Menai Suspension Bridge
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The Menai Suspension Bridge from a viewpoint on the A4080 near the Britannia Bridge. |
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Menai Suspension bridge being painted -August 2005 |
The
Menai Suspension Bridge or
Pont Grog y Borth in
Welsh is a
suspension bridge between the island of
Anglesey and the mainland of
Wales.
Prior to the bridge's completion in
1826 the island had no connection to the mainland and all movement to and from Anglesey was by
ferry (or, with difficulty, on foot at low tide). However, the
Act of Union 1800 increased the need for transport to
Ireland, and with
Holyhead as one of the principal terminals to
Dublin it was decided that a bridge was needed.
Thomas Telford was assigned the task of improving the route from
London to Holyhead, and one of the key improvements was his design of the suspension bridge over the
Menai Strait between a point near
Bangor on the mainland and what was then the village of
Porthaethwy which is now also known as
Menai Bridge on Anglesey. The design of the bridge had to allow sailing ships 100 ft tall to pass under the deck at high water slack tide.
Construction of the bridge began in
1819 with the concrete towers on either side of the strait. Then came the sixteen huge chain cables, each made of 935 iron bars that support the 176 metre span. To avoid rusting, each cable was first soaked in
linseed oil. The bridge was opened to much fanfare on
January 30 1826, and succeeded in reducing the 36 hour journey time from London to Holyhead by 9 hours. The bridge was not the first suspension bridge, but was so hugely greater than anything previously built that it is considered the world's first modern suspension bridge.
Damaged by winds in
1839, the road surface needed extensive repair, and in
1893 the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck. Over the years, the 4.5 ton weight limit proved problematic for the increasing freight industry and in
1938 the original iron chains were replaced with steel ones without the need to close the bridge. In
1999 the bridge was again closed for around a month to resurface the road and strengthen the structure, requiring all traffic to cross via the nearby
Britannia Bridge.
On
February 28 2005 the bridge was promoted to
UNESCO as a candidate
World Heritage Site, and, coincidentally on the same day one carriageway of the bridge was closed for six months restricting traffic to a single carriageway so that traffic now travelled to the mainland in the morning and to Anglesey in the afternoon.
The bridge was finally re-opened to traffic in both directions on the 11th December 2005 after its first major re-painting in 65 years.
The
Anglesey Coastal Path passes below the bridge. The bridge has a memorial to the
Aberfan disaster victims on the Anglesey side.
A representation of the Menai Bridge inside a border of railings and stanchions is featured on the reverse of
British one pound coins minted in
2005. The coin was designed by
Edwins Ellis.
Quotation
:White Knight says to Alice,:'I heard him then, for I had just completed my design,:To keep the Menai Bridge from rust:By boiling it in wine.':
Through the Looking-Glass,
Lewis Carroll*
Prosiect Menai The new site of Prosiect Menai, who aim to create a museum and education centre based on the story of the bridges over the Menai Strait.
*
Anglesey History History of the bridges over the Menai Strait.
