Impressive aqueduct on the Llangollen Canal across the River Ceiriog.
Off Castle Road, Chirk, Wrexham LL14 5BS
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.
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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
