The painstaking task of repainting the wrought-iron chains of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge – a job required every 25 years – is well under way, with the project due to finish by spring 2025. The bridge, which opened in 1864, still retains 99% of its original ironwork, although the chains themselves are even older, having been recycled from Brunel’s Hungerford footbridge in London.
Trish Johnson, the bridgemaster, described the project as akin to “painting behind a radiator” but on a vast scale while perched high above the Avon Gorge. The scaffolding is light and flexible, moving with the bridge’s structure in the wind. The work involves applying three coats of flake-grey paint by hand, using specially made brushes, to ensure even coverage and avoid drips that could harm the gorge’s Site of Special Scientific Interest.
About 8,000 litres of paint will be used over 100,000 person-hours. The £8m cost is funded by tolls collected by the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust, a charity that maintains the grade I listed structure. The engineering contractor Taziker, which has previously worked on the Iron Bridge and Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge, is carrying out the refurbishment.
Natalie Craig, the bridge’s learning officer, noted that Victorian workers would have been amazed at modern health and safety measures. “Way back then, they would balance on the chains to go up,” she said. “They wouldn’t be able to comprehend all the measures we have today but they’d be proud of how it is being looked after. Everyone loves the bridge.”
