Pontcysyllte Aqueduct: The Longest Aqueduct in Great Britain

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, completed in 1805, is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in Wales. Standing at 3.7m (12 feet) wide, it is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain as well as the highest canal aqueduct in the world. The structure was initially a key part 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 the expectation of the required revenues to complete the entire project was never generated, the structure was completed and remains in use today. A towpath runs alongside the watercourse on one side. The 19-arched stone and cast iron structure is a Grade I listed building and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Pontcysyllte is Welsh for ‘Bridge of Cysyllte’, the township of the old parish of Llangollen in which the southern end of the bridge lies.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons