Menai Suspension Bridge

Menai Bridge Pont Grog y Borth
The Menai Suspension Bridge from a viewpoint on the A5 near the Britannia Bridge
Coordinates	53°13′12.5″N 4°9′47.25″W / 53.220139°N 4.1631250°W / 53.220139; -4.1631250Coordinates: 53°13′12.5″N 4°9′47.25″W / 53.220139°N 4.1631250°W / 53.220139; -4.1631250
Carries	A5 road (London to Holyhead)
Crosses	Menai Straits
Locale	Anglesey, North Wales
Heritage status	Grade 1 Candidate: World Heritage Site
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Material	Wrought Iron Stone
Total length	417 metres (1,368 ft)
Width	12 metres (39 ft)
Height	30 metres (98 ft)
Longest span	176 metres (577 ft)
Number of spans	Main: One Arches: Eight
Piers in water	Five
Design life	1893: wooden deck replaced in steel 1938/40: iron chains replaced in steel.
History
Designer	Thomas Telford
Construction begin	1819
Opened	30 January 1826
Menai Bridge Location in Anglesey

The Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) is a suspension bridge to carry road traffic between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. The bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826 and is a Grade I listed building.

Before the bridge was completed in 1826, the island had no fixed connection to the mainland and the primary means of access to and from Anglesey was by ferry across the fast flowing and dangerous waters of the Menai Strait. The main source of income on Anglesey was from the sale of cattle, and to move them to the markets of the mainland, including London, they had to be driven into the water and encouraged to swim across the Strait, a dangerous practice which often resulted in the loss of valuable animals. With Holyhead as the closest point to, and thus one of the principal ports for ferries to Dublin, Engineer Thomas Telford was engaged to complete a survey of the route from London to Holyhead, and he proposed that a bridge should be built over the Menai Strait from a point near Bangor on the mainland to the village of Porthaethwy (which is now also known as Menai Bridge) on Anglesey.

Because of the high banks and fast flowing waters of the Strait, it would have been difficult to build piers on the shifting sands of the sea-bed and, even if it could be done, they would have obstructed the navigation. Also, the bridge would have to be high enough to allow the passage of the tall ships of the day. In view of this, Telford proposed that a suspension bridge should be built and his recommendation was accepted by Parliament.

Construction of the bridge, to Telford's design, began in 1819 with the towers on either side of the strait. These were constructed from Penmon limestone and were hollow with internal cross-walls. Then came the sixteen huge chain cables, each made of 935 iron bars, that support the 176-metre (577 ft) span. To avoid rusting between manufacture and use, the iron was soaked in linseed oil and later painted. The chains each measured 522.3 metres (1,714 ft) and weighed 121 long tons (123 t; 136 short tons). Their suspending power was calculated at 2,016 long tons (2,048 t; 2,258 short tons). The bridge was opened to much fanfare on 30 January 1826.