Chain bridge (Lánchíd)

The first bridge to span the Danube and unite the then separate entities of Buda and Pest. Count István Széchenyi who was delayed for eight days for his fathers funeral due to bad weather, which meant he was stuck on the wrong side of the river, stuck upon the idea of a bridge. He commissioned William Tierney Clark to design the bridge and engineer Adam Clark (no relation) to build it. Construction lasted from 1839 to 1849.

The main span is 666 feet long and for a time the was the longest in the world.

During the 1848-49 revolution, the Austrians tried to destroy the bridge, but were thwarted by the quick-thinking Adam Clark.
Adam Clark settled in Hungary, marrying a local Hungarian girl. The Clark descendants can still be found in the Budapest phonebook.

Marlow bridge

The only other surviving example of William Tierney Clark's work is the suspension bridge over the Thames in Marlow. The bridge has a bilingual (English and Hungarian) plaque commemorating William Tierney Clark, and the hungarian_links between the Marlow and Chain bridge. A plaque ,unveiled in May 1998, on the Chain Bridge commemorates the link with Marlow Suspension Bridge. On the Marlow bridge there are two identical plaques, designed and carved in grey-green Lakeland slate by Martin Cook of Loudwater, and erected on the triumphal arches to commemorate

The opening of the bridge in September 1832.
William Tierney Clark who designed and supervised the construction of the bridge.
and the unique link between Marlow Bridge and The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest.

Part of the English inscription is repeated in Hungarian. These plaques were unveiled by the Hungarian Ambassador, Tade Alfoldy, at a special ceremony on 26 September 1996.