11838

 

II*  

Designated  

29/01/1980  

26/11/2003  

Aberdulais Aqueduct (partly in Tonna community)  

 

Neath Port Talbot  

Blaenhonddan  

Neath  

Aberdulais  

277269  

199281  

 

Spanning the Afon Nedd W of Aberdulais Basin and approximately 0.4km N of Tonna church.  

Water Supply and Drainage  

 

The Tennant Canal, engineered by William Kirkhouse, was begun in 1821 and the aqueduct across the River Neath at Aberdulais was begun in 1823. The canal opened in 1824 from the Neath Canal at Aberdulais to Port Tennant, Swansea. Traffic declined from the 1860s due to competition with railways but the canal did not close to commercial traffic until 1934.  

Canal aqueduct, 10 bay, of coursed rubble stone, with dressed stone segmental arch rings. The arches are of uneven spans, being wider in the centre. V-shaped cutwaters on the upstream side have pyramidal caps. Towpaths are on both sides. The coping is part stone, part brick. The aqueduct enters a lock on the W bank and has a cast iron trough with stone coping at the E end (passing over a former and earlier navigable channel) before it enters the Aberdulais Basin on the E bank.  

 

Listed Grade II* for its industrial archaeological interest as a fine example of early C19 canal engineering in a prominent location, and for group value with other associated listed items on the Tennant Canal at Aberdulais. Scheduled Ancient Monument GM506.