History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal EngineersConnolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
History
History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers
Connolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
Great Britain. Army. Royal Sappers and Miners
It was deemed indispensable that a map should be provided of the country
for several miles round the encampment, to guide the Generals in the
choice of positions, manœuvres, marches, &c. The district had been
surveyed sixty years before, in common with the general survey of the
south of England, and was drawn on a scale of two inches to a mile. The
better to meet the present requirement, the plans were enlarged and
drawn to a scale of four inches to a mile. All the improvements which
had arisen within the last half century were also supplied, and the
original work corrected where necessary. This was done by taking
magnetic bearings with a prismatic compass and pacing the ground. The
distance examined and corrected, included an area of about 220 square
miles, the cardinal angles of which were Chertsey, Wokingham, Farnham,
and Guildford. All was carried out and completed between the 1st May and
14th June. The principal part of the hills were sketched by Lieutenant
Stotherd, assisted by four non-commissioned officers of the corps, who,
although heretofore wholly employed in the operations of a civil survey,
were, without any previous practice in the art, made to turn their
talents to account in military sketching. The survey—comprised on four
large sheets—was compiled, lithographed, and coloured under the
direction of Captain W. D. Gosset, R.E. Corporal Sinnett drew the
12-inch plan of the encampment furnished for the use of Colonel Vicars.
A special survey of the ground at Aldershot Heath was also made and
plotted on a scale of six inches to a mile, by sergeant Spencer and
corporal Macdonald. The soldiers most conspicuous for their usefulness
in the Chobham survey were—
Sergeant Benjamin Keen Spencer; for surveying, levelling, and hill
sketching.
Corporal William Jenkins; trigonometrical observations, levelling, and
traversing.
Second-corporal James Macdonald; traversing and surveying.
Lance-corporals John Erskine Daveran and Valentine Sinnett; hill
sketching, surveying, &c.
Marking out the encampment was done by the sappers under Colonel
Torrens, assistant quartermaster-general, by driving pickets into the
ground in the places selected to mark the salient points of the
boundaries, to be occupied by the several regiments.
The springs and watercourses were sought for and collected into small
reservoirs or basins, at sites as convenient for access as practicable.
In some places small trenches were excavated, to afford easy channels
for conveying the water to the terraces. These tanks were for domestic
uses. Attached to them were larger ones for washing purposes, which were
filled by the surplus water from the drinking reservoirs through the
agency of small troughs, fixed near the top of the partitional
embankments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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