Looking towards the south portal of the 421m-long Chirk Tunnel
| Date | 3 April 2015 | ||
| Location | Chirk, Wrexham County Borough | SJ 28672 37378; 52.92904°N, 3.06254°W | |
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Chirk Aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal over the Ceiriog Valley, with the river below forming part of the border between Wales and England. The aqueduct was built between 1796 and 1801 by Thomas Telford during the construction of the then Ellesmere Canal. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct three miles to the north was also later built by Telford for the same canal. Chirk Aqueduct’s ten arches span a total length of 220m, at a height of 21m above the River Ceiriog. The waterway is contained by a cast-iron trough between the stone side walls. Alongside the aqueduct runs a complementary masonry arched viaduct, built by Henry Robertson in 1846-1848 for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. At the Welsh end of the aqueduct, the canal continues northwards through the 421m-long Chirk Tunnel, built in 1794-1802. The Aqueducts (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales);
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Chirk Aqueduct over the River Ceiriog with the later railway viaduct to the left
The south portal of the canal tunnel can be seen in the distance
Looking south. Symbolising the supremacy of the railways over the canals, the viaduct was built 9 metres taller than the aqueduct.
Looking through one of the aqueduct’s 10 arches towards its companion railway viaduct
Chirk Tunnel
Looking towards to the north portal of Chirk Tunnel
Beautiful pictures! Good evening
Merci bien!
an incredible feat of engineering and determined hard hard work–such a dramatic depiction, too
Thanks for stopping by, Lance, and yes it’s a wonderful piece of engineering!
amazing what they could do back in the day, must be great to take a narrow boat over it. Great shots.
Thanks! I saw a couple of boats while I was there, The tow path also seemed to be quite popular with cyclists who had to wheel their bikes through the long dark tunnel.
Lots of drama in these photos!
Thank you, Jay!
High Impact Graham – the person makes it though
Many thanks, Scott. Tunnels have to be one of my favourite subjects, and yes it’s always good to get a silhouette 🙂
I like your shot of the viaduct, framed by the aqueduct- very clever! I haven’t had a look at Chirk yet, very remiss of me- now I have seen these photos I must go!
Glad you liked it, Iain. Chirk had been my own list for a few years! I don’t pass that way very often, but luckily this time I did manage to get a chance to check out the aqueduct (and, more importantly, the tunnel) 🙂
Las fotos del túnel me han gustado mucho, son magníficas.
Eres muy amable, Paco. Muchas gracias por pasar y comentar. Un saludo!
Saludos!!
The photographs are stunning~
Many thanks, Cindy. Glad you liked them. It was fun doing them.
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