Llangollen Enterprise
Anturieth Llangollen
Parade Street
Llangollen
Denbighshire
North Wales
LL20 8PW
United Kingdom
Llangollen Enterprise Office
telephone: +44 (0)1978 861345
fax: +44 (0)1978 861345
e-mail: le@llangollen.org.uk
Tourist Information Office
telephone: +44 (0)1978 860828
fax: +44 (0)1978 861563
e-mail: llangollen@nwtic.com
1795 was an interesting year. The French Revolution was still raging; Beethoven made his debut as a pianist, the British captured Capetown and two of the greatest engineers who ever lived embarked on bridging a 1,007ft gap across the Dee Valley!
Canals were the arteries of the Industrial Revolution throughout England and Wales and the race was on to connect the then Ellesmere Canal to the new pumping station on the River Dee at Llangollen, as well as Ellesmere Port itself on the Mersey Estuary.
Luckily, the engineering team of Thomas Telford and William Jessop were the most experienced canal and bridge builders of their time. Telford quickly put forward the idea of building a cast iron trough, similar in design to an early bridge of his in Longdon-on-Tern near Shrewsbury, placed on hollow stone pillars the width of the valley.
Despite much scepticism, Telford ploughed on. He built 19 supporting pillars, 116ft (35m) high connected by 53ft wide iron arches. The mortar used in their construction was a mix of lime, water and ox blood. Nobody has yet worked out how many oxen this would have taken!!
The cast iron troughs were cast locally and dovetailed into each other. They were caulked by a mixture of pure Welsh linen and boiled sugar before being sealed over by lead.
Once completed the trough was flooded and left for six months to check for leaks - needless to say the seals haven't broken in over 200 years!
The whole thing was topped off with a towpath and safety rail which is still very much in use to this day, although a good head for heights might be required as the final structure is 126ft high.
The aqueduct was officially opened a month after the Battle of Trafalgar on the 26th November 1805 and cost the then considerable sum of The aqueduct was officially opened a month after the Battle of Trafalgar on the 26th November 1805 and cost the then considerable sum of £47,000. Ironically, this resulted in the project running out of money and the canal never reaching Ellesmere Port, only a quarter of a mile or so beyond.
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Llangollen Canal are currently contenders as a World Heritage site.
