On the Shoulders of Giants

The 19th Century produced two of Britain's greatest civil engineers - Thomas Telford and unusually named Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Their work is so prolific in Britain that many assume that if a bridge is not Telford's, it must be Brunel's. Images of Brunel have him looking strangely like a grown-up Artful Dodger of Dickens fame, complete with muddy boots and swagger.

These famous bridge builders met when submissions were called for the construction of a bridge to span the Avon Gorge in Bristol. The committee could not decide on which entry to choose, and asked 72 year old Telford for advice. Unhappy with submissions, he rejected all entries and submitted his own design, which became publicly unpopular. A new committee was formed and selected Brunel's suspension design.

After the foundation stone was laid in 1831, the bridge was delayed by city riots, loss of financial backing and political difficulties, but was finally completed in 1864, while the US Civil War raged. Although narrow by today's standards, the Clifton Bridge is still functional and carries 4 million vehicles annually. Its load is carried to the towers using chains; a method replaced by cables first used on New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

Brunel went on to construct train stations such as London's Paddington and three ships: the Great Eastern, Great Western and the world's first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship, the Great Britain. Considered to be the world's first modern ship, it began its life as a luxury liner, then an emigrant passenger ship taking migrants to colonial Melbourne, and then as a coal carrier in the Falkland Islands. The Great Britain was scuttled in 1937, and lay in harbour until the 1970's when it was refloated and returned home to Bristol.


Brunel died, overworked, before the Clifton bridge was completed, and it was finished as a memorial to the legacy of this innovative and influential engineer. His Great Britain rests today in dry dock on the Bristol river front, protected from further corrosion that has attacked its iron hull. She is now a well-visited museum that relives the heyday of this fine ship.



The legacy of these men is felt in other bridges constructed since, such as that of the nearby Severn Bridge (built by Freeman Fox of West Gate bridge fame) to link England and Wales. In 2002, Brunel was listed second place (behind Winston Churchill) in the BBC top 100 Great Britons; a worthy achievement indeed. In recognition of great British engineering, the last flight of the Concorde flew across a crowded Clifton suspension bridge in 2003.