The British engineers responsible for the development of railways were civil and mechanical engineers in one.

In England, iron was first used as a building material on a major scale.

The famous cast iron bridge (1777-79) over the Severn at Coalbrookdale is still in existence today.

Iron also began to be used in buildings.

The invention of wrought steel (1870s) allowed the design of bridges of exceptional dimensions, which could only be designed and constructed on the basis of exact calculations.