Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. Brunel's colleagues in the
Institution of Civil EngineersFounded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds. In 1860, Brunel's
Hungerford suspension bridgeThe Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. It is a steel truss railway bridge—sometimes known as the Charing Cross Bridge—flanked by two more recent, cable-stayed, pedestrian bridges that share the railway bridge's...
, over the
ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in London, was demolished to make way for a new railway bridge to
Charing Cross railway stationCharing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
, and its chains were purchased for use at Clifton. A slightly revised design was made by
William Henry BarlowOn 28 December 1879, the central section of the North British Railway's bridge across the River Tay near Dundee collapsed in the Tay Bridge disaster as an express train crossed it in a heavy storm. All 75 passengers and crew on the train were killed...
and Sir
John HawkshawSir John Hawkshaw , was an English civil engineer.-Early life:He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and was educated at Leeds Grammar School...
; it has a wider, higher and sturdier deck than Brunel intended, triple chains instead of double, and the towers were left as rough stone rather than being finished in Egyptian style. Work on the bridge was restarted in 1862, and was complete by 1864 – 111 years after a bridge at the site was first planned.
The bridge is now managed by a trust set up by Act of Parliament in 1952. A
tollA toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
of £0.50 is levied on vehicles, but the £0.05 toll that the Act allows for cyclists or pedestrians is not collected.
The first modern
bungee jumpsBungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that...
were made on 1 April 1979 from the bridge, by members of the Oxford University
Dangerous Sports ClubThe Dangerous Sports Club, a group of adventurers and extreme sports pioneers based in Oxford and London, were active from the late 1970s for about ten years, during which they developed modern bungee jumping and experimented with a variety of other innovative sporting activities.-Origins:The...
.
In 2003, the weight of crowds travelling to and from the
Ashton Court festivalThe Ashton Court Festival was an outdoor music festival held annually in mid-July on the grounds of Ashton Court, just outside Bristol, England. The festival was a weekend event which featured a variety of local bands and national headliners...
and
Bristol International Balloon FiestaThe Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is held annually during August in Bristol, England. Teams from the UK and other parts of the world bring their hot air balloons to the site and participate in mass ascents where as many as 100 balloons may launch at a time.The event was first held in 1979...
put such great strain on the bridge that it was decided to close the bridge to all traffic, including pedestrians, during the whole of the Ashton Court Festival and part of the Balloon Fiesta in 2004. The closure of the bridge for major annual events has continued each year since then.
On 26 November 2003, the last ever
ConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
flight (Concorde 216) flew over the bridge before landing at Filton Aerodrome. It was a symbolic moment which commemorated Bristol's feats in engineering.
In April 2006, the bridge was the centrepiece of the Brunel 200 weekend, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. At the climax of the celebration a
firework displayFireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
was launched from the bridge.
The celebrations also saw the switch on of an
LEDLEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
-based lighting array to illuminate the bridge.
On 4 April 2009, the bridge was shut overnight due to a crack in one of the support hangers.
In November 2011 it was announced that a new visitor centre, costing nearly £2 million, was to be built at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge to replace the temporary building currently being used. The new facilities are scheduled to be completed before the 150th anniversary of the opening which will be celebrated on 8 December 2014.
Engineering
Although similar in size, the bridge towers are not identical in design, the Clifton tower having side cut-outs, the Leigh tower more pointed arches. Brunel's original plan proposed they be topped with then-fashionable sphinxes, but the ornaments were never constructed.
The 85 ft (26 m) tall Leigh Woods tower stands atop a 110 feet (33.5 m) red sandstone clad abutment. In 2002 it was discovered that this was not a solid structure but contained 12 vaulted chambers up to 35 feet (10.7 m) high, linked by shafts and tunnels.
Roller mounted "saddles" at the top of each tower allow movement of the
chainA chain is a sequence of connected links.Chain may also refer to:Chain may refer to:* Necklace - a jewelry which is worn around the neck* Mail , a type of armor made of interlocking chain links...
s when loads pass over the bridge. Though their total travel is minuscule, their ability to absorb forces created by chain deflection prevents damage to both tower and chain.
The bridge has three independent
wrought ironthumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
chains per side, from which the bridge deck is suspended by eighty-one matching vertical wrought-iron rods ranging from 65 feet (19.8 m) at the ends to 3 foot (0.9144 m) in the centre.
Composed of numerous parallel rows of
eyebarIn structural engineering and construction, an eyebar is a straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole at each end for fixing to other components...
s connected by bolts, the chains are anchored in tunnels in the rocks 60 feet (18.3 m) below ground level at the sides of the gorge. The deck was originally laid with wooden planking, later covered with asphalt, which was renewed in 2009.
The weight of the bridge, including chains, rods, girders and deck is approximately 1,500 tons.
Dimensions
- Span: 702 inch
- Height of towers: 86 feet (26.2 m) above deck
- Tower Width: 11 feet (3.4 m)
- Clearance: 245 feet (74.7 m) above high water level
- Traffic: Four million vehicles per year
- Overall Width: 31 ft (9.45 m)
- Dip of Chains: 70 ft (21.34 m)
Suicides and accidents
Two men were killed during the construction of the bridge. In 1885, a 22-year-old woman named
Sarah Ann HenleySarah Ann Henley was a young barmaid from Easton, Bristol who in 1885, became famous for having survived a suicide attempt, after she jumped from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a fall of almost .- Attempted suicide :...
survived a fall from the bridge when her billowing
skirtA skirt is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs.In the western world, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions...
s acted as a
parachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
; she subsequently lived into her eighties.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is well known as a
suicide bridgeA suicide bridge is a bridge used frequently to die by suicide, most typically by jumping off and into the water below ....
and is fitted with plaques that advertise the telephone number of
The SamaritansSamaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, often through their telephone helpline. The name comes from the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, though the organisation...
. Between 1974 and 1993, 127 people fell to their deaths from the bridge.
In 1998 barriers were installed on the bridge to prevent people jumping. In the four years after installation this reduced the suicide rate from eight deaths per year to four.
Nicolette Powell, the wife of singer
Georgie FameGeorgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
, formerly the Marchioness of Londonderry, committed suicide from the bridge on 13 August 1993.
Although flying under the bridge has been outlawed since 1911, in 1957 a
FiltonRAF Filton was a World War II, Royal Air Force Sector Airfield situated at Filton Aerodrome about 5 miles north of the city centre of Bristol, England....
-based RAF
VampireThe de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
jet from
501 SquadronNo 501 Squadron was the fourteenth of the twenty-one flying units in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, the volunteer reserve part of the British Royal Air Force. The squadron won seven battle honours, flying Hurricane, Spitfire and Tempest fighter aircraft during World War II, and was one of the most...
flew at high speed under the deck before crashing in Leigh Woods, killing the pilot. A police helicopter flew under the bridge during a search in 1997.
Popular culture
The bridge is a distinctive
landmarkThis is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
, used as a symbol of Bristol on postcards, promotional materials, and informational web sites such as Visit Bristol.
BBC WestBBC West is the BBC English Region serving Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.-Television:...
uses a clip of the bridge in their opening titles for their regional news programme
BBC Points WestBBC Points West is the BBC's regional news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire...
which serves the West TV region. The bridge is also used as a backdrop on
The West Country TonightThe West Country Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, also including local sports news and local features of interest, produced by ITV West & Westcountry at its studios in Bristol...
- a regional news programme broadcast by ITV West from their Bristol studios.
Construction of the bridge was featured in the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television series
The Worst Jobs in HistoryThe Worst Jobs in History is a television series hosted by Tony Robinson on Channel 4. The second series was shown in March 2006 on History Television in Canada, then in April 2006 on Channel 4 in the UK. The first season is also shown with some regularity on History International...
,
as part of an episode entitled
The Worst Industrial Jobs in History, first broadcast on 7 May 2006.
In 2011, the bridge featured in the BBC2 programme "Climbing Great Buildings" - when Dr
Jonathan FoyleJonathan Foyle is an architectural historian, broadcaster and advocate for heritage sites. He is also an accomplished artist.- Background :...
and
Lucy CreamerLucy Creamer is a British professional climber. Creamer was born in Taunton, Somerset, but now lives in Sheffield - a city known for its large climbing community....
climbed the bridge and went into the bridge supports.
External links