History

The Horseshoe Falls were constructed by the renowned engineer Thomas Telford contemporary with the Llangollen canal begun in 1804 and completed in 1808. The falls were essential to the efficient operation of a complicated and heavily used canal network and represent one of the first river regulation schemes anywhere in Britain. Water was drawn off the fast flowing River Dee into the canal which acted principally as a feeder for the Ellesmere Canal. Today 6 million gallons a day are metered into the canal. The falls are more J-shaped than horseshoe so the name may refer to the horseshoe like bend in the river.

Exterior

460 ft long masonry weir sloped down to a 4 ft vertical face with cast-iron capping to the crest. The canal water is drawn off on a high level channel to N.
Sluice gate midway along has been removed; the channel curves left under a modern footbridge and then culverted under modern pumphouse into the canal.

Partly in Llantysilio Community.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Horseshoe Falls at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5906032

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)