Historical and Descriptive Account: Menai Suspension Bridge by W. A. Provis

Scope and Content

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT: Menai Suspension Bridge by W. A. Provis.

Illustrated.

Administrative / Biographical History

William Alexander Provis was born at Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire, on the 5th of May, 1792. His father Henry Provis was one of the resident Engineers to the Grand Junction Canal Company where William entered as a pupil at a young age and continued there until the year 1814, when he accepted an engagement as assistant to the late Mr. Telford. In 1817 he assisted in the examination and survey for the improvement of the road between London and Holyhead, and during the execution of the work acted as Resident Engineer on the most difficult part of the road, that between Shrewsbury and Holyhead. The improvements included the making of large sections of new road, the thorough reconstruction of the old line and the building of several important bridges. In 1820 he bcame a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. But the most formidable difficulty on this line of road was the necessity of bridging the Menai Strait and when it was decided to adopt the suspension principle for the bridge over the Menai Strait, Mr. Provis, as Resident Engineer, was confided the care of the work. In this capacity he laid "the first stone of this great work," on the 10th of August, 1819.

The bridge was opened in 1826; and in 1828 Mr. Provis published an elaborate account of the work, with numerous engravings. He died on the 29th of September, 1870, at The Grange, in his seventy-ninth year; and on the 5th of the following month he was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

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Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Cyflwr da /Good condition

Archivist's Note

Compiled by Hayden Burns for Archifau Ynys Môn / Anglesey Archives.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/William_Alexander_Provis

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