, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, Wales

Map of Britannia Bridge location

Britannia Bridge is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. The bridge carries both the A55 expressway and the railway between London and Holyhead. The nearest towns are Bangor on the mainland and Llamfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on Anglesey, yes the town with the long name. Opened in March 1850 the bridge was designed to carry the London to Holyhead railway. Originally a tubular bridge of wrought iron rectangular box-section spans, (similar to the Conwy River rail bridge) the bridge was unfortunately destroyed by a fire caused by a few local village idiots. Well by some boys playing with fire in a structure coated with inflammable material. The present bridge, reopened in 1972, retains the stone pillars of the original bridge but it has been reinforced with steel arches and now carries both the railway and the road. Construction of the bridge: The renowned English engineer George Stephenson constructed the original bridge with two main spans of 460ft, 140m, carrying long rectangular iron tubes, each weighing 1,500 tons, supported by masonry piers, the centre one of which was built on the Britannia Rock. Two additional spans of 230ft, 70m, completed the bridge making a 1,511ft, 461m long continuous girder. The trains were to run inside the tubes. The original bridge was decorated with four stone lions, two on each side of the Strait, which are now to be found hidden below the roadway on the river bank. There is a lovelly little Welsh poem describing the lions which translates as.. Four fat lions with no hair, Two over here and two over there....

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