is perhaps best known for his roads and bridges, of which there are very many examples still existing today, but what is less known is that he got his break in Portsmouth. In 1784 he was plucked from obscurity as a stonemason by architect Samuel Wyatt to oversee the construction of some of the finest buildings in the dockyard. Chief amongst these were Admiralty House and St Ann's Church.
 
Telford became the first president of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1820, a post he held until his death in 1834.

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