Chirk Aqueduct is a 70-foot (21 m) high and 710-foot (220 m) long aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border.
The aqueduct was designed by Thomas Telford for the Ellesmere Canal and completed in 1801. It possesses a cast iron trough within which the water is contained. The masonry walls effectively hide the cast iron interior. The aqueduct followed Telford's innovative ...
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Chirk Aqueduct is a 70-foot (21 m) high and 710-foot (220 m) long aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border.
The aqueduct was designed by Thomas Telford for the Ellesmere Canal and completed in 1801. It possesses a cast iron trough within which the water is contained. The masonry walls effectively hide the cast iron interior. The aqueduct followed Telford's innovative Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct on the Shrewsbury Canal, and was a forerunner of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct also on the Llangollen Canal.
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 40 feet (12 m). The water...
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