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Concept
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Summary
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (ˌpɔntkəˈsəɬtɛ; Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales.
The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use by narrowboats and was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build. It is wide and is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain as well as the highest canal aqueduct in the world. A footpath runs alongside the watercourse on one side.
The aqueduct was to have been a key part of the central section of the proposed Ellesmere Canal, an industrial waterway that would have created a commercial link between the River Severn at Shrewsbury and the Port of Liverpool on the River Mersey. Although a less expensive construction course was surveyed further to the east, the westerly high-ground route across the Vale of Llangollen was preferred because it would have taken the canal through the mineral-rich coalfields of North East Wales. Only parts of the canal route were completed because the expected revenues required to complete the entire project were never generated. Most major work ceased after the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805.
The structure is a Grade I listed building and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The name Pontcysyllte is Welsh for "Cysyllte Bridge" or "Bridge of Cysyllte", Cysyllte being the township of the old parish of Llangollen in which the southern end of the bridge lies. The northern end of the bridge was in Trefor Isaf township, also in Llangollen parish.
Other translations such as "bridge of the junction" or "bridge that links" are modern false etymologies, derived from the name's apparent similarity to the word cysylltau (plural of cyswllt) which means connections or links.
The aqueduct was designed by civil engineers Thomas Telford and William Jessop for a location near an 18th-century road crossing, Pont Cysyllte. After the westerly high-ground route was approved, the original plan was to create a series of locks down both sides of the valley to an embankment that would carry the Ellesmere Canal over the River Dee.
Official source
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