The warehouse is situated at the Llangollen town wharf on the towing path immediately to west of the modern road bridge taking Wharf Hill road over the canal. The land falls away steeply to the rear.

The attractive rubble warehouse building at the Llangollen Wharf probably dates from the construction of the canal (1804-8) and was probably built to service the trade in general goods to Llangollen town. It was later heightened and extended in red brick. It is now a two-storey structure at the centre with a slate roof and a dentil brick cornice. There are full height double boarded doors in the centre and a window to the left below the bucket rack. The rubble lean-to at the left has a boarded door under a cambered arch and a modern window on the left end and a single storey brick range on the right has a broad camber headed entry and modern dormer. The modern ticket office is at the right end and there are casement windows and modern additions to the rear. There is a crane on the wharf quay and the building was re-used as a Canal Museum in the later twentieth century but is now a horse-drawn boat hire centre and cafe.

The eastern part (as far west as the Elwyseg Valley) of the 6-mile long navigable Llangollen water feeder canal arm from the north end of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct had been proposed as early as 1791 as a branch of the proposed eastern mainline canal in Shropshire that was to link Rivers Mersey and Dee with the River Severn. The purpose of the Llangollen branch was primarily that of a feeder to supply the main Ellesmere Canal drawing water off the River Dee at Horseshoe Falls. Work was begun in 1804 and completed in 1808 with Thomas Telford as part-time Principal Engineer or Agent and Thomas Denson as resident engineer. The feeder canal in addition provided transport to the slate quarries and the limestone works. In 1846 it became part of the Shropshire Union Railways Company but the following year was taken over by the LNWR. Transport on the canal diminished in late C19 with arrival of the railways and then ceased by 2nd World War. The canal was only kept open because of its importance as a supplier of water to the Shropshire Union Canal, the steam engines at Chester Station and some houses in the Crewe area. Over 6 million gallons a day are metered into the canal at Horseshoe Falls.

Reference source: T Pellow and P Bowen, "Canal to Llangollen", (1988).


Iain Wright & Stephen R. Hughes, 29.05.2007 drawing from Cadw Listed Building Description record no. 1225.