Editing John Rennie the Elder (section)

==Docks and harbours==
Rennie was also responsible for designing and building docks at [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], Liverpool, [[Greenock]], London ([[London Docks|London]], [[East India Docks|East India]] and [[West India Docks|West India]] docks), and [[Leith]] and improving the harbours and dockyards at [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]], [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]], [[HMNB Portsmouth|Portsmouth]], [[Holyhead]], [[Ramsgate]], [[Sheerness Dockyard|Sheerness]], [[Howth]] and [[Dún Laoghaire|Dunleary]]. He devoted much time to the preparation of plans for a government dockyard at [[Northfleet]], but they were not carried out. 

===Dunleary===
[[Dún Laoghaire Harbour|Dunleary harbour]] of 'Asylum' was a very difficult and important project, because it was critical to maintain an effective communication link between Ireland and London, the seat of government. Rennie was responsible for the construction of Howth Harbour on the North side of Dublin bay a decade earlier. This was originally planned as the landing for the Holyhead packets, but it silted up to such an extent that it became unfit for purpose. An Act of Parliament of 1816 ([[56 Geo. 3]]. c. 62) authorised the building of [[Dún Laoghaire|Dunleary]] harbour. Originally it was intended that only one pier (the East Pier) would be built (3,500 feet long), but when John Rennie was appointed directing engineer for the work, he insisted that a single pier would result in sand drifting behind the pier and that a second West Pier (4,950 feet long) would prevent this from occurring. He was correct as the sand has built up behind the west pier. The harbour once built was renamed 'The Royal Harbour of Kingstown' in 1821 on the occasion of the visit of [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]]. The material for the harbour is [[Dalkey Hill]] [[granite]]. The granite was provided by Richard Toucher (a long time campaigner for the new harbour) at no cost to the construction team. The foundations of the piers are 300'-0" wide and 24'-0" below low water level. Many options were considered for the width of the space between the two pier heads. Rennie wrote to the Harbour Commissioners that the opening should be 430'-0" wide with the pier heads turned into the harbour to control swells within the harbour. His demands were never met and the harbour opening was built at 1,066'-0". This was clearly too wide and was subsequently reduced to 760'-0".

=== Custom House Docks and the CHQ Building, Dublin ===
One of John Rennie's last projects was the construction of the Custom House Docks in Dublin, along with its  locks and warehouses, including the [[CHQ Building]] where he pioneered the use of cast-iron in the early 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|date=1 June 2006|title=Dublin: the city within the Grand and Royal Canals and the Circular Road with the Phoenix Park}}</ref> Rennie was first invited to work on the scheme in 1809 by [[John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel|John Foster]], the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer. The first stone of the docks was laid in May 1817; they were formerly opened at the end of August 1821 in front of 'a most select company of Noblemen, Bishops, Ladies, &c.'  In 1824 the docks were placed on a long-term lease to Harry and John Scovell, and their nephew George. Harry and John were the younger brothers of [[George Scovell|Sir George Scovell]], the intelligence officer famed for cracking Bonaparte's secret codes during the Napoleonic Wars.

By March 1820, Rennie was seeking 33&nbsp;tons of structural cast-iron, along with a large quantity of wrought iron, for the purpose of building a "Tobacco Warehouse, with the Spirit Stores under it."<ref>{{Citation|chapter=Honors to Imperial Maritime Customs Commissioners (from IWSM:TC)|pages=24|publisher=Harvard University Asia Center|isbn=9781684171392|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1tfjbsn.17|title=Ch'ing Documents|year=1959}}</ref> The iron was supplied by the [[Butterley Company|Butterley Iron Company]] from Derbyshire.<ref name="Cunningham 1909">{{Cite book|title=Text-book of anatomy, ed. by D. J. Cunningham ... Illustrated with 936 wood engravings from original drawings, 406 of which are printed in colors.|last=Cunningham|first=D. J.|date=1909|publisher=W. Wood and company|location=New York|doi = 10.5962/bhl.title.44384|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96373 }}</ref> However, an obituary of Shropshire-born engineer and iron founder [[William Hazledine|William Hazeldine]] from 1841 claimed that Hazeldine also supplied 'the Iron Roofs for the Dublin Custom House and Store Houses.'<ref>{{Citation|chapter=Ennis, Lawrence, (31 Aug. 1871–5 May 1938), Director of Dorman Long & Co. Ltd, Iron and Steel Manufacturers and Constructional Engineers, Middlesbrough|date=1 December 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u209123|title=Who Was Who}}</ref> In 1821, John James Macgregor noted: 'The tobacco stores have been finished on the south side at the expense of £70,000. They are 500 feet long by 160 feet wide. The roof is of cast iron, and the building finished in the most permanent manner.'<ref>{{Citation|last=Crawfurd|first=John|chapter=Public Revenue|pages=45–74|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139507592|doi=10.1017/cbo9781139507592.003|title=History of the Indian Archipelago|year=2013}}</ref> In 1821, the Rev. George Newenham Wright, an Anglican clergyman, likewise noted: 
:To the east of the new basin is the tobacco store (500 feet by 160, and capable of containing 3,000 hogsheads), the plan of which was given by John Rennie, Esq. In this store, which is now completed and in use, there is not one particle of wood or other combustible matter. There are nine vaults beneath, which altogether afford perfect and convenient storage for 4,500 pipes of wine, allowing a walk behind the heads of the pipes as well as between them; these vaults are lighted by means of thick lenses set in iron plates in the floor of the tobacco store; but this is not sufficient to supersede the necessity of candle light. The interior of the tobacco store is extremely curious and interesting: the roof is supported by metal frame-work of an ingenious construction, and, at intervals, long lanterns are inserted, the sashes of which are also metal; the entire frame-work is supported by three rows of cylindrical metal pillars, 26 in each row; these rest upon others of granite, which are continued through the stone floor into the vaults beneath. All the iron-work was manufactured at the Butterley foundry in Derbyshire. The only inconvenience at present felt in this store is the excessive heat, which, in all probability, can be remedied by a proper system of ventilation.<ref name="Cunningham 1909"/>

Now known as the [[CHQ Building]], the tobacco store is home to various enterprises including [[EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum|EPIC – The Irish Emigration Museum]] and Dogpatch Laboratories.

===Donaghadee===
[[Donaghadee]] is probably best known for its lighthouse and harbour. For centuries, it has been a haven for ships, and the harbour has been there from at least the 17th century.

[[Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery|Sir Hugh Montgomery]] built a large stone quay to accommodate vessels ferrying between Scotland and Ireland from 1616 onwards.[3] Viscount Montgomery's harbour (1626; improved 1640), superseding what had hitherto been probably only a small jetty, was built and maintained as a result of the Royal Warrant of 1616 which limited travel between the Ards and the Rhins of Galloway to this port, and that at [[Portpatrick]] also owned by Montgomery. It was described by Harris in 1744 as 'a curving quay about 400 feet (120m) long and 22 feet (6.7m) wide built of uncemented stones'. It ran from the shore at the north end of the Parade in a broad arc, bent against the open sea, towards the southern end of the present north pier. Much patched and decrepit, the quay was virtually rebuilt, though along the original line, between 1775 and 1785 by the landlord, Daniel Delacherois, probably with the help of [[John Smeaton]], the distinguished civil engineer who had made earlier more elaborate plans for extending the harbour, and who had just rebuilt Portpatrick harbour. The old quay remained until after the completion of the new harbour, and then, despite its continued favour by local fishermen, was removed for local wall building about 1833 (it appears in the 1832 drawing but not on the first O.S. map of 1834).

The foundation stone of the new harbour was laid by the [[Arthur Hill, 3rd Marquess of Downshire|Marquess of Downshire]] on 1 August 1821. The initial plans and surveys for this ambitious undertaking were made by John Rennie. He, however, died within two months of work beginning, and was succeeded by his son, John, who had as his resident engineer a fellow Scot, the seasoned marine builder, David Logan, who had assisted [[Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)|Robert Stevenson]] at the [[Bell Rock Lighthouse]] (1807–1810). The new harbour had to have greater depth to accommodate steam packets. Rock blasted from the sea bed, within the harbour area and further south in what became known as the Quarry Hole at Meetinghouse Point was used to form the outer slopes of the two piers; but the inner faces were built of limestone from the [[Moelfre, Anglesey|Moelfre]] quarries of [[Anglesey|Anglesea]]. This 'Anglesea marble' lends itself to the finest ashlar dressing and the new piers remain a triumph of stone carving. The flights of steps display special skill in the deep diagonal binding of each solid step, providing a typically robust engineer's response to the wear of seaboots and waves alike. The harbour consists of two independent piers running north westwards out to sea; parallel nearer the shore, they converge at the outer ends to form a harbour mouth 150 feet (46m) wide. At low tide the water in the harbour is fifteen feet deep.