Menai Bridge, Anglesey
Historical Description
Menai Bridge, a great suspension bridge over the Menai Strait, between Carnarvonshire and Anglesey, 1 mile NE of the Britannia Bridge on the Chester and Holyhead section of the L. & N.W.R., and 1½ W of Bangor. It is on the line of the great Holyhead road formed by Telford, was contemplated in 1810 and following years on designs which proved unsatisfactory, and was constructed in 1818-26 on a design by Telford at a cost of over £200,000. It stands on a spot called Ynys-y-moch, where bold rocky shores on both sides give opportunity for a lofty roadway. Four arches on one side and three on the other, each 52¼ feet in span, and springing from a height of 65 feet, carry the road to the suspending piers. The piers are 153 feet high, stand 553 feet apart, and are formed of hard limestone masonry. The supporting chains are sixteen in number, and each 1715 feet long; they are fastened at each end into 60 feet of rock; they pass over the top of the piers in cast-iron saddles on rollers; they have a length of 579 feet between the piers, with a hanging fall of 43 feet; and they support a permanent weight of 489 tons, and are capable of supporting an additional weight of 1520 tons. The roadway is double, 28 feet broad, and 102 feet above high-water level; it consists of timber, and it rests on iron joibts, suspended by rods from the chains, and protected at the sides by high iron trellis-work. A perceptible vibration is caused by the passage of a vehicle, or even of a man on horseback, and the roadway was so shattered by a storm in Jan., 1839, as to require ,mnch repair and strengthening, but the chains have hitherto re-sihted all injury from any cause. The total weight of the ironwork amounts to 2186 tons. There is a station on the Chester and Holyhead section of the L. & N.W.R. near the bridge, and also a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.)
Newspapers and Periodicals
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