“I feel privileged to take on this responsibility”
It is probably one of the most important jobs in Bristol – and certainly one with the coolest name. And now, stepping into the role as Bridgemaster at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, comes a Cornishman with a passion for engineering who is very well aware of the history, importance and responsibility of the title he’s just taken on.
Tristan Ralph has lived and worked in Bristol for 25 years, and now has the impressive title and the responsibility to match.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a Bristol icon – the instantly recognisable landmark that Bristol is known for throughout the world.
On top of that it’s a busy road connecting North Somerset with Bristol, and sees around three million vehicle crossings every year, as well as hundreds of thousands of joggers, cyclists, dog-walkers, and tourists.
And then again, it regularly provides the backdrop to some of British TV and film’s most breathtaking scenes – earlier this month, a BBC film crew took it over for a whole night.
It’s one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world – 161 years to be precise – and the chains straining from the two familiar stone towers are even older. They were famously recycled from two bridges in London, so the job of making sure that every day – come snow, ice, heatwaves and hurricane-force winds – the bridge is still there, and still a vital link for Bristol.
So the role of Bridgemaster is an important one, and its incumbents are prominent figures in the life of the city. David Anderson held the title for ten years before he retired in 2016, when the first-ever woman took on the job.
Trish Johnson, pictured in 2017 after her appointment as the first woman Bridgemaster of the Clifton Suspension Bridge(Image: )
Trish Johnson held the job for ten years and worked alongside Tristan Ralph to show him the ropes – or rather, chains – for the last couple of months of 2025.
After that handover, Trish’s last official day in the job was Christmas Eve, so the first morning Tristan Ralph woke up knowing that he was now the person responsible for the Clifton Suspension Bridge and all who cross it, was Christmas Day.
That was a bittersweet moment. It was the family’s first Christmas without Tristan’s father Francis, who died last March. “He was a superfan of the Suspension Bridge,” Tristan said. “When he used to come up to visit me, we always used to come up for a walk around it,” he said.
“Very, very sadly, he passed away last March, which was just before the advert came for the post. It was brilliant that I got the job but I was quite sad I couldn’t tell him about it,” he added.
He remembered clearly the moment he was told he had got the job and would be the next Bridgemaster. “I was over the moon, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I wasn’t actually looking for another role at the time, but I found the job was being advertised.
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“I thought ‘I’ve got to go for that’, because as a bridge engineer – I’ve been a bridge engineer for 30 years, I’m a structural engineer by background – and as somebody who lives in Bristol you couldn’t ask for a better job. So I was really chuffed to bits when I found out I’d got the role,” he added.
Bridges have been Tristan’s life for more than 30 years – and that happened by chance. “My first ever job was in 1994 in a company in Worcester,” he said.
“The job was originally going to be in something else other than bridges, but for whatever reason that fell through and I was offered a role on the bridges team, and I’ve been doing bridge work ever since.
“So I’ve worked in the design of bridges, the maintenance of existing bridges, the repair of bridges, the strengthening – all those things, over a 30 year plus period. And now I’m bringing all that experience to bear on a structure like this one – you couldn’t ask for more,” he said.
Tristan Ralph, the new Bridgemaster of the Clifton Suspension Bridge – January 2026(Image: Bristol Post/ Paul Gillis)
But what does the Bridgemaster actually do? “It’s a really interesting role because it covers a huge range of activities regarding the bridge. But the basic responsibility is to ensure the safety and maintenance of the bridge for the public, the vehicles, pedestrians that use it.
“That’s what it boils down to but there’s also a whole lot of other things that go alongside it,” he added. It’s not a role Tristan is taking lightly – the weight of history is all around, not least in the museum on the Somerset side of the bridge. “I very much see myself as the custodian of this bridge and I want to make sure that when I’ve finished here, I hand it back in as good as or better condition than as it is now,” he explained.
Despite being a key part of west Bristol’s road network and one of the city’s main tourist attractions, the bridge is effectively privately owned – by a Board of Trustees who employ a Bridgemaster to be in charge of everything, from the museum to the staff on duty at the bridge round the clock, to the chains and the paint and the lights and the barriers and the machinery.
Outgoing Bridgemaster Trish Johnson handed the bridge over to Tristan in good nick – a major refurbishment is nearing completion, with work that will see those famous chains good for another few decades.
(Image: Bristol Live)
But maintenance, safety, structural resilience and repair will be Tristan’s main priority. “The bridge is 161 years old now,” said Tristan. “It’s like anything, if you were to not do that maintenance, and let things go, things would rapidly become worse, so it is really a ‘little-and-often’ approach to make sure the bridge is maintained and safe for future generations,” he added.
“We’ve just finished a huge refurbishment scheme, it’s one of the biggest that’s ever been undertaken in the bridge’s lifetime, which was to refurbish the chains you can see here. It was a huge job. There’s lots of plates that make up the chains, they’ve been thoroughly repainted and repaired, it’s a really big and complex job,” he added.
One of the jobs Trish Johnson has handed over is something that people across Bristol will soon begin to notice. The maintenance work also gave the bridge team the opportunity to install a new lighting system – and it’s one where the colours can be changed.
“There will be scope for us to do that – make it multi-coloured – but we can’t have it multi-coloured all the time. The default setting will be the white lights, but there will be different times and events we’ll mark with different colour schemes,” he said.
On a cold, wet and windy January afternoon, the sleety rain whipped across and the bridge swayed perceptibly but gently in the howling gale. There were precious few, if any, tourists posing for selfies on a spot on the bridge that Google revealed recently was one of the places that more people took pictures on their phones than anywhere in Europe.
(Image: Joe Dunckley)
The sunshine and the tourists will soon come for Tristan, but he’s looking forward to ‘all of it’. “I’m looking forward to everything, really,” he said. “It’s going to take that whole year of the different events in that yearly cycle with the bridge, and I’m looking forward to all of it.
“We do have some interesting technical projects – that’s something that really excites me – and we’ve got some really interesting interventions on the bridge that will be coming in the years ahead, and I’m looking forward to getting involved,” he added.
“The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a world-famous landmark and a vital transport link. I feel privileged to take on the responsibility of safeguarding its future. My focus will be on ensuring the bridge remains safe, resilient, and operational for generations to come,” he added.
There has been a Board of Trustees of the Clifton Suspension Bridge for nearly 200 years. They first met in 1830 – 34 years before the bridge was finally finished and opened on December 8, 1864.
They are the ones who set the tolls, decide on strategy, deal with the budgets and appoint each Bridgemaster. There have been many, many chairmen of that board, and the current one is Dr Brian McConnell.
Tristan Ralph is Clifton Suspension Bridge’s new Bridge Master(Image: Jon Craig)
“We are delighted to welcome Tristan as the new Bridge Master for the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust,” he said. “He joins us at a pivotal moment as we approach the final months of our most significant refurbishment project to date.
“With his proven engineering expertise, we’re confident Tristan will help us strengthen the bridge’s resilience, drive innovation in maintenance, and ensure its long-term safety for generations to come,” he added.