Elan Aqueduct

Elan aqueduct on the Deepwood Dingle Crossing, Bringewood

The Elan aqueduct carries drinking water for Birmingham from the Elan Valley Reservoirs in Radnorshire to Frankley Reservoir in Worcestershire. (map)

It delivers enormous quantities of water by gravity through eleven major river valleys. The aqueduct is 73 miles long, down which the water travels at less than two miles per hour, taking one-and-a-half days to get to Birmingham.

Construction

View over the aqueduct as it crosses the River Severn

Work on the first 13 miles of the route from the Elan Valley was started in June 1896 by Birmingham Corporation Water Department. The aqueduct was built in sections by outside contractors, using three types of construction depending on the nature of the terrain it had to cross. "Cut and cover" was essentially a brick lined channel which was manually dug as a trench, then roofed over and concealed underground. Where the route of the aqueduct encountered high ground above the gradient needed to maintain the downward slope, a certain amount of tunnelling was required, using the same type of channel as above. This totalled around 12 miles, with the longest single length being just over four miles. The third construction type was the use of either bridged aqueducts or inverted syphons to cross valleys and rivers where the ground level dropped too steeply for the required hydraulic gradient to be maintained. The pipeline was continued at the other side of the valley at the same height as the delivery pipe. With the inverted syphon technique, the water naturally fills the lower section of pipe due to the head of water and flow continues downstream.

The aqueduct over the River Severn

The initial scheme opened in 1906 with two 42in-diameter pipes. Two more pipes of 60in diameter were added between 1919 and 1961. The engineer for the Elan aqueduct scheme was James Mansergh.

Route

The route is Caban Coch (52°15’51"N, 3°35’52"W) via Elan Valley, Rhayader, Dolau, Knighton, Leintwardine, Downton on the Rock, Ludlow, Knowbury, Cleobury Mortimer, Bewdley and Hagley to Frankley (52°25’21"N, 2°0’5"W). (map)

Features

Pediment of valve house with "Birmingham Corporation Water" wording

The aqueduct and its related features are visible at:

• River Wye: 52°17’47"N, 3°30’12"W
• Valve house: 52°17’30"N, 3°26’41"W
• Nantmel Aqueduct: 52°17’10"N, 3°24’59"W
• Carmel Aqueduct: 52°17’15"N, 3°22’60"W
• Bridge over culverted stream: 52°18’3"N, 3°12’60"W
• Observation tower: 52°18’13"N, 3°11’19"W
• Bridge over stream: 52°18’53"N, 3°7’19"W
• Survey tower52°19’14"N, 3°6’27"W
• Brynymor: 52°17’16"N, 3°22’59"W
• Hidden Aqueduct: 52°20’5"N, 3°4’7"W
• Valve house: 52°20’24"N, 3°2’45"W
• Inspection chamber: 52°20’52"N, 3°0’18"W
• Inspection chamber: 52°20’55"N, 2°58’50"W
• Graham's Cottage Bridge (River Teme, Leintwardine): 52°20’50"N, 2°51’31"W
• Downton Bridge (River Teme, Downton): 52°21’3"N, 2°50’27"W
• Inspection chamber: 52°21’17"N, 2°49’31"W
• Valve house: 52°21’33"N, 2°48’13"W
• Inspection chamber: 52°21’36"N, 2°47’48"W
• Valve house: 52°21’38"N, 2°47’38"W
• Deepwood Dingle crossing ("80 or 90 feet high", built by Messrs. Morrison & Mason, of Glasgow.): 52°21’39"N, 2°47’23"W
• Wheelers Vallets Dingle Crossing: 52°21’41"N, 2°46’50"W
• Teme Bridge (River Teme, Ludlow): 52°21’35"N, 2°42’13"W
• Ledwyche Brook: 52°21’37"N, 2°40’49"W
• Inspection chamber: 52°21’47"N, 2°37’43"W
• Bennettsend Bridge (Cumberley Lane/ Colly Brook): 52°21’56"N, 2°37’2"W
• Hope Bagot Bridge: 52°21’52"N, 2°36’21"W
• Corn Brook: 52°22’10"N, 2°34’54"W
• Trig point: 52°21’59"N, 2°35’48"W
• Valve house: 52°22’53"N, 2°30’26"W
• Bridge over stream: 52°23’8"N, 2°29’34"W
• River Rea: 52°23’15"N, 2°28’44"W
• Mad Brook: 52°23’35"N, 2°24’50"W
• River Severn: 52°24’4"N, 2°19’53"W
• siphon: 52°24’53"N, 2°15’58"W
• siphon: 52°24’60"N, 2°15’7"W
• siphon: 52°25’48"N, 2°9’47"W
• siphon: 52°25’46"N, 2°9’10"W
• Remains of former bridge over the Birmingham-Worcester railway line: 52°25’46"N, 2°8’34"W

Some crossings over canals and railways have been replaced by buried pipes. The line of the buried aqueduct through woodland is marked by a 66-foot "exclusion zone" from which trees are removed.

See also

• Crossings of the River Severn

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Elan Aqueduct)

• Elan Valley Aqueduct
• User-generated map of the route on Google Maps.