Cost books for mines in Cornwall

John Urpeth Rastrick (1780–1856), civil engineer, was born at Morpeth, Northumberland, on 26 January 1780, the eldest son of John Rastrick, engineer, mill wright, and pump and patent churn maker. He gained experience as apprentice to his father and working at Ketley ironworks, Shropshire. In 1805 He joined a partnership with John Hazeldine of Bridgnorth, to establish a mechanical engineering business. Rastrick assisted in the construction of the locomotive 'Catch me who Can' for Richard Trevithick in 1808 and in 1814 he took out a patent for a steam engine. In 1817 Rastrick became the managing partner in the firm of Bradley, Foster, Rastrick & Co., ironfounders and manufacturers of machinery at Stourbridge, Worcestershire. He designed ironworks at Chillington, near Wolverhampton, and at Shut End, near Stourbridge

In January 1825 Rastrick was engaged by the promoters of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, along with George Stephenson and others, to visit collieries in the north of England, and report on their tramroads, and engines both locomotive and stationary. In the following April he was the first witness called before the parliamentary committee in support of the railway company, which was opposed by the canal companies. From that time onwards Rastrick was employed to support, in parliament, a large portion of the principal railway lines in the United Kingdom. In 1826 and 1827 he constructed a line about 16 miles long between Stratford upon Avon and Moreton in Marsh, the first line laid with Birkenshaw's patent wrought-iron rails. On 2 June 1829 he completed and opened the Shutt End Colliery Railway from Kingswinford to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, working it with a locomotive engine built under his own superintendence.

In November 1828 the Liverpool and Manchester directors commissioned Rastrick and his fellow engineer, James Walker of Limehouse, to assess the respective merits and capabilities of ‘Fixed Engines and Locomotive Engines’. Their recommendations, submitted to the Liverpool and Manchester directors on 9 March 1829, proved to be inconclusive, both in respect of cost and efficiency. The directors decided to offer a premium of £500 ‘for a Locomotive Engine, which shall be a decided improvement on those now in use, as respects the consumption of smoke, increased speed, adequate power, and moderate weight’. The resulting Rainhill trials were held early in October 1829. Rastrick was appointed as one of the judges, and on 6 October he and his colleagues decided in favour of George Stephenson's Rocket

In 1830 Rastrick worked with Stephenson in surveying the line from Birmingham to join the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, afterwards called the Grand Junction. He also marked out a line from Manchester to Crewe, thereby paving the way for the Manchester and Cheshire Junction Railway project, which was brought forward in 1835, with Rastrick as the engineer. With Sir John Rennie, in 1837, Rastrick carried the direct Brighton line against several competing projects.

Rastrick was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers from 1827, and a fellow of the Royal Society from 1837. He retired from active work in 1847, and died at his residence, Sayes Court, near Chertsey, Surrey, on 1 November 1856.

(1771-1833), Engineer

Born in 1771 in Cornwall, Richard Trevithick was a practical engineer who developed high pressure steam engines. In 1800 he built the first of the double-acting stationary engine which was the forerunner of the famous ‘Cornish engines’. Between 1801 and 1803 he built three steam-powered road locomotives. In 1803 he built the first practical railway locomotive, a tram engine for Coalbrookdale. After that he constructed the ‘Pen-y-darren’ locomotive for Samuel Homfray, partner in the ‘Pen-y-darren Tramway’ in south Wales. Although this was not a success due to the quality of the track rather than the locomotive, it was a proof of principle. Trevithick built two more railway locomotives: one in Gateshead in 1805, possibly for the Wylam Waggon Way (which was again let down by the poor quality of the rails), and, in 1808, the ‘Catch me who Can’, for an exhibition in London. He is also important for demonstrating that a smooth wheel running on smooth iron rails was capable of hauling considerable loads.

He was involved in the unsuccessful project to drive a tunnel under the Thames from Rotherhithe. In 1816 he left his family and went to South America where he was involved in mining ventures in Peru. These also were ultimately unsuccessful, in part due to the wars of independence, and Trevithick returned, penniless, to England in 1827. Despite the setbacks he experienced, Trevithick’s inventive capacity was undiminished. His last patent was granted in 1832. He went to work for J. Hall in Dartford where he died on 22nd April 1833.

He was married to Jane Harvey (1772 – 1868/9), daughter of another Cornish engineer, John Harvey of Hayle Foundry and had six children, Francis and Frederick Henry, who both became engineers, and Richard, John, Ann and Elizabeth.

Hazeldine, Rastrick and Co. was an ironworks in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. It was set up by three brothers: John, Robert and Thomas Hazeldine. The company built up a good reputation for the quality of its castings but, in 1797, John Hazledine was declared bankrupt. It seems that some accommodation was made with his creditors because the company remained in business. From 1802, Richard Trevithick placed several orders with the company for the construction of steam engines, including the locomotive Catch Me Who Can, built in 1808.

In 1807, John Hazledine entered into partnership with John Urpeth Rastrick, to form the company Hazeldine and Rastrick, however but the partnership was a troubled one. John Hazledine died in 1810 and Rastrick left the company in 1817. In 1819, Rastrick formed a partnership with James Foster to form Foster, Rastrick and Company.

In 1823 the company, now under Robert Hazledine, went bankrupt. However, it re-emerged on a smaller scale in 1824, supplying goods for the local market. In 1829–30, the creditors forced a sale and the property was sold in two tranches in 1834 and 1835. Even so, John Hazledine (Robert's son) was still in business as an ironfounder in 1840/41 but at a different address. When John died, in 1843, the Hazledine business finally came to an end.