Facts and Figures

• Pontcysyllte means 'the bridge that connects'. It created a navigable union between England and Wales, connecting the rivers Severn, Dee and Mersey.

• There are 18 piers 116ft high and 19 arches, each with a 45ft span.
• To keep the aqueduct as light as possible, the slender masonry piers are partly hollow and taper at their summit.

• The mortar was made of oxen blood, lime and water.

• To seal the joints, Welsh flannel and lead were dipped in boiling sugar.

• The aqueduct holds 1.5 million litres of water and takes two hours to drain.

• And for the non-Welsh speaker, Pontcysyllte is pronounced 'pont-kuh-sih-hl-ter'.

• The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct spans the valley from Trefor to Froncysyllte, beneath it runs the River Dee.

• At the centre, it reaches a height of 126 feet from the river bed to the ironwork.

• The water that feeds this canal runs through an iron trough that measures 1007 feet long by 11 feet 10 inches wide by 5 feet 3 inches deep.

• This is the largest aqueduct in Britain. It is fed by water from the Horseshoe Falls near Llangollen.

• The total cost of aqueduct was £47,018 6s 7d. Almost a tenth of the entire cost of building the canal.