Shropshire Canal aqueduct at SJ 69423 05931

Shropshire Canal aqueduct, Aqueduct Village, Telford, TF3 1NL

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Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1377111
Date first listed:: 06-Apr-1993
List Entry Name:: Shropshire Canal aqueduct at SJ 69423 05931
Statutory Address:: Shropshire Canal aqueduct, Aqueduct Village, Telford, TF3 1NL

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Date:: 2002-08-07
Reference:: IOE01/08120/18
Rights:: © Revd John Gear. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1377111
Date first listed:: 06-Apr-1993
Date of most recent amendment:: 06-Mar-2025
List Entry Name:: Shropshire Canal aqueduct at SJ 69423 05931
Statutory Address 1:: Shropshire Canal aqueduct, Aqueduct Village, Telford, TF3 1NL

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Shropshire Canal aqueduct, Aqueduct Village, Telford, TF3 1NL

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Telford and Wrekin (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Dawley Hamlets
National Grid Reference:: SJ6942305931

Summary

A stone aqueduct to carry the Shropshire Canal over the Wellington to Bridgnorth road, built around 1792.

Reasons for Designation

The Shropshire Canal aqueduct at SJ 69423 05931 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the design of the aqueduct shows engineering proficiency and successfully enabled the transportation of the canal over uneven terrain and the road.

Historic interest:

* the aqueduct illustrates the history of this late-C18 former inland waterway route and the industry it supported in an area central to England’s Industrial Revolution.

History

The Shropshire Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament of 1788, and funded by public subscription. The canal was constructed soon after authorisation, with the engineer being William Reynolds (1758-1803). The canal ran through what is now Telford, starting at Oakengates in the north, then running south to Southall, where it split into a western branch towards Coalbrookdale and an eastern branch to Coalport. The canal was used by small, unpowered tub boats, largely carrying coal and iron. From the mid-C19 parts of the Shropshire Canal were replaced by the railway, with the last canal section in use until 1912. The aqueduct is on the canal’s western branch (at National Grid reference SJ 69423 05931). It carried the canal over what was the old road from Wellington to Bridgnorth, but is now a lane running parallel with and between Mallory Drive and Southall Way, around 30m west of the Silkin Way cycle track. A plaque commemorating the war dead of the village was added to the aqueduct following restoration works carried out in 2001.

Details

A stone aqueduct to carry the Shropshire Canal over the Wellington to Madeley road, built around 1792.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar.

PLAN: trapezoid, orientated with the long parallel sides to the north-west and south-east, and the south-west end longer than the north-east.

EXTERIOR: the aqueduct is carried over the path below by an elliptical arch. The arch is formed by a single course of ashlar voussoir stones. The abutments are in ashlar blocks. Above the arch, ashlar blocks extend upwards and form parapets either side of the aqueduct, which is now infilled and carries a tarmac path rather than water in an iron trough. Iron railings are above the parapets, set back from the edge. A wall extends at right-angles to the north-west from the north elevation, retaining the soil of the steep road cutting to the north-east. The aqueduct has also been buttressed to its south side by a shorter wall in rubble stone projecting at right-angles to the south-west, this wall retains some of the slope of the road cutting to the south-west. Also on the south elevation is an oval metal plaque that bears the inscription: ‘BUILT c.1792 THIS / AQUEDUCT WAS RESTORED / IN 2001 / ALSO REMEMBERED HERE / ARE THE WAR DEAD OF / AQUEDUCT VILLAGE’.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 362529
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Websites
Aqueduct Village War Memorial, Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register ref 62664, accessed 19 November 2024 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/62664
Other
'The Shropshire Canal of 1788 was the first public enterprise of its kind'. W. Howard Williams, article in The Shropshire Magazine, July 1954
The National Archives: IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments, Shropshire, Stirchley parish, 1839

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.