 |
|
|
 | |
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries the canal across the River Dee
© Courtesy of the Llangollen Museum
|
| |  |
The Whixall Moss Gang |
 |
The Whixall Moss
The Langollen Canal, originally known as the Ellesmere Canal after the company who originally built it and the town which was its birthplace, runs from Frankton to Whitchurch and is 46 miles in length. Construction began in 1797, and was finally completed in 1805. When completed, the Llangollen Canal joined the Chester Canal which ran from Nantwich to Chester, which in turn joined the Trent and Mersey, thus opening up a whole new range of traffic and opportunities to the Llangollen area.
Click here for a photographic trip down the canal
Over 6,000 boats a year travel on the canal
© Courtesy of English Nature |
When designing the canal, engineers William Jessop and Thomas Telford decided to traverse Whixall Moss to achieve a more direct route rather than bypass to the South-West or North-East. It is testimony to the perceived value of this canal that it was ever conceived in the first place. For Whixall Moss was not the only obstacle, the Pontcysllte aqueduct shows what other natural geographical obstacles needed to be overcome.
Putting a canal through Whixall Moss was a tricky feat of engineering, one which would require much aftercare, a fact that did not escape the canal’s builders:
“Upon Whixall Moss a perseverance of strict attention will be necessary for some time.”
The technical difficulties relate to the nature of Whixall Moss, and the challenge this creates for canal cuters. Along with Fenn’s, Bettisfield and Wem and Cadey Mossed, Whixall is part of Britain’s largest lowland raised bog. The problem was the fact that cutting a watertight channel through a bog, whose levels are ever changing, is not advisable. The canal had to float through the Whixall Moss.
The banks of the canal were built of clay, which sank through the peat, leading to the water level becoming too low and water draining through the bog. The solution was to employ a team of navvies to continuously build up the canal banks with clay, to prevent the freeboard reducing and losing the water. Thus the Whixall Moss Gang was created.
Your comments
| |
 Print this page |
|
Archive
Look back into the past using the Legacies' archives. Find nearly 200 tales from around the country in our collection.
Read more > |
| | |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external Web sites. |
| | | |
| | |
| |
|
