Stream in the sky

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is known as the Stream in the Sky

Two aqueducts and two tunnels on our walk today Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Chirk Aqueduct plus Whitehouse and Chirk tunnels.

 Pontcysyllte means 'the bridge that connects'.
There are 18 piers 126ft 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. Kind of like treacle toffee.
The aqueduct holds 1.5 million litres of water and takes two hours to drain.
The structure is 1,007ft long, with the River Dee running beneath it.
The work was undertaken by Thomas Telford and supervised by the more experienced canal engineer William Jessop.
The first stone was laid in July 1795. It was completed in 1805 using local stone.
This is the largest aqueduct in Britain. It's fed by water from the Horseshoe Falls near Llangollen.
The water runs through an iron trough that measures 11ft 10ins wide and 5ft 3ins deep.