Celebrations mark two-year community canal project in UNESCO World Heritage Site

The event is taking place on the Llangollen Canal in Chirk, and around the Chirk Aqueduct which is a 700-foot-long aqueduct designed by famous canal engineer Thomas Telford and William Jessop that carries the Llangollen Canal 70 feet above the River Ceiriog across ten circular masonry arches. Spanning the England and Welsh border, the structure was completed in 1801. Today the much-loved canal landmark is Grade II* listed and is a part of the Llangollen Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The celebratory event will feature a floating market with stalls from local traders, live music and a free water taxi by Anglo-Welsh Waterway Holidays transporting passengers between Chirk Bank and the aqueduct.

Visitors can follow a self-guided history trail of the lesser-known heritage and landmarks along the canal towpath and across the town and build their own LEGO model of aqueduct, taking inspiration from a brand-new six-foot LEGO model on display at Chirk Museum which is the second model commissioned as part of the community and heritage-led project. All events are free but due to limited capacity booking by Eventbrite is advised.

The event will get underway at 10am, marked by the ringing of the six bells of St Mary’s Church, which after they were cast and tunned in the 1800s, were transported to Chirk via the River Severn and then Llangollen Canal across the Chirk Aqueduct.

The special day is part of Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales’, community and heritage-led project funded thanks to the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund through Wrexham County Borough Council and is celebrating the end of the second phase of the project.

Throughout the last few years as part of the Shared Prosperity Funded project Glandŵr Cymru have been working closely with the communities of Chirk, Trevor, Froncysyllte and Cefn Mawr to explore the individual identities of these communities to celebrate the enormity of heritage that was enabled in the centuries since the making of the aqueducts pioneering technology, and the workforce who built it to inspire the next generation with the engineering marvel on their doorstep.

Anna Finn, community development manager for Glandŵr Cymru, said: “It’s fantastic have the community coming together to celebrate their local canal heritage. The aqueduct is a remarkable feat of engineering within the World Heritage Site, that still connects people, places and histories along the Llangollen Canal today. Events like this bring the canal to life, inspiring pride, supporting wellbeing through time spent by water, and helping people discover more about the natural environment. Getting people involved and inspired helps our charity build long-term care for these special places so we can secure the canal’s future for generations to come.”

Claire Farrell, Glandŵr Cymru’s Shared Prosperity Fund Community and Heritage-led Placemaking project director said: “The heritage and community-led project began with its first phase in 2023, we have come a long way in understanding the enormity of the industrial heritage that is still visible in abundance across the villages and towns which are brought to life through lived memories in these communities preserved by the local history museums here. This Sunday we are celebrating the centuries of people and places that tell the complete story of the industrial eras in this UNESCO World Heritage Site that followed the ingenuity of Chirk Aqueduct, and the pioneering technology which as Dr Peter Wakelin describes in his Pontcysllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site Guidebook saw engineering by Telford and Jessop ‘that literally commanded the landscape’”.

Keith Sinclair, Llangollen Rural Community Councillor, added: “This event will bring the aqueduct to life with a day of activities that offers visitors the chance to explore beyond the aqueduct, while also discovering more about the impact it had on the landscape in this part of North Wales over the centuries. It will also encourage residents and visitors to contemplate how the canal connects to the neighbouring communities of Fron and Trevor and beyond.”

The event gets underway on Sunday 22 March at 10am. If you sign up to attend in advance online you can enter into a draw to win a £50 Castle Bistro voucher, £50 Hand Hotel voucher or to win an Anglo Welsh boat trip for four people across Pontcysyllte Aqueduct during April.

A free heritage bus service will be in place on the day running between Chirk and Chirk Aqueduct.