XD2/21195
LETTER: Hugh Manley, at the Woods Hotel, to Lord Newborough. He is concerned with forming a report (regarding the Britannia Bridge) for the Admiralty, but he complains that everyone is too taken up with railway matters to give much attention to anything else. He is gravely concerned that the founding of the railway will be disastrous for the Turnpike Trusts, which, he claims, had already been forced to borrow some £8 million during the year. He hopes that clauses will be introduced into railway bills to protect such Trusts. He gives detailed news of the former Mayor of Caernarfon as well. He informs his Lordship of a possible railway link by the Great Western from Bristol to Porthdinllaen. He writes of the proposed Britannia Rock Bridge, giving quotes from various nautical sources and diagrams of two proposed bridges, planned by Rendel and Stephenson. Precocious measurements are given and he makes it clear that a suspension bridge will be most practical.
Cyngor Gwynedd