The Bridges or Y Pontydd

Anglesey is famous for the two bridges which cross the Menai Straits, and join it to the mainland.

Thomas Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge was opened in 1826, and notwithstanding some works over the years, looks very much as it would have done to the stage coach passengers travelling to and from Ireland at that time.

The same cannot now be said for Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge. This provided a rail crossing of the Menai Straits, and was opened in 1850. Some 120 years later, the bridge was all but destroyed by fire, and the need to rebuild resulted in the addition of supporting steel arches and a road deck over the rail level. What the visitor sees now is very different from the original construction, although the towers and the lions which stand guard are much as they would have been back in 1850.

For more on either or both of these bridges, use the Main Menu links on the left.