THE MENAI BRIDGE.
The principal opening between the supporting pillars is 560 feet in breadth, through which the vessels pass with all their canvas set, without the least danger of their masts touching the overhanging bridge. There are four stone arches upon the Anglesey side, and three upon the Carnarvon, which complete the roadway, and have each a span of fifty feet. The length of the bridge is 800 feet, and its height is 100 feet above the surface of the Menai at high water. The weight of the bridge and its suspending chains, between the pyramids is six hundred and thirty-nine tons, nineteen hundred and nine pounds; and that of the iron work from one extremity of the chains to the other is estimated at 2130 tons, 1800 consisting of wrought, and three hundred and thirty of cast iron.
The first stone of this astonishing work was laid by W. A. Provis, Esq., on the 10th August, 1820; and on the 20th April, 1825, the first main chain was thrown across the strait. This important step being completed, three of the workmen, in the height of their enthusiasm, ventured to walk along the chain from pier to pier; and a cobbler no less daring and enthusiastic, seated himself in the centre of the curve, and, while suspended at the fearful height, with sky above and the deep water of the strait gliding beneath him, drove the last sparable into one of those convenient comforts called clogs.
The view from the centre of the bridge beggars description. Waving woods, barren precipices, distant mountains, Bangor, and Beaumaris, Penrhyn Castle, Penmaen Mawr, the Great Orme’s Head, the ocean, and the strait, are objects that dazzle and astonish from the exquisite beauty of their natural arrangement.
But even this, the noblest specimen of hanging bridges in the world, is eclipsed by the monster