Jessop, William (1745–1814)

British canal engineer who built the first canal in England entirely dependent on reservoirs for its water supply (the Grantham Canal 1793–97), and designed (with Thomas Telford) the 300 m/1,000 ft long Pontcysyllte aqueduct over the River Dee. Jessop also designed the forerunner of the iron rail that later became universally adopted for railways.

Jessop was born in Devonport, Devon, and became a pupil of civil engineer John Smeaton, working on canals in England and Ireland first with him and then independently.

Jessop's first tunnel was the 2.8 km/1.7-mi long Butterley Tunnel on the Cromford Canal he built in Derbyshire, and this led to the forming of the Butterley Iron Works in 1790, making rails and bridges.

Jessop was chief engineer 1793–1805 of the Grand Union Canal, which linked London and the Midlands over a distance of 150 km/95 mi. He was also responsible for the Barnsley, Rochdale, and Trent navigation, and the Nottingham and Ellesmere canals.

Jessop was also chief engineer of the Surrey Iron Railway, built 1801–02. He worked on the construction of a large wetdock area on the Avon at Bristol, on the West India Docks and the Isle of Dogs Canal in London, on the harbours at Shoreham and Littlehampton, and on many other projects.