19th century structure

[egordon]

very famous 19th century structure,referred to in diary as 'my first loce,my darling'

[gem_mother]

Clifton Suspension Bridge. See http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/SouthWest/ContentPlace_2 417.html

[sddsddean]

One footnote to that article. The suspension chains were made before they were needed, so were sitting around doing nothing (whilst the bridge was waiting for finance ...again!). So when IKB built the Royal Albert bridge over the Tamar at Saltash, he used the chains from Clifton; a good bit of recycling. (The Royal Albert is the only suspension bridge on UK railways, even though it doesn't look like one). When the ICE came to complete the Clifton bridge, the chains had gone. As luck would have it, Hungerford suspension bridge, another of IKB's designs, was being replaced by the new Hungerford bridge that leads into Charing Cross station (the abutments are still there). So the ICE recycled the chains from Hungerford to Clifton.