1-624-134 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Clifton suspension bridge across the River Avon, 1864. Spanning the River Avon 245 feet above the water, the Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1829-1831. Construction began in 1836, but funds ran out and work halted in 1853. Brunel moved onto other projects including the Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar at Saltash, Cornwall, for which some of the material intended for the Clifton Bridge was used. Brunel died with his cherished Clifton Suspension Bridge unfinished, but his death prompted the Institution of Civil Engineers to push for the completion of the project as a memorial to him. Funding was raised, an Act of Parliament was passed confirming the bridge would be finished, and it finally opened on 8 December 1864. An engraving from the Illustrated Times, (London, 1864).