Pontcysyllte Aqueduct :: Shared Description
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a magnificent feat of engineering, particularly considering that it is over 200 years old.It was designed and built by Thomas Telford, though William Jessop was the overall engineer in charge of the canal. It is rightly considered to be one of Telford's masterpieces and looking at the stonework of the arches today, the quality of the building work belies its age, showing no signs of wear.
It took about ten years to design and build and was opened on 26th November 1805 at an estimated cost of £47,018 equivalent to about £3m in today's money. The aqueduct has 18 arches each spanning 53' (16m) with four of its massive piers in the River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy). The total length is 1007' (307m) and its maximum height above the river is 126' (38m) - it is just 11' (3.3m) wide at the top however !
Unsurprisingly, the structure is Grade I listed, but it achieved the top accolade of becoming a World Heritage Site when it was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List on 27 June 2009.
Finally, from a Geograph perspective it is noteworthy that it crosses a gridline and so photographs of it appear in both squares SJ2741 and SJ2742
It took about ten years to design and build and was opened on 26th November 1805 at an estimated cost of £47,018 equivalent to about £3m in today's money. The aqueduct has 18 arches each spanning 53' (16m) with four of its massive piers in the River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy). The total length is 1007' (307m) and its maximum height above the river is 126' (38m) - it is just 11' (3.3m) wide at the top however !
Unsurprisingly, the structure is Grade I listed, but it achieved the top accolade of becoming a World Heritage Site when it was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List on 27 June 2009.
Finally, from a Geograph perspective it is noteworthy that it crosses a gridline and so photographs of it appear in both squares SJ2741 and SJ2742
by Rob Farrow
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Created: Fri, 4 Jun 2010, Updated: Fri, 4 Jun 2010
The 'Shared Description' text on this page is Copyright 2010 Rob Farrow, however it is specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse it on their own images without restriction.
