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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Menai Suspension Bridge

Historic bridge between Anglesey and mainland Wales

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 10, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was one of the world's first major suspension bridges, and second such bridge designed to carry vehicular traffic, after the Union Chain Bridge (1820) across the River Tweed. The bridge still carries road traffic and is a Grade I listed structure.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Menai Suspension Bridge” is historic bridge between Anglesey and mainland Wales. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Menai, Suspension and Bridge, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1826, 1820—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Menai, Suspension and Bridge is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “historic bridge between Anglesey and mainland Wales” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1826 and 1820.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Menai Suspension Bridge”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Menai Suspension Bridge primary sources, Menai Suspension Bridge archive and Menai research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Menai Suspension Bridge”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Menai Suspension Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.