photohunt

Chirk aqueduct is 70 feet high and was built between 1796 and 1801 by Thomas Telford and William Jessop.

The ten circular masonry arches of the structure, each spanning 40 feet, have piers carried between them as pilaster strips. There is no cast iron trough carrying the water of the canal, as at Pontcysyllte. Instead, the bed is of iron plates, bolted together, with the side walls built of stone quarried locally at Pont Faen.

The relationship of the sets of arches running parallel with one another conjures up images of “Roman grandeur” as the architect, Edward Hubbard says in “Buildings of Wales, Clwyd” and one perhaps thinks particularly of the aqueduct at Tarragona, Spain. The view as one walks towards them is certainly romantic, particularly in strong sunlight and has caught the imagination of artists and writers in the past. There are drawings of the aqueduct by G.Pickering and Henry Gastineau of the early 19th century.

The viaduct that stands along side the aqueduct stands 100 feet high.

The railway viaduct at Chirk which was erected in 1846-8 and rebuilt in 1858 was the work of the Scottish engineer Henry Robertson. The 100 feet high stone structure was built for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway and has ten spans with round arches between pedimented abutments containing niches. Three further arches at either end of the viaduct replace former timber spans and are dated 1858-9. The viaduct stands some 30 feet above the adjoining aqueduct.

By Water or Rail

Through the Archway

Looking Down

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

22 Comments CherryPie on May 27th 2011

22 Responses to “PhotoHunt – Looking Down”

  1. Claude says:

    It looks so lovely and peaceful. As if time has stopped for the afternoon.

    • CherryPie says:

      It was a lovely relaxing afternoon :-)

      One of the interesting things was watching the boats emerge from the tunnel. Just to get that in perspective the were emerging from the bottom towards the top of the last photo :-)

  2. Claude says:

    I had not realised there was a tunnel. I hope you took the boat ride?

    • CherryPie says:

      I didn’t take a boat ride it was part of a longer day out visiting several places. The barges in the last picture are waiting to go through the tunnel. There were barges emerging from the tunnel so they had to wait for them to pass before they could go through.

  3. I have been to Dundas Aqueduct and Avoncliff Aqueduct before.
    But this Chirk Aqueduct is even grander than them!
    Wow, 70 feet high!?!
    What a feat of engineering! :)

  4. Ruth says:

    That looks fab. I’d love to take a boatride over that aqueduct!

  5. WOw Cherie that is beautiful. I have never visited a canal aqueduct. Again something I should correct!

  6. Jerry says:

    Beautiful shots! One of these days I’ll have to visit that area of the world.

    Have a great weekend.

  7. Lilian says:

    Looks lovely. I’ve been to Chirk a few times (one of my friends lives there) but never seen it from these angles and not on such a nice sunny day!

  8. srp says:

    What a lovely structure and a great way to travel in those boats. Gorgeous scenery. You really can only get a feel for the countryside by looking down from some height.
    My looking down is here. Have a great weekend!

  9. Taking picture of the sheep in pasture. I hope I’m seeing those right. It look like you would almost be tangling from under neath.
    But still so green and beautiful.

    Coffee is on and have a peaceful memorial day.

  10. gitwizard says:

    Great shots! I was telling a friend last weekend about a old railway bridge similar to your viaduct pic that is part of a long distance cycle route but I can’t remember exactly where it is.

  11. jameshigham says:

    Absolutely adore such places and such as this featured heavily at the end of one of my books.