TIMBER PIERS.
283
laid of such thickness that on being bound round in the form of a rope,
the ciroumference was 17 inches. When the full length for one rope, or
wiep, had been laid out, the fascines were tied at 15-inch intervals with
osier bands, tightly twisted and with their ends tucked in. Light
intermediate bands, 4 inches apart, were then added. The wiepen were
next laid in parallel rows upon the ground, about 3 feet apart, to the full
width of the proposed mattrass. They were crossed by a second layer at
right angles to the first, thus forming a network, which was secured by
Figs. 215, 216, and 217. —Fascine Work.
Fig. 218. —Mole at Hook of Holland.
lashings of J-inch tarred rope with free ends, and withes. Two such
networks, upper and lower, enclosed three layers of ryshout, set crossways,
18 inches thick in all, and were tied together by the rope ends. This
completed the mattrass. In order to cause sinkage, it was weighted with
stone, and the loading was afterwards continued until it amounted to
10 cwts. per square yard. The body of the piers took from five to six
mattrasses, averaging with the stones, about 3 feet 3 inches thick; these
were further held in place by five rows of piles, driven about 11 or 12 feet