The Life of John Metcalf
Commonly Called Blind Jack of Knaresborough

The lively, anecdotal 1795 memoirs of 'Blind Jack of Knaresborough', a great eighteenth-century builder of turnpike roads.

John Metcalf (Author)

9781108079136, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 August 2017

166 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.22 kg

Blinded by smallpox at the age of six, John Metcalf (1717–1810) led a life that might have featured in an eighteenth-century novel. Popularly known as 'Blind Jack of Knaresborough', Metcalf had many and varied careers, including musician, horse trader, fish supplier, textile merchant and stage-wagon operator. Developing a method for building roads on marshy ground, using heather and gorse as a foundation, he eventually became one of the eighteenth century's great road builders, laying over 120 miles of high-quality roads in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cheshire. Published in 1795 and based on conversations with Metcalf, this book recounts his life in a series of anecdotes. Metcalf starts with his boyhood escapades, and his becoming an accomplished swimmer, climber and gambler. Among the later episodes recounted are his services in raising troops to fight Jacobite rebels, during which he was present at the battles of Falkirk Muir and Culloden.

Advertisement
The life of John Metcalf.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]