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Menai Bridge

43 images Created 25 Nov 2011

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  • It’s been 50 years since the original ‘tubular’ railway bridge burned down, so this year there has been much talk about this iconic piece of civil engineering, designed by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1850. <br />
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When you stand under the bridge today, looking up at the gigantic steel arches, it’s shocking to realise just how much change occurred during the post-fire rebuilding. These steel arches never existed before. The concrete decks that now hold a highway, were not there before. The original wrought iron tubes are no longer there. The only original structures are the towers themselves. And yet whenever I think of this bridge I still imagine it’s been there forever.
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  • Nominated image in the 13th Black & White Spider Awards 2018<br />
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Everyone who visits the area has heard about ‘The Swellies’ and only the experienced sailor dares take their yacht between the two famous bridges knowing full well about the infamous whirlpools that have been known to suck kayakers down into the depths before releasing them downstream! These large and very powerful whirlpools only appear at certain stages of the tide, as a massive volume of sea funnels up to the bridges. On the day we filmed this location our skipper killed the RIB engine and showed us just how quickly we could be spun around and pulled towards the vortex. It was both awe inspiring and eerie and a spectacle to remember. <br />
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In the background stands the Telford Suspension Bridge, completed in 1826, the first of the two marvels of industrial engineering that finally allowed people and traffic to cross from mainland Wales to Anglesey without the need for ferries. Many people lost their lives crossing the treacherous Menai Strait on small boats and ferries before the bridges were built.
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  • Ynys Gorad Goch - an island in the middle of the Menai Strait which has used weirs to trap fish on the outging tide for many centuries. The earliest known document relating to Ynys Gorad Goch is dated 1590.<br />
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At this time the island and its fishery was leased by the then Bishop of Bangor to a Thomas Fletcher of Treborth. He had to pay ‘Three pounds and besides one Barell full of hearinges at the tyme of the hearing fishinge’.<br />
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A later map refers to this as ‘Bishop’s Island’. There is a Bishop’s Room in part of the house which is an observation room, and above the centre window is a carving of a mitre, and below it, the inscription ‘I.R. 1808’
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  • On the rapid outgoing tide, small woodland islands rejoin the mainland, small rapids forming as it does so. Early morning sunshine filters through the Autumn trees and sparkles off shallow temporary lagoons.
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  • Once again I was lured by the evening light over the Menai Bridge. I never aim for those ever popular viewpoints but I drive past them almost daily so perhaps it’s no surprise that ocassionally the view delivers something beyond the normal beauty it holds. <br />
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The moon rose rapidly, shrinking in size by the minute as it did so. I only managed a few frames before the moon was obscured by cloud anyway, but I’m glad I stopped anyway to enjoy this very magical and serene moment.
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  • A full moon arose in the glowing pink of dusk but as it ascended a bank of soft cloud gently obscured it’s luminosity
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  • Full moon over the Menai Bridge at dusk.
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  • Surprisingly, with the beautiful Telford’s Suspension Bridge carrying dozens of morning commuters’ vehicles ever minute, there was a peaceful serenity down here at the waters edge. I stood on the gritty shoreline and watched as the calm water silently rose up my boots towards my ankles, visible, discernible a creeping cleansing of everything in its path. <br />
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Oystercatchers called from a nearby drowning mud flat after being disturbed from their slumber in the warm morning sunshine.  I could hear the sound of the tide as it surged past the huge arches stood steadfast in the Menai Strait. <br />
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Intermittent puffs of smoke rose from the old waterside cottage, its timber panels faintly creaking as they warmed.  No one appeared at the windows and no one could be seen walking the bridge and even the dog walkers of the Belgian Prom seemed absent. There was a sense of tranquillity in this normally busy spot.<br />
Oystercatchers called from a nearby drowning mud flat after being disturbed from their slumber in the warm morning sunshine.  I could hear the sound of the tide as it surged past the huge arches stood steadfast in the Menai Strait. <br />
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Intermittent puffs of smoke rose from the old waterside cottage, its timber panels faintly creaking as they warmed.  No one appeared at the windows and no one could be seen walking the bridge and even the dog walkers of the Belgian Prom seemed absent. There was a sense of tranquillity in this normally busy spot.
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  • It was only a matter of time before the fighting started. “It’s only a small island” I heard them squawk, “there’s no room for any more on here!” <br />
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What they failed to recognise is that no matter how much they jostled and fought over their little patch of land, the sea level was rising regardless.<br />
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As they all stood there knee-deep in water, it suddenly dawned on them that there were bigger forces at work, and that squabbling was nowhere near as important as finding alternative ways of dealing with an unavoidable reality.
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  • Ynys Gorad Goch - an island in the middle of the Menai Strait, used for trapping fish for many centuries. Now in private ownership.
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  • This was a handheld snap on the way home from the pub after celebrating my Mum’s birthday. When you look at scenes like this, it makes you realise just how damned lucky we are to live in such an incredible place.
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  • Dilapidated boathouse between the tiny islands off Menai Bridge, Porthaethwy, Anglesey, Wales
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  • A moon rises in a blue sky as a gentle sunset falls across the Menai Bridge through woodland trees on the banks of the Menai Strait.
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  • Looking through trees in early morning sunshine across a sparkly Menai Strait at the tiny island of Ynys Gorad Goch. At high tide the house, a non permanent residence, almost appears to float and is only accessible by boat
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  • Early morning frost on the banks of the Menai Strait, Anglesey, with the beautiful Menai Suspension Bridge looming in the background, built and completed by Sir Thomas Telford in 1826. The stone circle is monumental rather than real.
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  • Night time fog swirls in from the Irish Sea and up the Menai Strait, enveloping the Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) which is a stone built Victorian suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and Bangor and mainland of Wales. The 100ft high bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826.
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  • An eary morning mist over the tidal Menai Strait, shrouding the idyllic church and graveyard of St Tysilio Island, Anglesey. Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) is a stone built Victorian suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and Bangor and mainland of Wales. The 100ft high bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826. It stands proud of the small church island
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  • “An eary morning fog rolls in off the sea, shrouding the idyllic church and graveyard of Ynys St Tysilio, Anglesey.<br />
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The 100 foot high Menai Suspension Bridge, completed in 1826 by Sir Thomas Telford, looms above the sea fog which burned off by mid-morning
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  • Menai Suspension Bridge (Welsh: Pont Grog y Borth) which is a stone built Victorian suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and Bangor and mainland of Wales. The 100ft high bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826.
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