apparently the 3 kilometres of suspension chain on the Clifton suspension bridge came from the Hungerford footbridge which was demolished in London in 1859,not of much interest to people in general but I had a little laugh when I thought of the logistics in getting it to Bristol in 1859,YEAH NOT A PROBLEM SIR,WE CAN DELIVER IT BY EXPRESS DELIVERY,TAKE A COUPLE OF MONTHS via horse and cart,mind you it would have to be a lot of horse and carts,
It might have travelled by Brunel’s GWR (fast-ish) or possibly down the River Thames and hang a left at Reading onto the River Kennet and then via the Kennet and Avon Canal before entering the River Avon and then hauled up the cliffside which would also be long winded but I guess there were no penalty clauses back then? The saying ‘if you have it then a truck brought it’ wasn’t thought of then either but at some part of the journey it would possibly have been by road! 
Pete.
lot of chain though,wonder what the tonnage would have been
yup the hungerford bridge did supply 600 tons of chain link for clifton suspension bridge .
this is not the link span you see today , rather it was buried into tunnels on either side of the towers as ballast .
the original linkspan chains were sold off to Brunels Saltash railway bridge after Clifton first went bust . there is an obvious similarity between the 2 bridges , except Saltash is a self supporting suspension bridge with rods between the 2 towers to stop it collapsing in on itself ; and Clifton is tied into the surrounding hills .
the bridge took 111 years from conception to completion . it was delayed many times due to bankruptcy , riots , competitions , acts of parliaments , admiralty rules , fuzzy engineering , skulduggery and of course Brunels death . also it was constructed from Somerset to Gloucester which did not help , in the same way as Avonmouth and Portbury docks were built in competition to each other
there are some great books in Bristol central library detailing all the events and are a great read .
originally Thomas Telford won the competition with an idiot design with factories in the tower supports to raise rent to pay back the construction costs . victorian finance was a brutal affair with the issue of bonds to private money , and absolutely had to be paid back on time ; and Brunel used bits of skuldugerry to rubbish Telfords engineering and costings and force a new competition which he won . this was assisted by the people of Bristol having no love of miserable looking scottish gits , and having a close affinity to Brunel .
of course after Brunels death the bridge was totally redesigned by structural engineers and now looks rather different to how he envisaged . the link span chains you see today ( rather like massive bicycle chains ) were designed and built by these engineers not Brunel
boredwivdrivin:
yup the hungerford bridge did supply 600 tons of chain link for clifton suspension bridge .this is not the link span you see today , rather it was buried into tunnels on either side of the towers as ballast .
the original linkspan chains were sold off to Brunels Saltash railway bridge after Clifton first went bust . there is an obvious similarity between the 2 bridges , except Saltash is a self supporting suspension bridge with rods between the 2 towers to stop it collapsing in on itself ; and Clifton is tied into the surrounding hills .
the bridge took 111 years from conception to completion . it was delayed many times due to bankruptcy , riots , competitions , acts of parliaments , admiralty rules , fuzzy engineering , skulduggery and of course Brunels death . also it was constructed from Somerset to Gloucester which did not help , in the same way as Avonmouth and Portbury docks were built in competition to each other
there are some great books in Bristol central library detailing all the events and are a great read .
originally Thomas Telford won the competition with an idiot design with factories in the tower supports to raise rent to pay back the construction costs . victorian finance was a brutal affair with the issue of bonds to private money , and absolutely had to be paid back on time ; and Brunel used bits of skuldugerry to rubbish Telfords engineering and costings and force a new competition which he won . this was assisted by the people of Bristol having no love of miserable looking scottish gits , and having a close affinity to Brunel .
of course after Brunels death the bridge was totally redesigned by structural engineers and now looks rather different to how he envisaged . the link span chains you see today ( rather like massive bicycle chains ) were designed and built by these engineers not Brunel
600 tonne,lot of chain,delivering it must have been a nightmare in those days
GWR was complete in 1841 , so presumably they chucked it on a freight train .
They could have used a barge as well , out the thames , along the coast and up the avon .
Or as gentleman above suggested perhaps the canal network
I doubt they would have spent more than a short moment deciding how to move it
Pretty sure they didnt decide to go by roàd tho .
I should point out the above facts were written from my vast expert west country memory .
Perhaps someone could go to the library and check my 600 ton figure .
boredwivdrivin:
I should point out the above facts were written from my vast expert west country memory .
Perhaps someone could go to the library and check my 600 ton figure .
It’s probably safer, easier and more accurate to go with the assumption you’re full of crap!
After all, why should it be any different this time? 
Hello darling .
Please feel free to point out any errors . I shall be pleased to accept corrections as part of the learning process . Brunels documents at Bristol university archive stand many feet high , and even a person with my many great gifts struggle to remember it all .
Of course , if you cannot find any errors …
Then you are exposing yourself as the most hapless of gormless idiot trolls , consumed by impotence and jealousy and ignorance .
But of course , we all assumed this much already .
boredwivdrivin:
Hello to the only person who pays me any attention…Please feel free to point out any errors . I shall be pleased to accept corrections (although I may stamp my feet and spit out my dummy) as part of the learning process . Wikipedia on the internet has many many pages , and even a person with my few great gifts struggle to remember it all .
Of course , if you cannot find any errors …but this is unlikely as Wikipedia can be edited by anyone and is often done so as a prank or by those who think they know!
Now you are arguing with the most hapless of gormless idiot trolls , who’s consumed by impotence and jealousy and ignorance .
But of course , we all knew this much already .
FTFY
Before we were rudely interrupted! 
I can’t find anything about the actual weight of the chains, though they were sold for £5000 which was a fair wedge back then! In the Clifton Bridge info it mentions 600 tons of iron for chains ordered from Dowlais Ironworks though for forging into chains. It also states that a 1000 ft (!!) iron bar was pulled across the gorge, presumably that was forged on site? Amazing really what feats of engineering the Victorians accomplished with the tackle they had, though of course manpower was plentifull and usually cheap.
Pete.
I remember reading about the anchoring of towers into hillside .
They dug tunnels/shafts down about 80ft , laid the hungerford bridge chains in them and packed full with crushed rock .
Its from here i remembered 600 tonnes . it seems reasonable that when rock was added there would be sufficient counterweight for a bridge designed for horse and cart .
The OP says 3 km and this just seems odd being in km ■■?
I think the chains that windrush mentions from Dowlais are the ones sold to Saltash Bridge .
windrush:
Before we were rudely interrupted!Pete.
Indeed so, they did not ■■■■ about in those days like they do now.
In fact, I recently read that Brunels broad gauge (7’ 0 1/4") line from Exeter to Truro plus all the associated branch lines and sidings were changed to
standard gauge (4’ 8 1/2") over the course of a single weekend.
windrush:
Before we were rudely interrupted!Pete.
Back then it was a case of “could we build it”, rather than “should we build it”.
boredwivdrivin:
I remember reading about the anchoring of towers into hillside .
They dug tunnels/shafts down about 80ft , laid the hungerford bridge chains in them and packed full with crushed rock .
Its from here i remembered 600 tonnes . it seems reasonable that when rock was added there would be sufficient counterweight for a bridge designed for horse and cart .
The OP says 3 km and this just seems odd being in km ■■?I think the chains that windrush mentions from Dowlais are the ones sold to Saltash Bridge .
Yes I think that you are correct, they were made for Clifton but later sold on. All mentioned in the ‘reliable’ wikipedia!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Suspension_Bridge
I was brought up close to the GWR main London - West Country rail line so have allways had an interest in Brunel’s many projects, some were failures like the Totnes Atmospheric railway and others like the flat arch rail bridge across the thames at Maidenhead (which experts at the time were certain would collapse) have lasted for 150 years!
Pete.