It Started With The Romans: A Potted History Of Piling

Tweet

 Although the history of piling can be traced as far back as 4BC, with structures made from cedar piles being mentioned in the Bible, it was the Romans who really put piling on the map by utilising wooden piles to build many structures including buildings, bridges, roads and viaducts.

Refusal Piling
Piles were originally made from trees, with their branches being trimmed and sharpened to a point at one end. These piles were then forced, narrow end first, down into the ground with either hand mauls, water wheel drivers or by rams operated by gangs, until they couldn’t go any further.   This process was known as refusal, a term which is still used in the piling industry today.


The Romans
The Romans are credited with building the oldest known pile bridge in 642BC spanning the River Tiber.  Commissioned by Ancus Marcius, the Pons Sublicius (which literally means bridge resting on piles) crossed the river just downstream from Tiber Island close to the bottom of Aventine Hill.

During their occupation of Britain, the Romans also  built many pile supported bridges, the most famous being a bridge spanning the River Tyne at Corbridge, Northumberland and a bridge over the River Thames which dates back to AD60.

The Middle Ages
Structures with pile foundations built in the Middle Ages still exist today, particularly in cities such as Venice and Ravenna and throughout Holland.  During this time bridge building was at a peak, with groups of elm and oak piles being used to support the platforms or stirlings.  Each pile was tipped with a ‘pile shoe’, an iron casing which helped to drive it into the ground.

The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution saw an increase in the number of structures being built as large buildings, piers and bridges were erected.  In 1825, New York huge locks were constructed along the Erie Canal.  The floor of these locks being supported on a massive system of 700 piles per lock, arranged in rows of 15 – 20, with each 6ft pile being 2 feet away from its neighbour.

San Francisco also gained a brand new ferry building which was raised 80 feet above the mud flats of the Bay on 5000 Redwood 14inch diameter piles.

With the invention of steam power, mechanised pile drivers were developed which made the work of the pile driver operators much easier and enabled much larger structures requiring larger pile capacities to be built.  In 1845, Nasmyth was credited with developing the first steam activated pile driver in the United Kingdom.

Piling today
Although most piles used today are made from either steel or concrete, wooden piles are still used to support many different kinds of structures.

 Pressure treated wooden piles provided a base for new areas of JFK Airport in New York and also Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia and many areas of New Orleans have been built on timber piles. Piling has also proved to be very useful for marine constructions with piles being used in all manner of piers, decks, oil rigs and wind farms.

Featured images:

•  License: Image author owned 

Since he was a teenager, Adam has been helping his father build houses. Although he loves to be hands on, he also loves sharing his knowledge of the construction industry by writing for several websites including, Piling-Equipment-Ltd.com