Conwy Suspension Bridge
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Opening times vary. See schedule, visit website, email conwybridge@nationaltrust.org.uk or telephone 014922 573 282
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Visit websiteBuilt by Thomas Telford, this is a suspension bridge spanning the River Conwy next to medieval Conwy Castle, a World Heritage Site. The bridge was completed in 1826 and replaced the ferry at the same point.
Telford matched the bridge's supporting towers with the castle's turrets. It is in the same style as one of Telford's other bridges, the Menai Suspension Bridge crossing the Menai Strait. Built into the rock on which Conwy Castle stands, it is very close to the castle and only about 2.5m(8.2 ft) wide. Part of the castle had to be demolished during construction in order for the suspension cables to be anchored into the rock.
The bridge runs alongside the wrought iron tubular railway bridge built by Robert Stephenson (see entry). Until Stephenson's bridge was built, Telford's bridge was the only crossing of the river. It is now only passable on foot.
By road: Off A55 and on A457, Conwy Road.
Buton, Anthony, Thomas Telford, Aurum Press, ISBN-10 185410652X (2000)
Drewry, C.S., A Memoir of Suspension Bridges: Comprising a History of their Origin, BiblioBazaar, ISBN -10 05547 25657 (2008)
Melan, Josef, Theory of Arches and Suspension Bridges (1913, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN-10: 1437437125 (2008)
Peters, Tom, Transitions in Engineering: Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges, Birkhauser, ISBN-10: 3764319291 (1987)
Rolt, L. T. C., Thomas Telford, The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750945761 (2007)
Smiles, Samuel, The Life of Thomas Telford, Dodo Press, ISBN-10: 1406575747 (2008)
Steinman, David, A Practical Treatise on Suspension Bridges: Their Design, Construction and Erection (1922), Kessinger Publishing, ISBN-10: 1436606446 (2008)
Steinman, David, Suspension Bridges and Cantilevers, BiblioBazaar, ISBN-10: 0559673132 (2008)
Taylor, Arnold, Conwy Castle and Town Walls, Cadw, ISBN-10: 0948329106 (1986)