Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

To his majesty's justices of the peace for the county of suffolk forming the committee of accounts in the ipswich division.

Item Description

MANUSCRIPT LETTER. 8 x 12.75 inches. One leaf and address on fold.

Notes

A letter signed W. Cubitt to the Ipswich justices reporting on the satisfactory condition of Buffits Bridge which Cubitt has inspected on their behalf. Mr Fuller of Woodbridge was employed for the sum of £198. 5s. 6d. to secure the 'Sluice, Fordway and Foundations' of the bridge, work which will preserve the bridge and sluice and 'a good hard roadway thro the Ford.' Cubitt considers the the work carried out fully answers its intended purpose, 'having stood the floods of the last Winter.' Fuller the contractor has also agreed to maintain the structure for a period of fourteen years and should therefore receive his payment due. William Cubitt (1785-1861), born in Norfolk, worked as a millwright and agricultural implement maker and then as chief engineer for Ransomes of Ipswich, c.1812-17. He had acted as a civil engineer since 1814 and in 1826 moved to London where he became engaged in river, canal and later railway projects, constructing the South Eastern railway to Folkestone and Dover, 1843-44. This letter is dated from its watermark of 1820, soon after the beginning of Cubitt's career in Ipswich as a civil engineer, when he was still working on road bridges.