Llangollen Canal

Today our blog is all about the Llangollen canal as its so close to our marina.

If you are planning to travel this journey from our marina it would take roughly 7 days to get you there and back comfortably, passing through places like Ellesmere, Wrenbury and Grindley. Wrenbury is very rural with a small post office/shop and two popular canal side pubs. Grindley Brook is the next main stop again with a canal side café/shop and a good pub close by. You can also get water here too. Ellesmere is gorgeous and very popular as it’s the last stop before Llangollen where there is a main supermarket (Tesco) and you can moor up and walk right into the town.

Until recently the canal was called the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, it is now known as the Llangollen Canal, which is much simpler.

The Llangollen Canal crosses the border between England and Wales. Due to its breath taking countryside and unique engineering the area has many visitors, attracting around 200,000 tourists a year.

One of the main attractions along the Llangollen canal is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which carries the canal over the River Dee, it is not to be missed. The canal engineers built this remarkable structure leaving one side unprotected, so when traveling on a canal boat it gives the impression that there is a sheer drop. It is 1000 feet long and 125 feet high.

The canal engineering was conducted by Thomas Telford and William Jessop. It is unsurprising to know that this is now a World Heritage Site.

Elsewhere, the rural Llangollen Canal is also popular with walkers, particularly at beauty spots such as Horseshoe Falls and Blake Mere. Following the canal to the Llangollen end will take you into the rolling foothills of Snowdonia.

Travelling the Llangollen Canal

• Maximum boat length: 70 ft 0 in
• Maximum boat beam: 6 ft 10 in
  

Starting point: The Llangollen Canal starts at Hurleston Junction which has a flight of 4 locks which raises the water level more than 34 feet. Hurleston is the name of the canal junction where the Llangollen Canal ends and meets the Shropshire Union Canal

End point: Llangollen which is a small town in Denbighshire, north-east Wales.

Branches of Llangollen Canal: Montgomery Canal, Prees Branch, Ellesmere Arm, Whitchurch Arm, Trevor Basin

Locks: 21

Maximum height above sea level: 230 ft (70 m)

Navigation authority: Canal & River Trust

A little bit of history about the Llangollen canal

By 1939 boat travel on the canal between Hurleston to Llangollen had stopped, so the canal was formally closed to navigation. Due to inadequate maintenance on 6th September 1945, the canal breached its banks east of Llangollen near Sun Bank Halt. This caused a flow of hundreds of tons of water which washed away the embankment of the railway further down the hill, tearing a 40 yd crater 50 ft deep. Unfortunately this caused a terrible train accident.

Even though the canal was officially closed to waterway traffic, the canal was not in-filled or allowed to be de-watered. It was still required as a water feeder for the Shropshire Union Canal and also provided a supply of drinking water to a reservoir at Hurleston. In 1955 the Mid & South East Cheshire Water Board decided to maintain the canal securing its future.

The canal engineering was conducted by Thomas Telford and William Jessop. It is unsurprising to know that this is now a World Heritage Site.

Elsewhere, the rural Llangollen Canal is also popular with walkers, particularly at beauty spots such as Horseshoe Falls and Blake Mere. Following the canal to the Llangollen end will take you into the rolling foothills of Snowdonia.