24 - 25 September 2025 18:30 - 19:30 | Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum, Bristol BS8 3PA,
24 - 25 September 2025 | 18:30 - 19:30 | Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum, Bristol BS8 3PA,
Join our Western Regional Group for an exciting hard hat tour of the Clifton Suspension Bridge Abutments.
Discovered in 2002, the twelve vaulted chambers beneath the Leigh Woods abutment were long thought to exist – but investigations carried out in 1969 managed to miss the chambers and hit solid structure. Originally designed in the early 1830s, the abutment work was started in 1836, but no known drawings survive from this period. The largest vault is 11m high and 17m long; large enough to stack three double decker buses inside!
A knowledgeable guide will take attendees on a tour through two of the 12 vaulted chambers inside the Leigh Woods abutment. The tour will begin above but, once you’ve climbed inside, the guide will share some of the more interesting features and explain why it took until 2002 for the vaults to be rediscovered.
Two one-hour tours will take place: on Wednesday 24 September and Thursday 25 September, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. More dates may be added if the response is high.
Participants MUST wear sensible footwear and be in good health, be able to climb down a vertical ladder and not suffer from claustrophobia.
Location
The tours will start at the Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum on the Leigh Woods side of the bridge.
How to book
Please email Louisa.McAra@atkinsrealis.com to reserve your place, stating which date preferred. Payment details and further information will follow on confirmation of your place.
There is a maximum of 15 spaces per tour, and places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
The one-hour abutment tours are priced at £18 per person, payable in advance. Payment information will follow when your place is confirmed.