448 THE MENAI BRIDGE. PART VIII. 



afterwards erected ; but unhappily the means were not 

 forthcoming to carry it into effect. The publication of 

 his plan and report had, however, the effect of directing 

 public attention to the construction of bridges on the 

 suspension principle ; and many were shortly after 

 designed and erected by Telford and other engineers in 

 different parts of the kingdom. 



Mr. Telford continued to be consulted by the Commis- 

 sioners of the Holyhead Roads as to the completion of 

 the last and most important link in the line of communi- 

 cation between London and Holyhead, by bridging the 

 Straits of Menai ; and at one of their meetings in 1815, 

 shortly after the publication of his Runcorn design, the 

 inquiry was made whether a bridge upon the same prin- 

 ciple was not applicable in this particular case. The 

 engineer was instructed again to examine the Straits and 

 submit a suitable plan and estimate, which he proceeded 

 to do in the early part of 1818. The site selected by 

 him as the most favourable was that which had pre- 

 viously been fixed upon for the projected cast iron 

 bridge, namely at Ynys-y-moch the shores there being 

 bold and rocky, affording easy access and excellent foun- 

 dations, whilst by spanning the entire channel between 

 the low water lines, and the roadway being kept uni- 

 formly 100 feet above the highest water at spring tide, 

 the whole of the navigable waterway would be left 

 entirely uninterrupted. The distance between the centres 

 of the supporting pyramids was proposed to be of the 

 then unprecedented width of 550 feet, and the height of 

 the pyramids 53 feet above the level of the roadway. 

 The main chains were to be sixteen in number, with a 

 deflection of 37 feet, each composed of thirty-six bars of 



MENAI BRIDGE. 



