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marlow Bridge

BACK TO MARLOW

Marlow Suspension Bridge

Marlow Suspension Bridge from the air

There has been a bridge across the Thames at Marlow since before 1227. The  present bridge was built between 1829 and 1832 to replace the wooden bridge  sited further downstream, which had grown inadequate for the growing traffic on  the Reading and Hatfield Turnpike road. It eventually collapsed in 1828. William  Tierney Clark FRS MICE (1783-1852) was appointed to design a new bridge and  supervise its construction.

In the Marlow Bridge Act of 1829 the responsibility for the upkeep of the  bridge was transferred from the Office of Bridgewarden to the Counties of  Buckinghamshire and Berkshire in the ratio of 4:1. In the 1950s it was proposed  to replace the Suspension Bridge with a ferro-concrete span, and The Marlow  Bridge Preservation Committee (from which The Marlow Society arose) was formed  to oppose this plan. In 1965 the Suspension Bridge was faithfully reconstructed  by Buckinghamshire County Council. The main span is 235 feet long. In order to  preserve the bridge the weight restriction has been changed from five tonnes to  just 3 tonnes, which effectively bans lorries and vans from crossing the  bridge.

Suspension bridge

Tierney Clark was born in Bristol. He was apprenticed as a millwright and  later worked under two great civil engineers, Thomas Telford and John Rennie. He  became a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the Institution of Civil  Engineers.

Links With The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest

Tierney Clark designed four suspension bridges: at Hammersmith, Shoreham,  Marlow and, the largest, at Budapest. Only the Marlow and Budapest bridges  survive. The Budapest bridge is known as the Schenyi Chain Bridge and is named  after Count Istvn Szchenyi who, in 1839, invited Tierney Clark to design and  build a bridge across the Danube. It was the first permanent bridge across the  Danube below Vienna since Roman times. Destroyed in World War II, it has since  been faithfully reconstructed. The main span is 666 feet long; for a time the  longest in the world. A plaque (unveiled in May 1998) on the chenyi Chain  Bridge commemorates the link with Marlow Suspension Bridge.

New Commemorative Plaques on Marlow Bridge

Two identical new plaques, designed and carved in grey-green Lakeland slate  by Martin Cook of Loudwater, have been erected on the triumphal arches to  commemorate

  • the opening of the bridge in September 1832
  • William Tierney Clark who designed and supervised the construction of the  bridge
  • the unique link between Marlow Bridge and The SzĂ©chenyi Chain Bridge,  Budapest

Part of the English inscription is repeated in Hungarian. These plaques were  unveiled by the Hungarian Ambassador, Tade Alfoldy, at a special ceremony on 26  September 1996.

BACK TO MARLOW