English canals and their English aqueducts
13. 2. 2023Pontcysyllt canal
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The Pontcysyllt Aqueduct was built by the builders to serve as the Llangollen Canal Navigation Aqueduct. It is located near the Welsh town of Wrexham in the United Kingdom, specifically between the villages of Trevor and Froncysyllte.
The aqueduct dates from 1795 to 1805 and was designed by engineers Thomas Telford and William Jessop. The bridge was originally intended to serve as part of the Ellesmere Canal, connecting Ellesmere Port with the town of Shrewsbury. However, due to lack of funding it was never completed. They converted the main part of it, along with the aqueduct, into the present-day Llangollen Canal.
The bridge is 307 m long. 19 brick hollow piers with arches of cast iron girders spanning 13.7 m span the main channel, which is 3.4 m wide and 1.5 m deep. Maximum distance of the aqueduct channel from the Dee valley floor is 38.7 m. The bridge is the longest and highest aqueduct in the United Kingdom.
The bridge and the canal have been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2009.
