Water Under the Bridge Trivia Quiz

Answer: River Thames

With its bascules, which open to allow larger boats to pass up and down the river, Tower Bridge is one of the iconic sights of London. It provides a route for both pedestrians and road traffic to cross the River Thames near the Tower of London. From its opening in 1894 until 1991, when the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge was opened, Tower Bridge was the last bridge to cross the Thames before it reaches the North Sea.

Answer: Menai Strait

Designed by George Stephenson to take rail traffic to Holyhead on Anglesey, the Britannia Bridge opened in 1850. It had to be re-built following a fire in 1970, and the rail service re-started in 1972; eight years later an upper deck was also opened to carry road traffic.

Answer: River Tees

The alternative name of Tees Transporter Bridge gives away the answer. It was opened in 1911 and carries passengers and vehicles in a gondola suspended from the bridge. There are similar constructions at Warrington, Cheshire (which used to carry railway wagons between two parts of a chemical works) and Newport in South Wales (which still takes pedestrians, cyclists and other road traffic).

Answer: Atlantic Ocean

The Clachan Bridge connects the small island of Seil to the west coast of Scotland, not far from Oban. It was built at the end of the eighteenth century, and consists of a single arched stone bridge spanning the Clachan Sound. The sound is technically part of the Atlantic Ocean, thus giving rise to the bridge's alternative name - the Bridge over the Atlantic.

Answer: River Tweed

The Royal Border Bridge was designed for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway by Robert Stephenson and completed in 1850. The stone and brick viaduct consists of twenty-eight arches, which cross the River Tweed between Berwick and Tweedmouth about three miles from the border between England and Scotland.

Answer: River Mynach

There is a legend which tells of the devil building a bridge over the River Mynach, not far from Aberystwyth in Wales, because he thought it was too difficult for mortals to construct; he demanded the soul of the first living thing to cross the bridge as payment, but was tricked by an old woman who threw some bread onto the bridge which her dog went to eat.

The original medieval bridge was deemed unsafe in the middle of the eighteenth century, so a new stone bridge was built above the old one; in 1901 an iron bridge was built on top of that stone bridge.

Answer: River Mersey

The Thelwall Viaduct, near Warrington in Cheshire, takes the M6 motorway across both the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The original bridge was opened in 1963, but it now just carries the northbound carriageway. A separate parallel bridge for the southbound vehicles was opened in 1995 to cope with the increased traffic load.

Answer: Loch Alsh

One of the shortest crossings to Skye is from Kyle of Lochalsh, on the mainland, to Kyleakin, on the island. When the railway reached the coast in the nineteenth century, construction of a bridge was considered, but the cost couldn't be justified for the amount of use it was likely to get, so the existing ferry service continued to operate.

By the end of the twentieth century, there was a lot more demand for the crossing, partly because of an increased number of tourists in the summer months. The bridge was opened in 1995, amid much controversy over the high tolls demanded of those using the crossing.

In 2004 the new Scottish government bought the bridge, and abolished the tolls.

Answer: River Avon

Construction of the suspension bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel began in 1831; it was planned to link Bristol with Leigh Woods in North Somerset on the far side of the Avon Gorge. However a lack of funds resulted in the towers on each bank being constructed, but the bridge remained unfinished for many years.

After Brunel's death in 1859, it was decided that completion of the bridge would be a fitting memorial to him. Sir John Hawkshaw and William Henry Barlow revised the design, and the bridge was finally opened in 1864.

Answer: River Severn

The bridge across the River Severn was built at the end of the eighteenth century. It was the first major bridge to be constructed from iron; previously one had been started, but not completed, at Lyons in France, and a footbridge had been built in Yorkshire to cross an ornamental waterway. With the advent of the bridge, roads in the area were improved, and the village known as Ironbridge was developed on the north bank of the Severn Gorge.