莫奈悬索桥

Menai Suspension Bridge為著名蘇格蘭工程師Thomas Telfod
﹙1757-1834﹚所設計及花七年建造的懸吊式鐵橋﹙1819-1826﹚。
位於伯明漢西邊﹐近工業革命起源地Iron Bridge的Telfod便是為
紀念這位工程師﹐而在一九六三年所建立的新城。
Thomas Telford (born 9th August 1757, Dumfriesshire) built more than 1000 bridges, including the Menai Bridge shown here. To quote Adam Hart-Davis in his book ``Local Heroes’’:

One of [Telford’s most impressive bridges] was to get across the Menai Straits to Anglesey, 200 yards across vicious tides and deep water. The Admiralty insisted that the bridge must be high enough to let the largest ships sail below with masts erect, and he couldn’t make a timber frame to build an arch over the top, because they would not allow even a temporary obstruction. Telford designed an amazing suspension bridge, easily the longest in the world at that time. At each end he planned a massive tower, 153 feet above the high-water mark. Between them he would hang sixteen chains, and then the roadway would be built hanging from the chains, 579 feet long and 30 feet wide.
The chains were made of 9-foot links, each of thirty-six iron bars half an inch square. Would it be possible to lift these massive chains up the towers? For several nights, as tension mounted, the normally imperturbable Telford was unable to sleep. Finally, on 26 April 1825, hundreds of people on the banks watched as the chain was floated underneath on a massive raft, then winched up on cables by 150 men heaving on capstans. When it reached the top of the tower there was a colossal cheer, and three men walked high above the sea to the other tower across the 9-inch wide chain!