My brother in law has lived in Chirk all his life and i have visited many times.As a teen i walked through that tunnel .(terrifying.) and rode the steam train across the railway bridge. One of the most impressive pieces of engineering,but Telford was a genius.
Thank you for the walking tour. I will never get back to the UK, with the ALS I have. Appreciate your videos because you explain as you walk along. Happy new year tomorrow, Steve. Hope you enjoy it. 🇬🇧👍🙂🇺🇸
Happy new year to you too, I hope your health is holding well, the good news is there’s massive funding coming in now so hopefully things will change soon for ALS
Back in the 60s my dad worked for a construction firm called Whitehouse in the Midlands. They were a very old established company. Things that make you say hmm I wonder if they built that tunnel
Went thru there on a boat about 10 years ago. Looking at the maps now it would seem that the second ventilation tunnel was probably filled in when the railway was built as it goes right over the canal in its own cut and cover. The two tunnels must be quite close vertically.
Imagine looking across the valley (pre build) from the hilltop and thinking; we need to build a navigable river across this piece of sky, and the spans-reach are made with brittle bricks and blocks!, & @ the right height to seamlessly connect with an upper waterway!! Then add water with boats on!
My understanding was the Chirk tunnel was tunnelled out, why else were the shafts put in . The shaft was put in so they could dig it from several places at the same time.
Shafts were also built for air, I did wonder the same as I was walking through though, my research said cut and cover though but I definitely doubt it myself
@@DeeFPV I’ve just checked, Pontrhydyfen was definitely for blast furnaces, there was no canal in port Talbot there were the Neath and tennant canals on the edge up towards Swansea but they don’t go near the aqueduct you mention they run inland but not as far across
I love restoration, I do the odd video like this but my channel is mainly about the rebuilding of the canal network and the history of it. I filmed this and nexts weeks video whilst I was there filming on the Monty restoration. I’ll continue to do videos like these but it’s just more restoration on my channel
It’s the need for water that saved this canal, water is fed from the Dee at horseshoe falls Llangollen and is fed down all the way to Hurston Reservoir.
@@jonathanellis1842yeah I’m going to film that at a later date. I’m just editing the Pontcysyllte video now which I was tempted to add it too, it’s going to be a long edit already though so it’s better for another video
@@CourtAboveTheCut That is why there is a high flow rate if you navigating West by boat, as they are controlling - feeding water down the canal all the time from the Dee. This is also why many boaters observe when navigating locks the spill ways are very much in action and knock the boat off course before entering the lock chamber.
My brother in law has lived in Chirk all his life and i have visited many times.As a teen i walked through that tunnel .(terrifying.) and rode the steam train across the railway bridge. One of the most impressive pieces of engineering,but Telford was a genius.
It’s such a historic area, I bet that it was amazing to go over it in a steam train!
Thanks for making these videos!
Thanks for watching them!
Thank you for the walking tour. I will never get back to the UK, with the ALS I have. Appreciate your videos because you explain as you walk along. Happy new year tomorrow, Steve. Hope you enjoy it. 🇬🇧👍🙂🇺🇸
Happy new year to you too, I hope your health is holding well, the good news is there’s massive funding coming in now so hopefully things will change soon for ALS
Nice film 👌 we're at Chirk at the moment great place 👌 walked the tunnel its creepy lol
I went down at first light, did some filming around and waited for a bit, that northern portal is sinister looking in the dark!
The tramway mentioned is the revival of the Glyn valley Tramway
Ah thank you, I’ll get on google!
I love that place - yep, we can pronounce it.
It’s held together with sugar…
I have some welsh mates who often give me pronunciations but they do like to lie to me occasionally 😂
Back in the 60s my dad worked for a construction firm called Whitehouse in the Midlands. They were a very old established company. Things that make you say hmm I wonder if they built that tunnel
I might have to start Googling!
I think it's named after whitehurst gardens. Which is the old walled garden of chirk castle.
Went thru there on a boat about 10 years ago. Looking at the maps now it would seem that the second ventilation tunnel was probably filled in when the railway was built as it goes right over the canal in its own cut and cover. The two tunnels must be quite close vertically.
Ah that makes a lot of sense as they definitely cross with the railway tunnel being slightly higher
Glyn valley Tramway they have some track there now and had a horse drawn wagon working last year at there open week end
I might have to try and get up there for a ride, for educational purposes of course
Imagine looking across the valley (pre build) from the hilltop and thinking; we need to build a navigable river across this piece of sky, and the spans-reach are made with brittle bricks and blocks!, & @ the right height to seamlessly connect with an upper waterway!! Then add water with boats on!
It’s crazy isn’t it, the engineers were mad back then, they had to be!
If a boat is going through the tunnel how does the boat let other barges not to enter at the same time is there a traffic light system?
No but you have to have a light on the boat, it’s short enough to see
My understanding was the Chirk tunnel was tunnelled out, why else were the shafts put in . The shaft was put in so they could dig it from several places at the same time.
Shafts were also built for air, I did wonder the same as I was walking through though, my research said cut and cover though but I definitely doubt it myself
in wales thers like 3 or 4 Aqueduct around neath wales but thers a big one you can walk on this is the name Pontrhydyfen Aqueduct if want to look
That wasn’t a canal but a water supply to blast furnaces
@@CourtAboveTheCut yes its a canal it uesd to swansey and to neath and up into the vallyes and mabey joine another part of the canal network
@@DeeFPV oh it’s not the one I’m thinking of then, I’ll have a read up
@@DeeFPV I’ve just checked, Pontrhydyfen was definitely for blast furnaces, there was no canal in port Talbot there were the Neath and tennant canals on the edge up towards Swansea but they don’t go near the aqueduct you mention they run inland but not as far across
Why don't you do working caanals and the ones wihich were restore as well.
I love restoration, I do the odd video like this but my channel is mainly about the rebuilding of the canal network and the history of it. I filmed this and nexts weeks video whilst I was there filming on the Monty restoration. I’ll continue to do videos like these but it’s just more restoration on my channel
It’s the need for water that saved this canal, water is fed from the Dee at horseshoe falls Llangollen and is fed down all the way to Hurston Reservoir.
@@jonathanellis1842yeah I’m going to film that at a later date. I’m just editing the Pontcysyllte video now which I was tempted to add it too, it’s going to be a long edit already though so it’s better for another video
@@CourtAboveTheCut That is why there is a high flow rate if you navigating West by boat, as they are controlling - feeding water down the canal all the time from the Dee. This is also why many boaters observe when navigating locks the spill ways are very much in action and knock the boat off course before entering the lock chamber.
Whitehurts = wooded hill.
Ah thank you!
You mean you can't pronounce. Duh!
I can barely pronounce most English words, I’ve got no hope with Welsh