342 



ELLESMERE CANAL WORKS. 



PART VIII. 



himself master of the necessary details ; but having had 

 comparatively small experience of earthwork, and none 

 of canal-making, he determined to take the advice of 

 Mr. William Jessop on that part of the subject ; and he 

 cordially acknowledges the obligations he was under to 

 that eminent engineer for the kind assistance which he 

 received from him on many occasions. 



The heaviest and most important part of the works 

 occurred in carrying the canal through the rugged hill 

 country between the rivers Dee and Ceriog, in the vale 

 of Llangollen. From Nantwich to Whitchurch the 

 distance is 16 miles, and the rise 132 feet, involving 

 nineteen locks ; and from thence to Ellesmere, Chirk, 

 Pont-Cysylltau, and the river Dee, If mile above 

 Llangollen, the distance is 381 miles, and the rise 

 13 feet, involving only two locks. The latter part of 

 the undertaking presented the greatest difficulties ; as, 

 in order to avoid the expense of constructing numerous 

 locks, which would also involve serious delay and heavy 

 expense in working the navigation, it became necessary 

 to contrive means for carrying the canal on the same 

 level from one side of the respective valleys of the Dee 

 and the Ceriog to the other, and hence the magnificent 

 aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-Cysylltau, characterised by 

 Phillips as " among the boldest efforts of human inven- 

 tion in modern times." 1 



The Chirk Aqueduct carries the canal across the 

 valley of the Ceriog, between Chirk Castle and the vil- 

 lage of that name. At this point the valley is above 

 700 feet wide ; the banks are steep, with a flat alluvial 

 meadow between them, through which the river flows. 

 The country is finely wooded. Chirk Castle stands on an 

 eminence on its western side, with the Welsh mountains 

 and Grlen Ceriog as a background ; the whole composing 



1 ' A General History of Inland 

 Navigation, Foreign and Domestic,' &c. 



By J. Phillips. Fourth edition. Lon- 

 don, 1803. 



