Chirk Aqueduct
Impressive aqueduct on the Llangollen Canal across the River Ceiriog.
Region:
Red Wheel Site:
Transport Mode(s):
Address:
Off Castle Road, Chirk, Wrexham LL14 5BS
Postcode:
Visitor Centre:
Website:
Visit website
Chirk Aqueduct is a 21 m (70 ft) high and 220 m (710 ft) long aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley and which marks the border bewteen Wales and Shropshire.
The aqueduct was designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1801. It possesses a cast iron trough within which the water is contained, the masonry walls effectively hiding the cast iron interior. The aqueduct followed Telford's innovative Longden-on-Tern Aqueduct on the Shrewsbury Canal, and was a forerunner of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct also on the Llangollen Canal (see Pontcysyllte Aqueduct entry).
Telford pioneered the use of cast iron in bridges as well as aqueducts, and cast iron troughs were widely used elsewhere on the British canal network, especially where a secure and watertight crossing or bridge was needed. Another famous example is the Cosgrove Aqueduct on the Grand Junction Canal at Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.
The aqueduct consists of ten arches, each with a span of 12 m.(40 ft.). The water level is 20 m.(65 ft.) above the ground. The first stone was laid on 17 June 1796. William Hazledine provided the ironwork for the aqueduct. Side plates were added to the aqueduct in 1870. It crooses the river close to the later railway viaduct.
It is a Welsh Historic Monument.
By road: On B5070, which crosses the river on another parallel structure. It can also be seen from the parallel rail viaduct.
Atterbury, Paul. English Rivers and Canals. ISBN. 0 297 78318 1 (1984)
Bartholomew. Nicholson Inland Waterways Map of Great Britain. ISBN 978-00072 11173. (2006)
Biddle, Gordon, Pennine Waterway: Pictorial History of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Dalesman Publishing, ISBN-10: 0852064276 (1978)
Boughey, Joseph. Hadfield's British Canals: the Inland Waterways of Britain and Ireland.
ISBN 978 18401 50247. (1998)
Boughey, J. and Hadfield, C. British Canals: A Standard History . ISBN 978-07524 46677. (2008)
Burton, A. The Waterways of Britain. ISBN 0 00 218047 2 (1983)
Cragg, Roger Wales and West Central England: Wales and West Central England, 2nd Edition. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0727725769 (1977)
Gladwin, D.D. A Pictorial History of Canals. ISBN 0 7134 0554 6 (1977)
Pratt, D. Waterways Past and Present: A Unique Record of Britain's Waterways Heritage. ISBN 978-07136 76341. (2006)
Pratt, F. Canal Architecture in Britain. ISBN 978- 09032 18139. (1976)
Roberts, B. Britain's Waterways: A Unique Insight. ISBN 978- 08635 11158. (2006)
Rolt, L.T.C. Inland Waterways of England. (1950)
Skempton A.W. A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland. Thomas Telford. ISBN 072772939X (2002)
Smiles, Samuel, The Life of Thomas Telford. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1419169912 (2004)
Smiles, Samuel, Lives of the Engineers, with an Account of Their Principal Works, J. Murray (1861
Ware, M.E. Britain's Lost Commercial Waterways. ISBN 978-18430 61816. (2005)
Canal Junction - Llangollen Canal
Chirk and Pontcysyllte Aqueducts
Forgotten Relics - Listed Bridges and Viaducts
Royal Commission on The Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales - Chirk and Pontcysyllte Aqueducts
Structurae - Chirk Aqueduct
Urban 75 - A walk from Chirk along the Llangollen Canal