About Anglesey
The Isle of Anglesey is situated off the North West Coast of Wales close to the Snowdonia mountain range. To reach the island from mainland Wales you must cross the Menai straights on either of the picturesque Menai or Britannia Bridges. Until 1826 the only ways to the Island were by boat or to risk a mad dash at low tide. The Straits were plagued by strong currents, whirlpools and concealed rocks and deemed one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the country. Thomas Telford resolved the problem by building the Menai Bridge, the world’s first large scale iron suspension bridge. Slung between its majestic limestone towers are 16 massive chains, holding up a 176-metre platform. The huge bridge is tall enough for 100 feet sailing ships to pass beneath it undisturbed. Not to be outdone by Telford, twenty four years later Robert Stephenson worked his way in on the act and constructed his equally spectacular Britannia Bridge crossing just a mile up the straights.