Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

This is a related-waterways place note — not Bolinder engine history. No named Bolinder boat is claimed on this trough on camera. For hot-bulb sound, stay on Sound & video. Bob Tidy's Andora (Bolinder 1051) was on the Llangollen in summer 1980; that is a visit, not a confirmed aqueduct film.

Highest in the world — longest in Britain

Hire-boat films love the word “highest.” For height that is fair: Guinness lists Pontcysyllte as the world's tallest navigable canal aqueduct (38.4 m / 126 ft). Wikipedia's infobox is a foot either way (127 ft / 39 m). On the page we say about 126 ft.

It is not the longest navigable aqueduct on Earth. Germany's Magdeburg Water Bridge (opened 2003) runs about 918 m — but only about 6 m high. Pontcysyllte is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain. Height and length are different boasts. A DownieLive title that says highest in the world is doing the height job; we do not copy it as longest in the world.

The iron trough

Telford had already tried a cast-iron canal trough at Longdon-on-Tern. Here the trough sits on nineteen spans over eighteen hollow masonry piers. Iron came from William Hazledine. Joints were packed in the period way (flannel, white lead, iron borings — later tellings add sugar, ox blood in the mortar). The towpath is cantilevered on one side. The boat side has no railing: a full-length narrowboat is a bathtub in the sky.

The structure opened on 26 November 1805. It was meant as part of a bigger Ellesmere Canal from the Severn toward the Mersey. That full line was never finished. Trevor Basin, just beyond the north end, became a terminus. Glandŵr Cymru (Canal & River Trust in Wales) looks after it now.

Why the Llangollen cut is so narrow

West of Trevor the canal was built as a navigable feeder, not as a main line. Telford's Horseshoe Falls weir at Llantysilio still takes Dee water into the cut. Canal & River Trust: almost all the water in the 46 miles of the Llangollen Canal comes from that intake, and it still runs toward Hurleston Reservoir for drinking-water treatment. Two boats cannot always pass. There is a current. That is engineering, not a traffic jam.

Chirk, next door

Hire boats from Trevor often meet Chirk Aqueduct (River Ceiriog) and Chirk Tunnel — about 421 m with a towpath right through, one of the first in Britain to do that. Auto-captions that say ~174 m are talking about the shorter Whitehouses (Whitehouse) Tunnel, not Chirk. Wales and England meet along this stretch.

Video — on the trough

These clips are for place and atmosphere. We do not claim the hire boats are Bolinder-powered. YouTube embeds only; credit the uploaders; no autoplay.

Video — Bolinder sound (not this trough)

A Bolinder on an open iron trough would be theatre: slow thud, no gearbox, and a drop on the off side. We have not yet found a public film that is clearly that engine here.

These two are Bolinder character on other water. They are here so you can hear the iron.

Have you filmed a Bolinder on Pontcysyllte?

Public search (September 2026) finds strong location films, not a clip that is definitely a Bolinder working this trough with audible hot-bulb exhaust. Andora was on the Llangollen in 1980. If you have stills or film of a Bolinder crossing, please contact us for credit and embedding.

Nearby

• Trevor Basin and the Anglo-Welsh / Drifters hire base (practical, not an advert)
• Froncysyllte village at the south end
• Chirk Aqueduct and Chirk Tunnel
• Horseshoe Falls, Llantysilio — the Dee weir that feeds the canal
• Llangollen Wharf (horse boats on the last, very narrow length)

Not a navigation guide

Dimensions, stoppages, and hire rules change. For a visit or a passage, use Canal & River Trust — Llangollen Canal and the World Heritage site pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk. Ticket prices and tea-shop hours are not listed here.

FAQ