Talk:Seventh Street Improvement Arches

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Will the real Peter Nicholson please stand up?[edit]

'Peter Nicholson' was Wikilinked to the wrong Peter Nicholson. There is no article about the Peter Nicholson who lived in the 19th Century but I found this link to a biography of a man likely to be the correct Peter Nicholson. However, he wasn't English and he seems to be remembered more for being an architect than a mathematician. I've changed the text to read 'British architect' and removed the Wikilink. However, although he tried his hand at stone masonry he found the work "uncongenial" and served his apprenticeship to a cabinet maker instead. I can see no reference to his work on skew arches, although he did become an architect in c. 1808. This is important because the article claims that he introduced the helical or English method of constructing skew arches as early as 1820, whereas other articles attribute that to Charles Fox who presented his paper in 1837. Can anyone provide a reliable source for Nicholson's claim please? MegaPedant (talk) 20:11, 16 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've since discovered that Kielder Viaduct was designed by a Peter Nicholson, working for the Border Counties Railway. It was built in 1862 but the Peter Nicholson referenced by Electric Scotland died in 1844, six years before the BCR came into existence. I feel this makes the connection less likely. MegaPedant (talk) 17:16, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've found out a little more about Peter Nicholson. He was born in Scotland in 1765, but lived for most of his long life in the north of England, around Newcastle upon Tyne. He described himself as an architect and engineer. The link with Kielder Viaduct is a source of confusion because the chief engineer in charge of construction of the line was called Robert Nicholson but, as far as I can tell, they were not related. Robert wrote to Peter saying that he had built a number of skew bridges to his formula and expressed himself highly satisfied with their stability. This testimonial is included in the 1860 edition of Peter's publication, The Guide to Railway Masonry containing a Complete Treatise on the Oblique Arch. However, Robert died in 1855, three years before work started building Kielder Viaduct and it is likely that it was designed by his nephew John F. Tone, using Peter's principles. Evidence to support this is provided in the form of a plaque affixed to the viaduct by its current owners. I'm planning to upload a photograph of the plaque and incorporate it into the Kielder Viaduct article. Peter himself died in 1844. I feel Peter Nicholson deserves an article of his own and if I can find out a little more about him I'll start one. MegaPedant (talk) 20:59, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've found out enough about Peter Nicholson to start an article in a private sandbox. It isn't quite ready to move into the public namespace yet but when it is I'll Wikilink this article to it. In the meantime, there's mention of his work in the Skew arch article, which puts it into historical perspective when compared with the work on the skew arch done by others, such as Fox and Sang. MegaPedant (talk) 02:12, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've moved the Peter Nicholson (architect) article into the general namespace and Wikilinked to it. MegaPedant (talk) 00:56, 6 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]