Pentrefelin aqueduct
This aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal over the Eglwyseg river. This section of the canal was built from 1804 to 1808. Here it is runs along a substantial stone-faced embankment as it crosses the mouth of the side valley.
The river flows under an arch in the embankment, a little west of where the towpath widens. The old photo, courtesy of the Canal & River Trust Archive, shows the arch and part of the embankment wall.
Look north from the towpath to see an embankment built in the early 1850s for the Oernant tramway, which carried slate from quarries in the hills to the canal wharf at Pentrefelin. The embankment is on the far side of the field beyond the road. It features an arch over the river and a smaller opening for when the river is in flood.
Pentrefelin was often written as Pentre’r Felin in Victorian times (the difference being inclusion of the definite article before Felin). It means ‘village of the mill’. Water was abstracted from the Eglwyseg to power a corn mill which still stands, north of the western end of the canal embankment.
Beyond the old mill is Pentrefelin House, which dates from the 17th century. It was enlarged for a local tanner in the mid-19th century. Soon afterwards it became the home of Captain John Paull, manager of local slate quarries and the Pentrefelin slate and slab works. His nephew, John Littlejohns, also lived there and was the assistant manager and yard supervisor at the works.
Today the canal is looked after by the charity Glandwr Cymru the Canal & River Trust in Wales.
Postcode: LL20 8EE View Location Map
Canal & River Trust website – Llangollen Canal