THE Aqueduct of Pontcysylte is so called from a bridge of three arches over the river Dee, and situated a little higher up the river. This is the most stupendous work of the kind in the kingdom. It was designed and executed by and under the inspection of that British Archimedes, Mr. Thomas Telford, to carry a stream of water for the supply of the Ellesmere Canal; to the proprietors of which, in the year 1804, Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart. in the most liberal manner made an important donation of the waters of Bala pool, as far as wanted; and to obtain that essential advantage the Aqueduct was projected. {63} The level of the canal is taken at a place in the river a little below the church of Lantysilto, and about two miles on the west of Llangollen. The bank of the canal forms a charming promenade of about six miles from its junction with the Dee to the Aqueduct, abounding with interesting and picturesque scenery. Here and there snug little white cottages, peeping from among the surrounding trees, decorate and embellish the sides and recesses of some of the eminences; while the tops are dotted with the little mountain sheep, scarcely distinguishable from the white stones that are scattered upon their summits. The banks of the canal are ornamented with trees, and embellished with bridges, &c. This Aqueduct, the most extraordinary structure of its kind in the world, was begun on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1795, and was finished on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1805; having been ten years and five months in building. It is one thousand and seven feet in length, and one hundred and twenty-six feet eight inches in height from the surface of the flat rock on the south side of the river Dee, to the top of the iron side plates of the water way; and there are nineteen arches of forty-five feet span each. The piers, eighteen in number, are constructed of square masonry, and the arches and water way are composed of cast-iron. At the south end of the Aqueduct there is an embankment of earth, fifteen hundred feet in length, and seventy-five feet high. The water way is eleven feet ten inches broad, and five feet three inches deep. There is a broad towing-path on the east side, guarded by a strong iron palisade, running the whole length of the Aqueduct; from the north end of which the canal is continued for a distance of about three hundred yards, and there terminates in an extensive basin, which affords a double wharfage, with iron railways. I have heard of only one fatal accident occurring during the progress of this arduous undertaking; when a poor labourer employed on the work fell from the top of one of the piers, and was dashed to pieces on the rock below. His suffering was of short duration, as the tremendous height from which he fell caused instant dissolution.