Celebrating 10 years as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
10 years ago, in Seville, the 33rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee examined the nomination of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal and inscribed the property on the World Heritage List.
The 11-mile site is a testament to the engineers of the time, and exemplifying new approaches to engineering developed during the industrial revolution and used subsequently in waterway, railway and road construction throughout the world.
We join the collection of 1092 World Heritage Sites in the world. We are one of the 31 in the UK or one of the 3 in Wales.
To celebrate this 10-year anniversary a range of activities are taking place this year. There was a canal trip organised on the 27th June, the anniversary of the inscription for those involved during the initial inscription process as well as those who are involved in managing the site today.
A world Heritage Site fun day was held at Trevor on the 29th June, which was a great day involving the local community in stalls and activities leading up to the event including making very striking banners and bunting, as well as a piece of dance being commissioned and performed at the event.
There was a presence at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod which was very colourful and generated a lot of interest. It was a really useful way of promoting that the site is 11 miles long and not just focused around the Aqueduct.
We have been working in partnership with Wrexham County Borough Council, the Canal & River Trust and Techniquest Glyndŵr.
There are more activities planned for the rest of the year which will culminate with the World Heritage UK conference in October at Llangollen Pavilion.
There will be an exhibition of all the artwork that has been produced by the various groups throughout the year at Ty Pâwb in Wrexham in November and a unique musical event in Ty Pâwb on the 14th of November which will feature some specially commissioned poetry and music with inspiration taken from the Aqueduct and Canal.
Further updates will be posted on 'Watch the Pontcysyllte' social media pages.