Menai Bridge, Anglesey - May 2013
Visited with fishbrain, Mortal Decay and total404
"I heard him then, for I had just
completed my design,
To keep the Menai bridge from rust
By boiling it in wine."
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Well actually Lewis, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and then painted to prevent it from rusting... duhhh!
In 1800, Ireland joined the UK through the Act of Union which meant the numbers attempting the notoriously dangerous crossing of the Menai Strait were increasing as politicians travelled between Parliament and Ireland via Holyhead. A civil engineer called Thomas Telford, recognising the danger that crossing the Straits involved, began the construction of a groundbreaking piece of civil engineering – the Menai Bridge.
Opened on 30 January 1826, the bridge was a triumph of civil engineering – the biggest suspension bridge in the world at the time, and the first modern one. Sixteen huge chains held up 579 foot of deck, allowing 100 feet of clear space beneath. This allowed tall sailing ships navigating the seaway to pass underneath, whilst spanning the Straits at its narrowest point.
Telford died in 1836, so the task of strengthening the desk of the Menai Bridge in 1840 was given to William Alexander Provis - who as the bridge’s resident engineer would most likely have assisted Telford during the original 7-year construction. In 1893 the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck designed by Sir Benjamin Baker. In 1938 the original wrought iron chains were replaced with steel ones without the need to close the bridge. The bridge has a memorial to the Aberfan disaster victims on the Anglesey side.
Climbing her involves simply running up the huge chains... not falling in between them like fishbrain almost succeeded at. Clumsy sod. Getting down again is harder, especially when it's raining. You might not want to get down just as a police van is crossing the bridge either... fortunately they were a bit too perplexed staring at fishbrain and I (already down) to notice the other two guys still descending on the opposite side.
We then went to stand on the underside of the Brittania Bridge, but it was far too dark for me to take any decent pictures having dropped my remote into the Strait...
tweek
Visited with fishbrain, Mortal Decay and total404
"I heard him then, for I had just
completed my design,
To keep the Menai bridge from rust
By boiling it in wine."
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Well actually Lewis, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and then painted to prevent it from rusting... duhhh!
In 1800, Ireland joined the UK through the Act of Union which meant the numbers attempting the notoriously dangerous crossing of the Menai Strait were increasing as politicians travelled between Parliament and Ireland via Holyhead. A civil engineer called Thomas Telford, recognising the danger that crossing the Straits involved, began the construction of a groundbreaking piece of civil engineering – the Menai Bridge.
Opened on 30 January 1826, the bridge was a triumph of civil engineering – the biggest suspension bridge in the world at the time, and the first modern one. Sixteen huge chains held up 579 foot of deck, allowing 100 feet of clear space beneath. This allowed tall sailing ships navigating the seaway to pass underneath, whilst spanning the Straits at its narrowest point.
Telford died in 1836, so the task of strengthening the desk of the Menai Bridge in 1840 was given to William Alexander Provis - who as the bridge’s resident engineer would most likely have assisted Telford during the original 7-year construction. In 1893 the entire wooden surface was replaced with a steel deck designed by Sir Benjamin Baker. In 1938 the original wrought iron chains were replaced with steel ones without the need to close the bridge. The bridge has a memorial to the Aberfan disaster victims on the Anglesey side.
Climbing her involves simply running up the huge chains... not falling in between them like fishbrain almost succeeded at. Clumsy sod. Getting down again is harder, especially when it's raining. You might not want to get down just as a police van is crossing the bridge either... fortunately they were a bit too perplexed staring at fishbrain and I (already down) to notice the other two guys still descending on the opposite side.
We then went to stand on the underside of the Brittania Bridge, but it was far too dark for me to take any decent pictures having dropped my remote into the Strait...
tweek
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