The Chain Bridge is a footbridge over the River Dee at Berwyn, Llangollen,

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

north Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. Is owned by Llangollen Town Council and a pathway from

Berwyn railway station Berwyn railway station in Denbighshire, Wales, is a railway station on the former cross-country line between Ruabon and Barmouth. The station, which opened in May 1865, was a stop on the Great Western Railway (GWR) line between Llangollen and ...

, now part of the Llangollen Railway, leads under a subway and down to the bridge and to the Chain Bridge Hotel on the other side. The current bridge is the third such bridge, and was built by

Sir Henry Beyer Robertson Sir Henry Beyer Robertson (4 May 1862 – 2 June 1948) was a British industrialist. He was the son of Henry Robertson, of Palé Hall, Llandderfel. Born in Shrewsbury, he was the son of Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) and Elizabe ...

, following the destruction of the previous second chain bridge during severe flooding.

First bridge

The first chain bridge was built by Exuperius Pickering in order to transport coal, lime, stone, etc from the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

, ( Llangollen Canal) across the Dee to Telford's recently completed London to Holyhead road. The bridge allowed Pickering to bypass the Llangollen toll bridge further downstream, and transport coal from his mines near Acrefair up the canal and onwards to Corwen. Permission to build it was granted in 1814 and it was completed by 1818, making it one of the first chain bridges in the world.

Second bridge

The second bridge was built by railway engineer and industrialist

Henry Robertson Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) was a Scottish mining engineer and prolific railway builder, industrialist and Liberal Party politician. He was head of Brymbo Steelworks, Wrexham. He was co-founder of Beyer-Peacock, with Charl ...

in 1876 using the existing chains of the first bridge.

Third bridge

Henry Robertson's son, Sir Henry Beyer Robertson was the head of Brymbo steel works, near Wrexham, in 1929, and a director of the Great Western Railway. He owned the nearby

Llantysilio Hall Llantysilio Hall is a Grade II* listed country house in Llantysilio, near Llangollen in Denbighshire. It is on the bank of the River Dee and adjacent to the historic Horseshoe Falls, the source of the Llangollen Canal (the eleven miles of the ca ...

estate, which had been bequeathed to him by the German-born locomotive engineer, Charles Beyer (Beyer was his godfather and had no children of his own). His father Henry Robertson provided loan funding to help found locomotive builder

Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...

, at Gorton Foundry,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

(then-largest locomotive works in the country). The chain bridge was rebuilt as a suspension footbridge reusing some of the existing chains. In 2015 its complete restoration after years of neglect was completed and it is a major tourist attraction.

References

{{Reflist Pedestrian bridges in Wales Chain bridges Llangollen