In its original form the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits was a magnificant achievement of Robert Stephenson and others. Anthony Masters reflects. When Robert Stephenson was planning the route of the Chester to Holyhead Railway in the 1840s the greatest obstacle in his path was undoubtedly the Menai Straits, separating Anglesey from the mainland. He found a suitable crossing point where there is a large rock outcrop in mid-channel, but even so he was faced with two spans of about 400ft (120m), unprecedented at that time for the loads of a railway bridge.
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