PhotosbyKev

The Menai Suspension bridge, which crosses the Menai Strait, was the first iron suspension bridge of its kind in the world, and was probably Thomas Telfords most acclaimed achievement. With his extra improvements to the Holyhead to London road he managed to reduce the travel time from 36 hours down to 27 hours.

Work on the Menai Suspension Bridge commenced in 1819, and it was completed and opened on 30th Jan 1826. Building began with the stone pillars, the stone was quarried locally at Penmon on the northern end of the strait. The stonework was completed in 1824 and the task of lifting the main support chains began. In order to lift the central section of chain – each weighing 23 and a half tons – it took 150 men using block and tackle. Each chain was dipped in linseed oil to stop them rusting and prompted Lewis Carrol to include a reference to the bridge in ‘Through the Looking Glass’

One of the design requirements for the bridge was that it needed to have 100 feet of space under the main span, to allow for the passage of the tall sailing ships that plied the Menai Strait. Modern ships do not have this problem as the yacht in the next image shows.

In 1893 the wooden decking was replaced with steel decking and the original iron chains were replaced in 1938 with steel ones which significantly increased the load carrying capacity of the bridge.

The Britannia bridge and Menai bridge link Anglesey with mainland Wales.

When first conceived by Robert Stephenson, the tubular bridge was to have been suspended from cables strung through the openings at the tops of the towers. However, after engineering calculations and tests of the finished tubes it was decided that they were strong enough by themselves to carry the trains.

Like the Menai Bridge, the stonework of the Britannia Bridge was constructed of limestone from Penmon, although sandstone from various places was used internally. The steel tubes themselves were constructed on the banks of the Strait.

There are four magnificent limestone lions guarding the entrances to the bridge. They were carved by John Thomas, who had also done stone carving for the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace in London. The lions are almost 4 metres high and sit on plinths of equal height. The bridge was opened on 5 March 1850.

The present day bridge has a much different appearance than the original. This is because it has been reconstructed after a disastrous fire in 1970.

South of the bridge is a statue erected in honour of Lord Nelson.