“Telford, who o’er the vale of Cambrian Dee,
Aloft in air, at giddy height upborne,
Carried his navigable road, and hung
High o’er Menai’s Straits the bending bridge:
Structures of more ambitious enterprise
Than minstrels, in the age of old romance,
To their own Merlin’s magic lore ascribed.”

The Aqueduct of Pontcysylte is so called from a bridge of three arches over the river Dee, and situated a little higher up the river. This is the most stupendous work of the kind in the kingdom. It was designed and executed by and under the inspection of that British Archimedes, Mr. Thomas Telford, to carry a stream of water for the supply of the Ellesmere Canal; to the proprietors of which, in the year 1804, Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart. in the most liberal manner made an important donation of the waters of Bala pool, as far as wanted; and to obtain that essential advantage the Aqueduct was projected. [63] The level of the canal is taken at a place in the river a little below the church of Lantysilto, and about two miles on the west of Llangollen.

The bank of the canal forms a charming promenade of about six miles from its junction with the Dee to the Aqueduct, abounding with interesting and picturesque scenery. Here and there snug little white cottages, peeping from among the surrounding trees, decorate and embellish the sides and recesses of some of the eminences; while the tops are dotted with the little mountain sheep, scarcely distinguishable from the white stones that are scattered upon their summits. The banks of the canal are ornamented with trees, and embellished with bridges, &c.

This Aqueduct, the most extraordinary structure of its kind in the world, was begun on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1795, and was finished on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1805; having been ten years and five months in building. It is one thousand and seven feet in length, and one hundred and twenty-six feet eight inches in height from the surface of the flat rock on the south side of the river Dee, to the top of the iron side plates of the water way; and there are nineteen arches of forty-five feet span each. The piers, eighteen in number, are constructed of square masonry, and the arches and water way are composed of cast-iron.

At the south end of the Aqueduct there is an embankment of earth, fifteen hundred feet in length, and seventy-five feet high. The water way is eleven feet ten inches broad, and five feet three inches deep. There is a broad towing-path on the east side, guarded by a strong iron palisade, running the whole length of the Aqueduct; from the north end of which the canal is continued for a distance of about three hundred yards, and there terminates in an extensive basin, which affords a double wharfage, with iron railways.

I have heard of only one fatal accident occurring during the progress of this arduous undertaking; when a poor labourer employed on the work fell from the top of one of the piers, and was dashed to pieces on the rock below. His suffering was of short duration, as the tremendous height from which he fell caused instant dissolution.

The Aqueduct crosses the entrance of the vale of Llangollen from north to south, and the walks under and about it are really charming. The view along the beautiful vale of the Dee from the top, in the centre of the towing-path, is delightful, and to look down tremendous; and the river,

“That on the unnumber’d pebbles idly chafes,
Cannot be heard so high.”

Indeed, it requires a steady head, and a stout heart, to walk over the Aqueduct, especially when the wind is high.On the twenty-sixth day of November, 1805, the canal was opened in the following manner, as described by one of the acting Committee. He says—[67]

“In going over the Aqueduct and returning, the sensations varied. As the procession of boats advanced towards the noble structure now first commencing its public utility, the complete sense of security in which we floated one hundred and twenty-six feet above the river Dee, and a just acknowledgment to Mr. Telford, to whom it was deservedly a proud day, and who had most happily arranged the whole of our accommodation, as well as constructed the wonderful edifice that supported us, naturally united.“On our arrival at the eastern bank, we entered the canal port. Lady Bridgewater, the ladies of Colonel Kynaston Powell, and William Lloyd Ashton, Esq. and some others, as connected with the Committee, now attended Lady Eleanor Butler, Lady W. W. Wynn and her family, the Hon. Miss Ponsonby, Miss Ormsby, and many other respectable visitors, to a repast which had been provided; soon after which an Oration was delivered.

“On a signal being given, the cannon, which had been advantageously posted on the platform below the rocks, and nearly on a level with the Aqueduct, fired a royal salute. The guns were manned by the Artillery Company, and were some of those brought from the capture of Seringapatam, now belonging to the Shropshire Volunteers, whose skill and martial appearance added much to the brilliancy of the day: they saluted the Committee on their passage and return with fifteen rounds each. After the repast and Oration, the whole company prepared to return.

“The procession of boats was as follows:—In the first and second boats, the Committee; in the third, the band of the Shropshire Volunteers, in full uniform; the fourth was occupied by the engineers, the occupiers of mines and founderies, &c. with their families. I was invited to take my passage with them, having been engaged when the Committee set out, and could from this boat, as a centre, better judge of the whole. The fifth and sixth boats closed the procession, gaily ornamented with flags, and loaded with the first commercial product of coal that had ever passed over the valley on this noble bridge of union. The carriages, which conveyed the rest of the company, formed a curved and continued line over the bridge of the Dee (Pontcysyllte) and on both its banks.

“The evening was calm, and the favourite tunes of ‘God save the King’ and ‘Rule Britannia’ floated in the air, amongst the echoes of the vale. Many (probably more than eight thousand) people were stationed all around us, from the tops of the mountains to the banks of the Dee, and were cheering and exulting, with intervals of silent astonishment. All within sight or hearing were expressing their sense of the general happiness. The whole valley of Llangollen might be said to laugh and sing.”

The following inscription is on the Aqueduct upon the side of the pier next to the south side of the river:—

The Nobility and Gentry of
The adjacent Counties,
Having united their Efforts with
The great commercial Interests of this Country,
In creating an intercourse and union between
ENGLAND AND NORTH WALES,
By a navigable communication of the three Rivers,
Severn, Dee, and Mersey,
For the mutual benefit of Agriculture and Trade,
Caused the first Stone of this Aqueduct of
PONTCYSYLLTE
To be laid on the 25th day of July, 1795,
When Richard Myddelton, of Chirk, Esq. M.P.
One of the original patrons of the
ELLESMERE CANAL,
Was Lord of this Manor,
And in the reign of our Sovereign
GEORGE THE THIRD;
When the Equity of the Laws and
The security of Property
Promoted the general Welfare of the Nation;
While the Arts and Sciences flourished
By his Patronage, and
The Conduct of civil Life was improved
By his Example.Returning from this stupendous work of human ingenuity and exertion, towards the Castell Dinas Bran,