Menai Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford in 1826. It was the first suspension bridge structure for heavy traffic in the UK and one of Wales' most recognisable structures. Once it was completed, 9 hours was cut off from the road journey between London and Holyhead - the main route to Ireland.

This image of Menai Bridge from below shows the scale of Telford's masterpiece. Other suspension structures had been built before, but none of this size - one thousand feet long and 579 feet between the piers. A clear height of 100 feet between high tide and the bridge soffit was necessary for ships to pass under. The powerful arches which support the towers make an elegant visual link between the bridge span and the banks of the Straits. There's something Egyptian about the style of the towers themselves which lends the Bridge its distinctive character.

Malcolm Parry speaks to the Mayor of Menai Bridge, Mary Lloyd Hughes, about the bridge past and present.