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Tall tales fun at Britain's highest aqueduct

Enjoy tall tales at Britain’s highest aqueduct when the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site to host a family fun day in March.

On 31 March Ruth Moore-Williams, folk singer and story teller, will be enthralling children and adults with her canal ditties and wild words of the waterways.

A range of community craft and food stalls will be selling their wares and Explorers, our children's education arm of the Trust, will be hosting activities for children of all ages.

Visitors to the event will also be the first to see the newly-refurbished grade II listed twin dry docks, which have been restored as part of an £88,000 project funded by the European Rural Development Programme, Wrexham County Borough Council and public donations to the Canal & River Trust.

Over 200 years old

Dating back to the early 19th century, the docks were in need of vital repair work to seal leaks in the chamber walls, remove vegetation, replace and repair posts and fences. The project has included improvements to public access, painting and masonry repairs, and new paved pathways near the visitor centre. The covered dock is currently leased by boat hire company Anglo Welsh and is still used for boat repairs.

Lynda Slater, visitor centre manager at Trevor Basin, said: “The fun day will be a fantastic celebration to mark the end of the refurbishment and landscaping work and the start of the main summer season.

“Each year the magnificent Pontcysyllte Aqueduct attracts more than 200,000 visitors as word spreads of this stunning engineering masterpiece. Opened in 1805 and designed by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, it is the highest, longest aqueduct in the UK.”

Last Edited: 29 November 2016

photo of a location on the canals
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