Menai Suspension Bridge

The Menai Suspension Bridge carries the A5 road across the Menai Strait between Anglesey and the Welsh mainland. Designed by Thomas Telford, it was completed in 1826 and became one of the first large suspension bridges built to carry vehicles. The bridge replaced dangerous ferry crossings and cattle swims that had claimed lives and livestock for centuries. Strong tides and whirlpools in the strait made earlier attempts to cross hazardous. Telford chose a suspension design because it could span the fast currents without piers in the water. The bridge’s stone towers stand on Penmon limestone and still carry the iron chains he specified. The bridge reduced the London–Holyhead journey by nine hours when it opened. Its first deck swayed in winds until engineers stiffened it in 1840 and replaced the wooden surface with steel in 1893. By the 1930s heavier lorries forced a change from wrought iron to steel chains. In 1918 an airship captain flew beneath the bridge at 40 mph with only two feet of clearance. A Wellington bomber repeated the feat during the Second World War. The bridge has closed several times for repairs, most recently in 2022 and 2025, after safety checks revealed corrosion. Visitors walk or cycle across the bridge on the Wales Coast Path, which crosses the structure and continues on both sides. The Anglesey Coastal Path runs beneath it, offering views of the strait’s tidal races. On the Anglesey side stands a memorial to the Aberfan disaster victims. Below, the strait’s glacial channels carry water between mountain-rimmed shores. The nearest town, Menai Bridge, grew up around the bridge’s Anglesey end and still serves as its gateway.