2-888-757 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Landore Viaduct, near Swansea, [Wales], 1850. This '...magnificent wood structure - perhaps the most striking object on the line...conducts the Railway over the river Tawe and the large section of flat or marsh lands which are adjacent to its banks. Commencing on the eastern side of the valley, at Llysnewydd, in the parish of Llansamlet, it terminates on the west at Landore, from which it takes its name. The contract for this structure was undertaken by Mr. Hennet, of Bristol...The total height, from the bed of the river to the top, is 100 ft. 9 in. In the construction of the viaduct, 2600 loads of wood, or 130,000 cubic feet, have been employed, 350 tons of cast and wrought iron, and 3000 cubic yards of stone-work...the whole of this vast undertaking, in which hundreds of men have been engaged, has been completed with only three fatal accidents'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.