340 



THE ELLESMERE CANAL. 



TAUT VIII. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE ELLESMERE CANAL. 



THE ELLESMERE CANAL consists of a series of naviga- 

 tions proceeding from the river Dee in the vale of Llan- 

 gollen. One branch passes northward, near the towns 

 of Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Nantwich, and the city of 



Chester, to Ellesmere 

 Port on the Mersey ; 

 another, in a south- 

 easterly direction, 

 through the middle of 

 Shropshire towards 

 Shrewsbury on the 

 Severn ; and a third, 

 in a south-westerly 

 direction, by the town 

 of Oswestry, to the 

 Montgomeryshire 

 Canal near Llany- 

 mynech ; its whole 

 extent, including the 

 Chester Canal, incor- 

 porated with it, being about 112 miles. 



The success of the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal had 

 awakened the attention of the landowners throughout 

 England, but more especially in the districts immediately 

 adjacent to the scene of the Duke's operations, as they 

 saw with their own eyes the extraordinary benefits 

 which had followed the opening up of the navigations. 

 The resistance of the landed gentry, which many of 

 these schemes had originally to encounter, had now com- 



MAP OF ELLESMERS CANAL. 



