Ellesmere Yard, on the Llangollen Canal, is one of the oldest working boat yards in the country. As restoration work gets underway, we take a closer look at this hidden gem in the heart of Shropshire.
Ellesmere Yard, on the Llangollen Canal in Shropshire. Image credit Ian P Roberts
Established in 1806, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, Ellesmere Yard is steeped in history. Originally the headquarters of Ellesmere Canal Company, it played a critical role in the golden era of canal building, helping to maintain the Llangollen and Montgomery canals, and providing a base for engineering luminaries, Thomas Telford and William Jessop.
The site has been in operation ever since, retaining much of its original charm and infrastructure, from its blacksmith’s forge and pattern room to its dry dock and workshops. Indeed, some areas have barely changed in over half a century, as if frozen in time.
As our enterprise manager, Nicola Lewis-Smith, tells us: “The lock gate workshop is just as it was before closure in the 1960s. There’s a foreman’s desk where you pull out a drawer, and all the original drawings, job sheets and pencil notes are still there as if someone just stood up and walked away.”
Today, many of the buildings are Grade II and Grade II* listed, and the site is one of the few remaining canal maintenance yards in the country, providing a unique window into our industrial past. But inevitably, time is beginning to take its toll. With leaking roofs, cracked walls, and rotten woodwork, there’s a lot of work to be done to keep this old boat yard and its famous forge firing and give it a new lease of life.
Ellesmere Yard has been in continuous operation since 1806
Thanks to funding from Historic England and Shropshire Council’s Shared Prosperity Fund, essential repairs to the brickwork and timbers are due to be completed by March next year. And with a generous development phase grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund there’s a bright future ahead as we lay the groundwork for a full restoration over the coming years.
And as project manager Katie Woodroffe tells us, the Trust has big plans for Shropshire’s historic boat yard: “It’s been a working yard for more than 200 years, which is a rarity, so obviously we want to keep that operational aspect at its core; but moving forward, the plan is to restore and repurpose some of the site so we can create new opportunities for community engagement, volunteering, apprenticeships, and education.”
Event at Ellesmere Yard. Image credit Ian P Roberts
Thanks to our work with specialist consultants, MAAP, the yard is already somewhat of a community hub, with a number of pilot schemes beginning to show real promise. We’ve teamed up with local schools, colleges and businesses to provide paddle sports and education programmes, trialled volunteer-led heritage tours, begun making ecological enhancements to the surrounding fields, and even helped transform the resident fly-boat, Saturn, into a floating classroom.
“It’s a great foundation for the future,” says Katie, “and we’re keen to build on the work we’ve been doing here with MAAP. We want the yard to be seen as a space that everyone can benefit from and enjoy, but we need to find that balance between operational, commercial, educational, and, of course, community.”
For now, the focus is very much on preserving the ageing buildings and securing the necessary funds to make our vision for this treasured site a reality. With the right investment, we believe Ellesmere Yard can play a central role in the lives of the people of Ellesmere, creating jobs, boosting the local economy, and providing opportunities for heritage skills training, education, and volunteer participation. Who knows, it might even light the spark for the next generation of engineering luminaries.
