Attractions and Places To See around Llangollen - Top 20

The Llantysilio Green weir, more commonly known as the Horseshoe Falls, is a 140-meter-long, horseshoe-shaped weir designed by Thomas Telford in 1808 to divert water from the River Dee into the Llangollen Canal. This prominent structure is a significant piece of engineering and a feature of the World Heritage Site, providing water for the canal and attracting tourists with its unique design and surrounding landscape. The Llantysilio Green Car Park is a designated access point for visiting the falls. In the late 19th century a long piece of wood, about 30cm wide, floated on the water here to deflect floating debris away from the canal intake. It was fixed at one end. It’s visible in the photo, taken c.1890. Some trippers couldn’t resist the temptation to walk along it, ignoring a warning sign nearby, if they weren’t spotted by the “waterman” in charge of the sluice. Local residents took a dim view of such “unheeding folly”. 😂😂

Went up on a beautiful crisp late morning hike from car park but could be nice to go from town of Llangollen

Located on the River Dee, near to Llantysilio, this masterpiece of Thomas Telford Engineering is where the Pontcysllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage site begins. He designed this weir to draw water from the River Dee in to the canal, and it became a stunning addition to the landscape. At 460ft (140M) long, it’s a sight to behold.

This is the first place you come to if you take the canal route into Llangollen. Make sure you dismount before getting to the horse drawn boats.

No matter what the weather or time of year, there’s nothing quite like homemade fare in welcoming surroundings. The Llangollen Wharf is also home to Horse Drawn Boats and Aqueduct Barge Trips and Serves breakfast, soup, cakes, snacks and a very popular Afternoon Tea. You will need to dismount your bike as you come through this area due to horses pulling boats. Children and outside seating it can get quite busy because it's a popular area along the canal. They also have toilets.

The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use by narrowboats and was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build. It is 12 feet (3.7 metres) wide and is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain as well as the highest canal aqueduct in the world. A towpath runs alongside the watercourse on one side. The aqueduct was to have been a key part of the central section of the proposed Ellesmere Canal, an industrial waterway that would have created a commercial link between the River Severn at Shrewsbury and the Port of Liverpool on the River Mersey.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales. The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure is for use by narrowboats and was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build.

The distinctively shaped weir, which is 460 feet (140 m) long, helps create a pool of water that can enter the Llangollen Canal (via an adjacent valve house and flow meter). The canal west of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the construction of the weir were authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1804 by the Ellesmere Canal Company. The canal was a navigable feeder, which supplied water to the Ellesmere Canal beyond Pontcysyllte, and to the Chester Canal, to which it connected near Nantwich. Thomas Telford was the civil engineer responsible for the design, and the canal and feeder were completed in 1808.