Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct

Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct is only known by the most ardent waterway enthusiasts, but its place in history merits a wider audience.

Early canal aqueducts were built of stone or brick. But these heavy materials placed a great load on the structure, and in several cases, stone aqueducts actually collapsed several months into their life. As canal engineers became more ambitious, planning lines across deep valleys, a new solution was clearly needed.

The answer was cast iron, and aside from a very minor example on the Derby Canal, Longdon-on-Tern was the pioneer. It carried the Shrewsbury Canalacross the River Tern, on its way from Coalbrookdale - the heart of the Industrial Resolution - to Shrewsbury. The aqueduct, designed by Thomas Telford and William Reynolds, opened in 1797.

Flushed with Longdon's success, Telford would go on to execute the same trick on a much larger scale with the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Though the Shrewsbury Canal was closed after the Second World War, the aqueduct survives intact. Walkers can still pass along the towpath just as horses did almost 200 years ago.

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