All language subtitles for puorGVM.CAA.462x.VTDH.p0801.egdirB.noisnepsuS.notfilC.ehT.6fo5.1.seireS.segdirB.tsetaerG.sniatirB

Britain's iconic bridges, spanning
our most dramatic landscapes,

have not only linked our island,
but, made it great.

These are the bridges that
are known around the world,

built by visionaries
like Stevenson and Brunel

who are famous even today.

Look at this!

From the banks of the Tyne
to the mighty Thames,

from the Firth of Forth
to the Menai Strait...

I'm on a journey to discover
how those great bridges were built...

Here we go.

And the sweat and sacrifice
that went into their constructions.

Stopping traffic.

I'll uncover the huge egos,
flawed geniuses and jealous rivalries

behind their creation.

It's as if he'd been airbrushed
from the whole story.

These are Britain's greatest bridges.

1,500 tons of wrought iron,
75 metres high,

stretching gracefully
for over 200 metres

across the dramatic Avon Gorge
in Somerset,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge

is nothing short
of an engineering masterpiece.

Ask anyone in England
to name a famous engineer

and they'll probably say
Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

ask them what he built
and they'll probably say this.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge
was Brunel's lifelong passion,

a work of art, that would make him

one of the most famous engineers
in history.

Brunel called it his "darling",
his first child.

And you can see why
he loved it so much.

It seems to hang in the sky.

But back in 1830,

the challenge of designing a bridge
to span this vast chasm

was a monumental task...

one that would result
in great rivalries

and push engineering to new heights.

For over 150 years,

this great bridge
has stood as a testament

to Brunel's engineering brilliance.

But this bridge
was almost never completed.

And questions still remain

as to whether Brunel
was the true designer at all.

The breathtaking Avon Gorge,

which marks the boundary
between north Somerset and Bristol

dates to the last ice age.

It was formed when the original
River Avon became blocked by ice

and was diverted, cutting its way
through the soft limestone.

Looking at it now,
it's hard to believe

but this narrow stretch
of the River Avon,

was once one of the most important
waterways in the whole of Britain.

It linked the bustling city
of Bristol,

the second-largest port in England,

with the Bristol Channel,
that's six miles in that direction.

But back in the 18th century, one of
the port's most profitable activities

was the trading of slaves...

its ships sailing to Africa to take
on a human cargo bound for America,

and returning
with their holds full of sugar.

It was an inhumane trade

but nevertheless made Bristol one
of the richest cities in the land.

Navigating this stretch
of the river wasn't easy.

The tides
at the mouth of the river Avon

can vary the water levels
by up to 12 metres,

that's the second-largest tidal range
of anywhere in the world.

The rising river could help
the ships in towards Bristol

and these tides
even made it as far as Bath.

But at low tide, ships could find
themselves grounded on the riverbed,

and in the worst cases,
that could cause them to break apart.

The passage through the Avon Gorge
was undoubtedly hazardous,

but the profits made the journey
a risk worth taking.

As a result the city grew
in both wealth and size.

But, there was only one bridge
across the river Avon in Bristol

and by 1750
it had become massively congested.

The first stone bridge
which stood for over 500 years

was covered in houses and even shops
until it was replaced in 1768.

The new bridge was supposed
to ease congestion, but it didn't.

And worse still
for the people of Bristol,

there was now a toll to use it.

For years, the locals campaigned
to have the hefty charges scrapped.

For a while it looked
like the protesters would win

but the tolls
were just too lucrative.

And in 1793, the city decided
to extend them instead.

This resulted in a massive riot.

At least 11 people were killed,
and another 45 were injured.

There was no doubt
the city needed another bridge

but where was the money
going to come from?

The answer can be found here

at Merchant Hall in Clifton Down
just metres from the bridge.

This copy of a will dated 1754,

is that of one William Vick,
a major wine merchant in Bristol.

According to its terms,
he left a sum of £1,000

for a bridge over the River Avon

from Clifton Town
to the opposite side on Leigh Town

which he hoped
would be of great public utility.

Vick requested that when that money
had matured to £10,000

a bridge was to be built at Clifton

where high-masted ships
could easily sail below.

So, there was money on the table
but there was a problem.

The gorge at its narrowest
was over 200 metres wide

and nearly 100 metres high.

No-one had built a bridge that long
or that high before,

but it didn't stop people
from trying.

In 1793, over 40 years after
Vick's death

the appropriately named William
Bridges, a local Bristol engineer,

submitted this extraordinary design.

Bridges' vision
was for a five-storey arch

that would have dominated the gorge,

incorporating factories, a chapel,
granaries,

two built-in windmills
and even a naval school.

But his stone design was dated

and the cost of building it
would have been well over £10,000,

a figure William Vick's
initial investment

was still a long way from reaching.

Sadly, nothing ever came
of William Bridges' design

and it would be another four decades

before plans for a new bridge
were seriously considered.

But even when a design was chosen,

building the bridge across the gorge
would take more than three decades

and prove to be
THE greatest challenge

for the most famous British engineer
of all time.

For many people,
the Clifton Suspension Bridge

spanning the vertigo-inducing
Avon Gorge in Somerset

is THE most beautiful bridge
in the world...

a 214 metre-long engineering marvel

that has dominated
this incredible landscape

for over a century and a half.

Today, it is widely regarded

as the crowning glory
of Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

one of the greatest engineers
of the 19th century.

Walking up here alongside the bridge,
stood 250 feet above the river below,

you can't help but feel a bit small,

a bit insignificant maybe.

And not just because of the enormity
of the bridge itself,

but because of the enormity
of the man behind it.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's
Clifton Suspension Bridge

might never have happened, though...

were it not for an event
that occurred here,

in a hole in the ground,

over 100 miles from Bristol
in south-east London.

It was a disaster
that killed six men,

but that led directly
to Brunel's involvement at Clifton.

At this very spot, in February, 1825,

50 metres from the banks
of the River Thames

an engineer by the name
of Mark Brunel, Isambard's father,

began a monumental endeavour.

His challenge was to link the north
and south banks of the River Thames

without disrupting the flow
of the 3,000 tall-masted ships

which sailed up the Thames every day
laden with trade,

pivotal to the city's economy.

Brunel's solution was not a bridge
but the Thames Tunnel,

the so-called
eighth wonder of the world.

This was Brunel's
grand entrance hall

which led down to the first-ever
tunnel beneath the Thames.

In fact it was the first tunnel

beneath any river
anywhere in the world.

It connected Rotherhithe
here on the south side of the river

across to Wapping on the north bank

without blocking any shipping
in and out of London.

At almost 400 metres in length,

20 metres
below the surface of the river,

the construction of the Thames
Tunnel was a mammoth undertaking.

At the time, it was THE most
ambitious engineering project

anywhere in the world.

Perhaps even more amazing

was that Mark Brunel
entrusted most of the day-to-day work

to his deputy engineer,
his son Isambard,

who was aged just 20
when he was appointed the role.

The grand entrance,
or sinking shaft as it became known,

was the elaborate way
into the subterranean tunnel.

The tunnel itself
runs right beneath my feet,

and you can see
up on the walls here

where the old stairways
would run all the way down.

When the tunnel was opened
to the public in 1843,

on the first day alone, 50,000 people
passed through these walls.

After three months,
one million people had visited

all desperate to experience
the world's first river tunnel.

These days,
the tunnel is used by trains

on the London Overground network

carrying thousands of commuters
beneath the Thames every day.

But while 21st century commuters

might well take the tunnel
for granted,

back in the 1820s, the construction
process was a Herculean challenge

that was fraught with danger.

On the 12th of January, 1828,

the roof gave way
and the freezing water burst through.

Six workers were killed,

and Isambard himself was carried out
unconscious but alive.

Britain had almost lost one
of its greatest-ever engineers

before he'd finished
his first project.

Needing to convalesce,
Brunel was sent to Bristol

and it was this
that led to his involvement

in the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

By now,
William Vick's initial investments

for a new bridge across the gorge

had risen from £1,000 to £8,000.

And the city was keen to spend it.

Additional funding was still needed

but Bristol
just couldn't wait any longer

so the city announced a competition
to find an engineer

to design and build the long-awaited
bridge across the gorge.

Never one to doubt his own abilities,

the 23-year-old Brunel
leapt at the chance.

In seven weeks, he produced

not one but four separate designs
for the bridge.

These weren't just plans
for any old bridge,

they were plans for
THE highest and THE longest bridge

that had ever been built.

Now, plans are one thing,
but if he won,

Brunel would also have the mammoth
task of actually building it.

Brunel, though, was not fazed
and submitted his drawings.

The city of Bristol
would now have to decide

which of a total of 22 designs

received from well-established
and budding engineers

would be the winner.

And it was clear that one type
of structure was considered the key

to spanning the 200 metre-wide gorge,

the suspension bridge, which by 1828,

had successfully been used
to span rivers up to 175 metres wide.

For thousands of years,

primitive suspension bridges
have been used to cross rivers.

The genius of their design
lies in their simplicity -

a single span supported entirely
from anchors at each end.

The result
is a strong yet flexible structure

that requires no central supports

built into
the often-treacherous rivers below.

Alright.

Now, this is a great place to see how
a suspension bridge really works.

The entire weight of the bridge,
all 1,500 tons of it,

is supported
by these huge, big chains

that run the whole length
from one side to the other.

Now, you might think
that when those chains reach here,

that weight they're holding is
transferred down through the towers

and into the cliffs below.

Well, some of it is.

But a lot of the weight is actually
taken by the anchor points

at the very ends of the chains,
buried deep down into the cliffside.

And one of the key decisions

anyone designing a suspension bridge
has to make

is how long these chains should be,

ie, how much of a dip
you get between the two towers.

In every suspension bridge
ever built,

the engineers
have had to find a compromise

between the tightness of the cables,

and the stiffness of the bridge.

So, here is my model

of a suspension bridge.

I've got the towers here

on either end,

the string represents the chain,

the weight hanging off of the string

is the weight of the bridge decks

that the chain supports.

And on either end I've got my anchor
points holding the chain in place.

And finally, here,

built into my piece of string

I've got a little device

which tells me how tight
the chain is being pulled.

It's kind of like the device you use

when you weigh your luggage

when you go on holiday.

The pull on the cables is currently
only about half a kilogram.

Now, if I shorten the chain,

immediately you see the dip
in the middle is much smaller,

and my device here is giving me
a reading of 1.5 kilograms.

So this is now quite tight.

You can see
that's not giving very much at all.

Have it too tight

and you risk that the anchors
get pulled clean out of the ground,

and the whole bridge
just comes crashing down.

You might think that a loose chain
is the way to go -

less risk of the chains pulling
themselves out from the ground.

But you'd be wrong.

Have it too loose,

and the bridge can easily
sway back and forth.

And that's not what you want
when you're 75 metres up in the air.

The fact that Brunel's, and so many
of the other 22 designs submitted

were for suspension bridges,

had a lot to do with this,

the Menai Bridge
across the Menai Strait

from the Welsh mainland to Anglesey.

This revolutionary bridge,

with a record-breaking single span
of 177 metres,

proved for the first time

that it was possible
for the heavy-duty suspension bridge

to cover vast distances.

And, importantly,

given the limited budget available
to span the Avon Gorge,

the suspension bridge used far less
materials than other bridge designs,

so they were cheaper to build.

The Menai Suspension Bridge,
completed in 1826,

was built by Thomas Telford,

one of the greatest engineers
in the country.

And the man the city of Bristol
turned to to judge their competition.

Unfortunately, Telford rejected
all the designs,

saying of Brunel's bridges

that they would certainly tumble down
in a strong wind.

His key point
was that it was impossible

for anyone to build a suspension
bridge longer than 183 metres,

roughly the length of his own bridge
across the Menai Strait.

But, Telford kindly offered
to save the day.

In what some felt
was a cunning move,

Telford submitted his own design,

a three-span suspension bridge
supported by two huge gothic towers.

These helped reduce the central span
to just 110 metres,

almost a third of the length
of Brunel's first design.

To the bemusement of many,
Telford was awarded the contract.

After losing, it's said Brunel
lit up one of his famous cigars,

and smoked away his anger.

But Brunel's disappointment
was short lived.

Telford's bridge would cost
£52,000 to build,

over six times the budget,

and many thought
the monstrous pillars

would ruin
the natural beauty of the gorge.

Eventually, the committee decided
a second competition was needed,

with both Telford
and Brunel entering.

Brunel sketched out
four new designs,

this time, for a bridge
with a span of 194 metres.

Better still, he added a price tag
of just £42,000,

10,000 less than Telford's,

and yet neither of them won.

The new judge brought in to replace
Telford was Davies Gilbert,

a mathematician and theorist

who'd helped mastermind
the record-breaking Menai Bridge.

After scrutinising designs

by entrants
including Brunel and Telford,

along with engineers Samuel Brown,
and William Hawkes

from the Eagle Foundry in Birmingham,

Gilbert recorded his conclusions.

"I would place them
in the following order,"

"first, Mr Hawkes, second, Mr Brunel."

"Third, Mr Brown."

Unfortunately, Telford's design
was placed to one side

on the grounds
of being too expensive.

So, it was Mr Hawkes' design
that was considered first class.

But despite the judge's
recommendations,

he wasn't given the job,
and so, returned to Birmingham

where he went on to enjoy a career
designing postboxes.

So, what led
to the committee's change of heart?

Well, in what was nothing short
of an audacious move

by the young engineer,

Brunel confronted Gilbert,
the competition judge,

discrediting the winning entry

by revealing what he considered
to be serious design flaws

and insisting that his
was the only workable design.

Convinced, Gilbert conceded,

and after agreeing
to make a series of adjustments,

Brunel was declared the winner.

The young engineer
had never built a bridge before,

and perhaps it was Brunel's
sheer confidence in his design

that led to him winning the contract.

So, was the cocky engineer right

to have so much faith
in his own design?

Experts today, believe

he got the all-important
length of the chains spot on.

But, little did Brunel know
that completing the bridge,

would be his greatest-ever challenge.

And prove to be more
than a lifetime's work.

In June, 1831,
groundwork began at the Avon Gorge

in preparation to build
Brunel's masterpiece.

For the 24-year-old engineer,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge

would be his first major project
in charge...

and ultimately the most challenging
of his entire career.

Of all the projects Isambard Kingdom
Brunel was involved with,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge
is probably the most well recognised.

But the bridge
that stands here today,

is very different to the one
Brunel originally wanted to build.

This early drawing
clearly illustrates

how Brunel
intended the bridge to look

when he first sketched out a design.

The roadway suspended by chains
attached to the top of the cliff,

and accessed by tunnels
carved out of the solid rock.

But the 299-metre span
exceeded the length

deemed safe by suspension bridge
expert Thomas Telford.

Brunel's solution was to build
two platforms called abutments

out of the jagged cliff.

These would form the foundations
for two large towers,

from which the chains
would be draped,

reducing the free suspended span
of the bridge to 194 metres,

much more in line with
Telford's recommendations.

Until recently, it was assumed

the abutments at either end
of the bridge, were solid.

But, in 2002,

the maintenance team discovered
a hidden shaft,

leading to a series
of underground tunnels and vaults.

I've been given special permission

to explore the bridge's
best kept secret,

a secret which is key
to the entire structure's success.

Isambard, hi. Hi.
How are you doing?

And joining me is a man
called Isambard Thomas,

Brunel's great-great-great grandson.

How was the journey? Easy.

So, we're going down in the vaults

up here
in the suspension bridge today.

Have you been down there before?
I've never been down.

I've been on the bridge many times,
but, never inside the vaults.

It's a fantastic view.

Today, we're heading deep
into the very foundations

of this incredible structure.

Our guide is Bridge Master
David Anderson.

This little wall here, was that part
of the transportation system

during the construction?

That's right. Yeah.

That was the abutment for the iron
bar that Brunel put across the gorge,

for the transporting men
and materials across the gorge

when the two towers
and abutments were being built.

Fantastic.
It was a long way round, otherwise.

Exactly.

This steel door now covers
the entrance to the vaults

which were sealed off and forgotten
about for more than 150 years.

Wow.. Look at this.

What do you think of that, Isambard?
It's quite stunning.

It's quite a surprise.

It's sort of really not
what I was expecting at all.

It's actually quite like a bridge
arch, isn't it? Indeed.

It's just like a... In fact it is a
bridge with water on the side of it.

It's absolutely beautiful.

This arched chamber, built
out of the steep limestone cliff,

is one of a network
of 12 interconnecting vaults

that form the two-storey abutment.

It was Brunel's ingenious way

of distributing the weight
of the bridge effectively,

keeping it strong and stable,

but at the same time,
using less material,

which crucially kept costs down.

This is vault number four out of 12.
David, this is incredible.

This is one of the better vaults
we've got.

It's about 11 metres high, it's got
a span of six metres across,

and the length of this one
is nearly 20 metres.

So quite impressive.

And of course what you are looking
at here is the natural rock

going back up the slope
of the gorge.

As you can see,
they just built around it.

Over the decades, water has leaked
through the limestone ceiling,

forming these beautiful stalactites,

some of which
are up to four metres long.

These stalactites give it quite an
awesome effect in here, don't they?

Yeah. Water percolates through.

It was built without any
water proofing over the top

so rainwater does percolate through.

And it's very damp and humid
in here.

And over 180 years,

the water trickling through has
allowed those stalactites to form.

It's basically lime being washed
out of the lime mortar.

Amazing.
Beautiful effect isn't it?

Yeah. I mean it's like...
It really is.

It's very cathedral-like in here, isn't it?
Yeah. That's right.

And of course the water drips off
the ends of the stalactites

lands on the ground,
and forms a stalagmite.

Yeah... yeah. Amazing.

So, there are more chambers like this
down here? There's 12 chambers altogether.

And they are all linked

with various little passageways
and tunnels and shafts.

You'd have absolutely no idea
walking across the bridge

that this was all down here.

That's correct.

Come through and have a look through here.
The maze continues, David.

Here you go. So, this
is vault number five of 12.

This is actually the largest
vault of the lot. Amazing.

And we're right under the tower now.

So, the Leigh Wood's tower,
basically straddles across the road.

The roadway runs along
the top of the... of this chamber.

And the two legs of the tower
sit on top of these walls.

These take the weight of the tower
right down to the rock below us.

It's extraordinary, isn't it?

Right here, we are
surrounded by the bridge.

We are in a vault,
vault there, vault there,

vault there, vault there
and a tower right above us.

In the heart of the abutment here.
Yeah.

This is the central vault.

And four more at this level
and another five down below.

And the bricks are very...
They're pretty rough, aren't they?

Well, Brunel didn't expect anybody
to come in here

and admire the handicraft
so... it's...

I wonder, are you sure about that?
It's just left very rough ..

Look at the stonework around this little
tunnel here. It's beautifully done..

It's built to last
but it's not built for appearance.

You know, that little tunnel
needed to last forever.

The more you learn about this bridge
the more impressed you are, I think.

Does this change your kind of
feelings about the bridge at all?

Or enhanced them in any way?

Well, both of those things, yeah.

The skill with which
they built it...

it's beautiful.

The intricate abutments

are a testament
to Brunel's incredible design.

But, just four months after
work began on the bridge,

the entire project
was brought to a dramatic halt

by a decision made
over 100 miles away in London.

In October, 1831,

a government U-turn on plans
to give more people a right to vote,

led to anger on the streets.

Bristol was once again
a city in crisis.

Building didn't start for five years
due to yet more rioting in Bristol

as political unrest
swept across the country.

Brunel himself was enlisted
as a Special Constable.

While calm was eventually restored,

investor confidence
had been shaken to the core.

When work on the bridge
finally resumed in December, 1835,

a grand ceremony was held to mark
the laying of the foundation stone,

and reignite faded interest.

But it wasn't long before the
enormity of the project was realised.

The huge abutments
and two 26 metre-tall towers

took six years to build, almost
three years longer than planned,

crippling the already-overstretched
budget.

A rethink to Brunel's flamboyant
design was urgently needed.

The stonework on the towers here

was supposed to be covered
with stylised iron panels,

illustrating the story
of the construction of the bridge.

The plans even showed two sphinxes
one atop each of the towers.

Sadly, all of this was considered
too expensive.

As various cost-cutting solutions
were offered, and rejected,

doubts were raised as to whether
the bridge would ever be finished,

one local predicting
a completion date of 1987.

As progress on the bridge
slowed to a crawl,

Brunel turned his attention
to other projects.

By now, Brunel was not only in charge
of the Clifton Suspension Bridge,

he was also Chief Engineer
on another massively ambitious build,

The Great Western Railway.

This 116-mile track
would provide a high-speed link

between London and Bristol,

cutting the journey time by 13 hours
to just four.

Brunel would design every aspect
of the railway,

including three viaducts, seven
tunnels and four major bridges.

If this wasn't enough
of a distraction

from his barely-started bridge
at Clifton,

Brunel had also developed
an interest in ship building.

This is the SS Great Britain,

the second of Brunel's
massive liners,

and the first iron ship ever
to cross the Atlantic.

She was built right here,
in Bristol in the 1840s.

And on her maiden voyage

she sailed right past
the unfinished towers at Clifton.

By 1843,
the towers were finally finished

and most of the iron work
for the crossing had been delivered.

But, money for the bridge
had now completely dried up

and construction work came to a halt.

In a letter to the local paper

one man referred to them
as "unsightly piers"

and suggested
they be left uncompleted

"as monuments to our folly".

The future of the Clifton Suspension
Bridge lay in tatters,

but Brunel's numerous
other projects remained on track.

In 1858, Brunel was photographed

at the launch
of the largest of his steamers,

the SS Great Eastern.

He looks every inch
the powerful Victorian engineer.

But the incredible workload
of numerous projects

was about to take its toll.

This photo,
taken less than two years later,

shows a very different man -

broken and frail.

And just minutes after this
was taken, Brunel suffered a stroke.

He died 10 days later

at the age of just 53.

Despite years of trying, Brunel
never saw his bridge completed.

At the time of his death, most
of the bridge was still unfinished,

the decks were missing,

the chains and numerous other parts
had been sold off.

So, the question is who on earth
would want to take up the challenge

of completing Brunel's
most iconic design?

For over a century and a half,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge
has dominated the Avon Gorge.

Brunel's mesmerising design

has become
the symbol of the city of Bristol

and there is no better place
to appreciate it than from up here.

What an amazing view.

For many, this bridge,
the Clifton Suspension Bridge,

is the crowning glory
of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's career.

For 30 years, Brunel tried
to get the bridge finished

but the project was crippled
by bad luck and lack of money.

When he died, in 1859...

the only part of the bridge
that had been built

were the so-called
"monuments of failure", the towers.

The road deck was nonexistent

and the suspension chains
had been sold off.

But just when many thought that
the bridge would never be finished...

another suspension bridge
came to its rescue...

this one, the Hungerford Bridge
across the River Thames

where the Charing Cross Bridge
now stands.

If you look closely behind me,

you'll see there are actually
a number of bridges here.

In the middle, the Charing Cross
Bridge, the railway bridge,

and on either side of that,
a pair of pedestrian bridges,

the Golden Jubilee Bridges.

But there are actually remnants
of a fourth bridge here too.

The brick buttresses
of what's now the railway bridge

are actually the original foundations
of another Brunel bridge,

the original Hungerford Bridge,

which stood here until 1862,
when work began to knock it down.

Brunel's footbridge
only lasted 14 years

and featured a pier
for steamers to dock.

It was the only suspension bridge
that Brunel completed in his lifetime.

It was demolished to make way
for a new railway bridge

into Charing Cross Station.

The engineer in charge
of building the new Thames Bridge

was John Hawkshaw,
an admirer of Brunel's,

and together with his colleague,
William Barlow,

the pair came up with a radical idea.

Why not use the chains and saddles
from the old Hungerford Bridge,

to finish off the Clifton Bridge
as a fitting memorial to Brunel?

The idea took off,
and three years after Brunel's death,

Hawkshaw and Barlow
were put in charge

of completing a new
Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Work on Brunel's "darling"
began once more.

Hawkshaw and Barlow
may not be the names

that most people associate
with the Clifton Suspension Bridge,

but they were absolutely key

in masterminding the structure
we see today.

They acquired Brunel's
initial plans, but times had changed

in the 30 years since work
had first started on the bridge.

Engineers had learnt a great deal
about bridge building

and how dangerous strong winds can be
to a suspension bridge like this one.

These new discoveries

led to Hawkshaw and Barlow
redesigning some parts of the bridge.

Brunel had originally intended

that the bridge be held up
by two chains on each side,

one on top of the other,

but Hawkshaw and Barlow increased
that to three on each side,

making the bridge stronger.

Brunel had also intended
to use wooden struts

to support the road deck,

but again,
these were deemed to be too weak.

So Hawkshaw and Barlow
changed the design,

swapping wood for the wrought iron
lattice work structure we see today.

Now, some engineers say these
design changes have been crucial

in keeping the bridge safe and stable
over the last 150 years.

And had it been built
to Brunel's original design,

it may have come crashing down
into the gorge below long, long ago.

On the 8th of December, 1864,

Hawkshaw and Barlow's reworking of
Brunel's original design, was complete.

Almost 30 years
after construction began,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge
was finally declared open.

Tellingly, none of Brunel's family
attended the ceremony.

But after years of waiting, Bristol
had its bridge across the gorge,

offering road access
between Clifton Down and Leigh Woods

for the first time.

The bridge is Grade I listed

and still has 99%
of its original parts.

They do take some looking after,
though.

You can see
the tower at the far side,

is currently undergoing
a vital maintenance program.

Since the day it opened,

the bridge has relied upon
the support of the people who use it

to fund its upkeep.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust
now oversees its day-to-day running,

and the works program
that ensures that the bridge remains

in the condition
that Brunel intended.

For over 150 years,
the Clifton Suspension bridge

has swayed majestically
high above the Avon Gorge.

Yet, despite the passage of time,

few other bridges on the planet
have come close to rivalling it

in terms of ambition
and sheer engineering brilliance.

So, is this really
Hawkshaw and Barlow's bridge,

just a monument to Brunel?

Some people think so, they point out

it's just the towers and some
of the chains that were Brunel's.

The rest of the structure,

and the fact that it still stands
today, are down to others.

But had it not been for the genius,

the vision and the dogged
determination of one man,

it simply wouldn't have been here
at all.

For me, Brunel deserves his credit,

as the father
of Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Captions by Red Bee Media
SBS Australia 2019