BRUNEL IN THE WEST

The great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel had a number of West Country associations. His maternal grandfather was a Plymouth naval contractor, his first engineering successes were in Bristol, where his pioneering steamship the SS Great Britain in now preserved, and the railways he engineered connected first Bristol then Exeter, Plymouth and Cornwall to the national railway network.

Brunel planned to retire to Torquay, but died before the grand house he designed in Brunel Woods could be built, though he has spent twelve years laying out its park, woodlands and gardens.

This book is a brief biography, concentrating on the West Country aspects of his life.