William Hazledine was an English ironmaster. Establishing large foundries, he was a pioneer in casting structural ironwork, most notably for canal aqueducts and early suspension bridges. Many of these projects were collaborations with Thomas Telford, including the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Menai Suspension Bridge. Telford called him "the Arch conjuror himself, Merlin Hazledine".
Early life and career
Hazledine was born in Shawbury in 1763, one of several children of William Hazledine, a millwright; when he was young the family moved to Sowbatch, near Moreton Corbet. He and his brother John were trained as millwrights by their uncle.. About 1780 William supervised the erection of machinery at Upton Forge near Shrewsbury. He moved to Shrewsbury, and about 1787 entered into partnership with Robert Webster, a clockmaker and inventor. They set up a foundry in Cole Hall, near the Welsh Bridge in Shrewsbury. In 1789 he joined the Freemasons; he met there a fellow member, Thomas Telford. Hazledine's earliest recorded ironwork was in 1792 for St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, built by John Simpson, a friend of Hazledine and associate of Telford: cast iron columns were made to support the upper gallery of the church. The partnership with Webster was dissolved, and in 1793 he purchased land at Coleham in Shrewsbury, where he set up a larger foundry with steam-powered equipment. The foundry eventually employed several hundred workers. In 1796 he cast the frame for the Ditherington Flax Mill designed by Charles Bage. It was the world's first iron-framed building.
Projects with Thomas Telford
In the following years Hazledine supplied ironwork for many projects of Thomas Telford. He made the iron deck for the Chirk Aqueduct, completed in 1802. He built a large foundry at Plas Kynaston, Cefn Mawr, where he made the iron deck for the nearby Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, completed in 1805. The Bonar Bridge in Scotland, an innovative design by Telford with a central span of, was built in 1811–12; The ironwork was cast at Plas Kynaston, and Hazledine supervised its erection. There were several more bridges of this design, including the Mythe Bridge, with a span of, at Tewkesbury. From about 1815 to 1820 he supplied and fitted lock gates for the western half of Telford's Caledonian Canal. In 1821 Hazledine contracted to supply the wrought iron and cast iron for the Menai Suspension Bridge. The bridge, designed by Telford, was completed in 1826. He also supplied the ironwork for Telford's Conwy Suspension Bridge, completed the same year. The tensile strength of the wrought iron chains, made at Upton Forge, was important to these suspension bridges.
Other business interests, and later years
In 1817 he took over Calcutts Ironworks, in Ironbridge Gorge; pig iron was produced, and wrought and cast iron made. It was not successful, and he gave up the lease in 1831. Other business interests included a limeworks at Llanymynech, property in Shrewsbury, and timber-yards and brickyards. He was mayor of Shrewsbury from 1835 to 1836. Hazledine died in 1840 at his home, Newport House, in Shrewsbury, and was buried at St Chad's Church. There is a memorial, with a bust of Hazledine by Francis Leggatt Chantrey, in the church.
Structures
Hazledine's legacy is a range of spectacular structures including:
