“Explore Engineering” Weekend organized by Menai Heritage & ICE Wales Cymru, access to the service road on the Britannia bridge and the Abutment of the Britannia bridge June 2018 (see album)
The three service can be seen on the left serving Anglesey, water, sewage & electricity
Where the Britannia Bridge meets the Anglesey shoreline from the outside, this abutment structure looks like solid masonry but actually it’s hollow. There is a door which faces the Menai Strait which allows maintenance workers to get inside. The pillars support arches, a pair of barrel vaults forms the roof, on which lies the railway track bed.
The structure resembles the inside of a cathedral, hence it’s known as the cathedral abutment (original drawings refer to it as the “wing wall”). The bridge’s three stone piers are made of a similar cellular structure.
The cathedral abutment enables the bridge’s spans to be symmetrical. A long span to carry the railway from the Anglesey pier to the higher ground would not have been replicated on the Gwynedd side, where the land slopes more steeply. The original tubular spans were innovative, and provision was made for symmetrical chains to be installed for extra strength if needed (hence the piers extend far above the railway).
The position of the central pier was dictated by its base, the Britannia Rock in the Strait. The distance from that pier to the Gwynedd abutment is mirrored by the distance from the pier to the cathedral abutment.
Building the piers and abutments in this exposed location was a large and dangerous task. Two men died after falling from the scaffolding – one was blown off by the wind in 1847 and 1848.
“Explore Engineering” Weekend organized by Menai Heritage & ICE Wales Cymru, access to the service road on the Britannia bridge and the Abutment of the Britannia bridge June 2018 (see album)
The three service can be seen on the left serving Anglesey, water, sewage & electricity
Where the Britannia Bridge meets the Anglesey shoreline from the outside, this abutment structure looks like solid masonry but actually it’s hollow. There is a door which faces the Menai Strait which allows maintenance workers to get inside. The pillars support arches, a pair of barrel vaults forms the roof, on which lies the railway track bed.
The structure resembles the inside of a cathedral, hence it’s known as the cathedral abutment (original drawings refer to it as the “wing wall”). The bridge’s three stone piers are made of a similar cellular structure.
The cathedral abutment enables the bridge’s spans to be symmetrical. A long span to carry the railway from the Anglesey pier to the higher ground would not have been replicated on the Gwynedd side, where the land slopes more steeply. The original tubular spans were innovative, and provision was made for symmetrical chains to be installed for extra strength if needed (hence the piers extend far above the railway).
The position of the central pier was dictated by its base, the Britannia Rock in the Strait. The distance from that pier to the Gwynedd abutment is mirrored by the distance from the pier to the cathedral abutment.
Building the piers and abutments in this exposed location was a large and dangerous task. Two men died after falling from the scaffolding – one was blown off by the wind in 1847 and 1848.