for Berwick-on-Tweed. In a much-repeated story, in 1739 the colonel and Metcalf had a wager of 10 guineas as to who could travel the from London to Harrogate first; Jack on foot or the colonel in his coach. Jack took five and half days, and arrived first, despite his blindness, the state of the roads having slowed the colonel. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 Metcalf's connections got him the job of assistant to the royal recruiting sergeant in the Knaresborough area. He accompanied the army to Scotland where he did not experience action but was employed moving guns over boggy ground. He was captured but released. He used his Scottish experience to import Aberdeen stockings to England. Carrier Before army service, Metcalf worked as a carrier using a four-wheeled chaise and a one-horse chair on local trips. When competition cut into the business he switched to carrying fish from the coast to Leeds and Manchester. After 1745 he bought a stone wagon and worked it between York and Knaresborough. By 1754 his business had grown to a stagecoach line. He drove the coach himself, making two trips a week during the summer and one in the winter months. Road builder In 1765 Parliament passed an act authorising turnpike trusts to build toll roads in the Knaresborough area. There were few people with road-building experience and Metcalf seized the opportunity, building on his practical experience as a carrier. He won a contract to build a three-mile (5 km) section of road between Minskip and Ferrensby on the road from Harrogate to Boroughbridge. He explored the section of countryside alone and worked out the most practical route. Metcalf built roads in Lancashire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Yorkshire, including roads between: Knaresborough and Wetherby Wakefield, Huddersfield and Saddleworth (via the Standedge pass) Bury and Blackburn with a branch to Accrington Skipton, Colne and Burnley Metcalf believed a good road should have good foundations, be well drained and have a smooth convex surface to allow rainwater to drain quickly into ditches at the side. He understood the importance of good drainage, knowing it was rain that caused most problems. He worked out a way to build a road across a bog using a series of rafts made from ling (a type of heather) and furze (gorse) tied in bundles as foundations. It established his reputation as a road builder because other engineers believed it