{"id":400947,"date":"2026-01-31T17:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T17:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400947\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T17:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T17:20:06","slug":"its-astonishing-how-well-it-has-lasted-anglesey-marks-200th-anniversary-of-beloved-bridge-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400947\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s astonishing how well it has lasted\u2019: Anglesey marks 200th anniversary of beloved bridge | Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ian Evans\u2019s grandfather opened a hardware shop on Anglesey in the 1930s, the Menai Bridge was instrumental in ensuring its success.<\/p>\n

The wrought-iron chains from the early 19th century had just been replaced with tensile steel, making the suspension bridge stronger and wider. This allowed it to carry heavier freight and the Evans family was able to order bottled gas from the newly established Calor Gas company, bringing widespread energy access to rural Anglesey (Ynys M\u00f4n).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather and his brother went to pick it up from Bangor or Treborth station, I think, the first ever delivery. We still sell it today,\u201d said Evans, 61.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the bridge every day from my living room window and people come from all over to see it, they park outside my house and wander over. It\u2019s a big part of our community and our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday marked 200 years to the day since the official opening of the bridge, a masterpiece of engineering that revolutionised the economic and social landscape of north Wales<\/a>, as well as transport and communication links between Great Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n

Thomas Telford was the engineer behind the Menai Bridge and other projects including St Katharine Docks in London. Telford new town in Shropshire is named after him. Photograph: Science & Society Picture Library\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Designed and built by Thomas Telford, the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Menai became the first major suspension bridge in the world when it opened on 30 January 1826.<\/p>\n

Several designs were discarded before Telford found a way to build over the dangerous strait at a narrow point where tall warships could still pass underneath, said William Day, an engineer who took part in major repair works on the bridge in 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an icon of civil engineering,\u201d added Day. \u201cThe precision, the quality control, thinking ahead about ease of maintenance and sustainability \u2026 and he needed to figure out how to erect it over wild water. He hung the iron cable chains down the banks to rafts, and then used ropes and pulleys on the other side to winch it up. He established how to do it in future, and some of his ideas are still in use today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Menai Bridge spans 579ft (176 metres) and was built between 1819 and 1826. In the distance behind it is a railway bridge designed by Robert Stephenson. Photograph: David Goddard\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Edward I built a pontoon bridge across the Menai strait in 1282 for his invasion of Wales but Telford\u2019s bridge was the first permanent structure over a waterway made especially dangerous by conflicting tides.<\/p>\n

The engineer made use of meticulous measurement to create hundreds of huge iron cables, all of the same size, that could be used anywhere on the bridge \u2013 a practice unheard of at the time. They had adjusting links to compensate for imperfections in size and shape, and tunnels and chambers were cut into rock to move the chains, aided by suspended cradles and webs of scaffolding.<\/p>\n

It was the last link in the new London-Holyhead road, dramatically reducing travel times to Ireland and making the journey much safer. The project helped earn Telford the nickname \u201cthe Colossus of Roads\u201d. Born into poverty in Dumfriesshire, he was a hero of 19th-century Britain<\/a> whose legacy survives in roads, bridges and canals across the country.<\/p>\n

While still much loved by Monwysion \u2013 Anglesey residents \u2013 the bridge has been plagued by safety issues, leaving severe traffic problems.<\/p>\n

The Welsh government announced on Monday that more defects had been found and another round of repairs is now not expected to finish until February next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur priority has always been and remains to safeguard the bridge for the future,\u201d said a statement from Ken Skates, the Welsh government\u2019s cabinet secretary for transport. \u201cWe continue to invest in maintenance and preservation \u2026 extensive inspection, strengthening and refurbishment activity [is ongoing] to ensure the structure\u2019s long-term safety and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrations of the bridge\u2019s bicentenary include the unveiling of a plaque and a day of history talks and stories hosted by Bangor University.<\/p>\n

Despite the repair issues, the bridge\u2019s future remains bright, according to Day. \u201cThe masonry in that bridge is 200 years old, but if you took a sample from it, it could have been laid yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s already astonishing how well it has lasted, but if it\u2019s looked after properly, it could be in use for another 200 years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ian Evans\u2019s grandfather opened a hardware shop on Anglesey in the 1930s, the Menai Bridge was instrumental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-400947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}