Clifton Suspension Bridge

Enters the competition while still a young independent engineer.

Brunel submits designs to the competition for a suspension bridge across the Avon Gorge at Clifton.

Submits designs to the first Clifton Suspension Bridge competition.

Submits revised designs in the second competition for a bridge across the Avon Gorge.

Brunel is appointed engineer for the Clifton Suspension Bridge after his revised design is selected.

A ceremony marks the start of construction and work begins on the Clifton side of the gorge.

Construction is halted after the Bristol riots damage confidence and stop subscriptions to the bridge company.

Brunel secures acceptance of his revised suspension bridge design and becomes project engineer.

Work begins on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, one of Brunel's earliest major independent projects.

Construction resumes after renewed commercial confidence brings further investment to the project.

The main contractors fail financially, but the bridge towers are raised in unfinished stone.

Funds are exhausted and construction stops before the chains and roadway can be completed.

Its chains are later reused to complete the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge is completely abandoned.

Chains from Brunel's dismantled Hungerford Suspension Bridge are purchased for use in completing the Clifton bridge.

Construction restarts under a revised design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge opens to the public as a memorial to Brunel five years after his death.

The completed structure is tested by placing about five hundred tons of stone across the bridge deck.