BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE,
which crosses the Straits about a mile above it on the Carnarvonshire side. Fully to appreciate this monster work of human ingenuity, the traveller should ascend the Britannia Tower, which rises from a rock in the centre of the Straits, and gaze upon the glorious panorama which surrounds him. Upon the Carnarvonshire side he will behold the mountains of Snowdonia veiling their lofty summits in the clouds. Along their sides, and through their mighty bulks, the railroad train now rolls its dragon form, shaking their rocky ribs, and awakening their echoes in its swift and thundering course; beneath him are the Menai Straits, through which the imprisoned waters of the Irish Sea and St. George’s Channel vibrate everlastingly backwards and forwards, at the same time successively rise and fall, occasioning an endless succession of aqueous changes. Upon the shores of Anglesey a rich and fertile country studded with villas, surrounded by luxuriant woods, and waving corn, presents itself, forming a pleasing contrast to the wild grandeur of the Snowdon Hills, and exhibiting an example of the perfection of cultivation, cheerful labour, and undisturbed tranquillity.
It was originally intended to carry the Chester and Holyhead line across the Suspension Bridge, and to detach the trains at each end of the bridge, leaving the carriages to be drawn over by horses, but the government objected to this arrangement, considering that it would be proved to be a public inconvenience. A bridge of two cast iron arches, to be supported on piers of masonry, was next proposed: this second project was objected to by the masters of the Carnarvon harbour, upon the plea that it would seriously interfere with the navigation of the Straits. At length Mr. Robert Stephenson offered to construct a mode of transit which should entirely do away with all objections. He had come to the conclusion that a tube, or tunnel of wrought iron, sufficiently large for the passage of trains, would be the most plausible plan, as it would neither endanger the navigation nor cause any delay to the railway carriages in crossing over the Straits. His plan was adopted, and the stupendous work of art which now awakens the astonishment of the beholder, will bear the name of Stephenson down to remote posterity, attached as it is to one of the brightest ornaments of the nineteenth century.
From Bangor the traveller can proceed by rail to