Designed by Thomas Telford, the aqueduct carries the Ellesmere Canal (later the Llangollen and Shropshire Union) across the valley of the Ceiriog River, seventy feet below. It has 10 curved stone arches with spans of 40ft. The canal itself is carried in an internal cast-iron trough. The foundation stone of the Chirk Aqueduct was laid on 17 June 1796 and work was completed in 1801 by John Simpson, William Hazledine of Salop Builders and William Davies of Chirk.

The Chirk Aqueduct was the first of the Welsh aqueducts to be constructed for the Llangollen canal (the Act for which was passed in 1793), and was industrially very important, as this section of canal allowed the coalfields, granite quarries and slate mines in the Ceiriog valley to be linked.

RCAHMW, 2010.