John Rennie and Sir John Rennie

Chief engineer in charge of building Waterloo, Southwark and London Bridges.

John Rennie was born in Phantassie, Haddingtonshire and from the age of 12 was able to nurture his fascination with machines alongside the well known millwright Andrew Meikle, inventor of the threshing machine and improver of the windmill.

After studying at Edinburgh University Rennie took a study tour into England, making notes on canals, bridges, and machinery along his route. His destination was Birmingham, where he was introduced to James Watt. The next year Boulton and Watt offered him the job of looking after their London business and erecting the engines they supplied for the Albion Mills, the revolutionary flour mill at the south end of Blackfriars Bridge conceived and designed by Samuel Wyatt. Rennie moved to London, setting up a workshop at a Thames wharf near the mill.

Rennie opened the Albion Mills to visitors when production began in 1786. The building burned down in 1791 but by then Rennie's reputation was made and he was supplying millwork for customers as far away as France, Spain, and Portugal. Rolling mills for mints were a speciality, most of the equipment for the new Royal Mint at Tower Hill being Rennie's.

He was ingenious in improving mechanical devices. A pioneer in applying steam power to pile-driving and dredging, he was among the first to make regular use of ball-bearings, improved the water-wheel and diving bell, experimented with stone pipes for water supply, and contributed to the evolution of the gantry crane. To meet the demand for his machines, he in 1810 built a larger factory at Holland Street, Southwark, on part of the old Albion Mills site.

Rennie is now chiefly admired and remembered as a bridge builder. He was designing bridges as early as 1784 and extended their range throughout his career. Rennie's crowning achievement was the trio of metropolitan bridges spanning the Thames: Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge. Southwark Bridge (1814–19) was built on three unequal iron arches on granite piers, the central arch being the widest cast-iron span ever built in Britain. London Bridge, designed in conjunction with his sons and built posthumously (1823–31) was the last of his masonry bridges. It was removed in 1968 and re-erected in abbreviated form at Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Sir John Rennie completed his father’s London Bridge in 1831.

What our voters say

"John Rennie & Sir John Rennie get my vote for their most visible entry points to the borough - the bridges." Chris Elders

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