Spanning the divide: Brunel and the Royal Albert Bridge

Name: Spanning the divide: Brunel and the Royal Albert Bridge
Start: 2025-10-28T12:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-10-28T13:30:00+00:00
Location: Derry's Cross, PL1 2SW Plymouth, United Kingdom

Schedule

Tue Oct 28 2025 at 12:30 pm to 01:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Derry's Cross, PL1 2SW Plymouth, United Kingdom | Plymouth, EN

Join us as we discover more about the story of how Isambard Kingdom Brunel overcame in-fighting and controversy to the bring the railway to Plymouth and build the Royal Albert Bridge.
Find out more about how the heated rivalry between Plymouth and Devonport delayed the railway's arrival into the Three Towns, petitions to Parliament and Brunel's thwarted plans for a train ferry at Torpoint.
The talk looks at the cost-cutting measures that altered Brunel's plans for the Royal Albert Bridge, and the wild rumours that surrounded his failure to attend the opening ceremony in May 1859.
This event is part of Railway200, a year-long nationwide partnership-led campaign to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway and inspire a new generation of young pioneering talent to choose a career in rail.
The modern railway was a British innovation that’s continued its journey across the globe. Through a year-long series of activities and events, Railway 200 will explore how rail shaped Britain and the world.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway opened on September 27, 1825, connecting places, people, communities and ideas and ultimately transforming the world.
The talk will be given by Owen Ryles, Chief Executive of the Plymouth Athenaeum. Owen is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the Linnean Society and the Zoological Society.
His previous talks include Education, enlightenment and entertainment: Plymouth Mechanics’ Institute 1825-1899, Walking through the storm: William Snow Harris v The Admiralty, Bitten by Barnacles: The Life of Charles Spence Bate and Charles Hamilton Smith: Writer, Illustrator, Solider, Spy.