Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
Pontcysyllte aqueduct was designed and built by Thomas Telford & William Jessop as part of what is now known as the Llangollen canal but was originally called the Ellesmere canal. In 1846 the canal became part of the Shropshire Union canals.
Construction started in 1795 and it was officially opened on the 26th November 1805. It is made up of 19 cast iron troughs spanning the valley and River Dee on 18 stone piers. The complete trough is 1007’ / 306.9m long, 11’ 10”/ 3.6m wide and 5’3”/ 1.6m deep which makes it the longest aqueduct in Great Britain. It stands at 126’ / 38.4m high and is the tallest canal aqueduct in the world.
The aqueduct is a grade 1 listed structure and on the 27th June 2009 it was designated a UNESCO World heritage site along with 11 miles of the Llangollen canal.
In 2012 Saints1 and I spent a very enjoyable week on the Llangollen canal for our honeymoon so when I was given a virtual reward the aqueduct was a perfect place to set it. Please keep an eye on any children you have with you as you are next to water and a canal boat weighs around 15-20 ton so you don't want to get between the side of the canal and a canal boat. I hope you enjoy your visit to this picturesque location as much as we did.
Logging requirements
In order to log a find on this cache please upload a photo of you and/or your gps on the aqueduct with your log (you don't need to show your face if you don't want to) and email or message the answers to the following two questions to me through my profile. Your photo can be on the footpath next to the trough or on a boat crossing the aqueduct. Please do not put the answers in your log or photos. There is no need to wait for confirmation before logging as I will contact you if there is a problem, but ALL submitted logs must have a photo attached and the answers already sent to me. Logs not meeting the logging requirements will be deleted.
To find the answers to the questions go to the Froncysyllte (south) end of the aqueduct. Near the plaque you will find a path that takes you under the aqueduct and back up on to the other side. You can find all you need from that path.
Question 1 - How many large bolts can be found on the land side masonry supporting the first trough? Have a look at the bolt spoiler photos if you’re not sure what you’re looking for.
Question 2 – How many metal double upright railings are there on the path that you’re standing on? Have a look at the double upright railing spoiler photo if you’re not sure what you’re looking for.
Good luck and thanks for visiting my cache page.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.