Narrowboat007 Llangollen canal, Wales, UK
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌpɔntkəˈsəɬtɛ], full name in Welsh: Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee, between the villages of Trevor and Froncysyllte, in Wrexham in north east Wales. Completed in 1805, it is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain, a Grade I Listed Building[1] and a World Heritage Site. The name is in the Welsh Language and means junction or link bridge. For most of its existence it was known as 'Pont y Cysyllte' - 'Bridge of the Junction'.
The aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, is 1,007 ft (307 m) long, 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and 5.25 ft (1.60 m) deep. It consists of a cast iron trough supported 126 ft (38 m) above the river on iron arched ribs carried on nineteen hollow masonry piers (pillars). Each span is 53 ft (16 m) wide.. It was opened on 26 November 1805, having taken around ten years to design and build at a total cost of £47,000 (£2,930,000 as of 2010),[2].
The trough sides rise only about 6 inches (15 cm) above the water level, less that the freeboard of an empty narrow boat, so the helmsman of the boat has no visual protection from the impression of being at the edge of an abyss.
Narrowboat007 Llangollen canal, Wales, UK
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌpɔntkəˈsəɬtɛ], full name in Welsh: Traphont Ddŵr Pontcysyllte) is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal over the valley of the River Dee, between the villages of Trevor and Froncysyllte, in Wrexham in north east Wales. Completed in 1805, it is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain, a Grade I Listed Building[1] and a World Heritage Site. The name is in the Welsh Language and means junction or link bridge. For most of its existence it was known as 'Pont y Cysyllte' - 'Bridge of the Junction'.
The aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, is 1,007 ft (307 m) long, 11 ft (3.4 m) wide and 5.25 ft (1.60 m) deep. It consists of a cast iron trough supported 126 ft (38 m) above the river on iron arched ribs carried on nineteen hollow masonry piers (pillars). Each span is 53 ft (16 m) wide.. It was opened on 26 November 1805, having taken around ten years to design and build at a total cost of £47,000 (£2,930,000 as of 2010),[2].
The trough sides rise only about 6 inches (15 cm) above the water level, less that the freeboard of an empty narrow boat, so the helmsman of the boat has no visual protection from the impression of being at the edge of an abyss.