Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
end of the canal at Hurleston Junction and canal water as far apart as the northern end of the
Montgomeryshire Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal. A dam increased the depth of Llyn
Tegid at Bala to enhance supplies.
Repaired section clinging to the hillside in Llangollen
.
Above the weir is Llantysilio Hall. Parts of the interior of the Victorian church at
Llantysilio come from Valle Crucis Abbey. The glass in the south window is 16th century.
Below the Horseshoe Pass is Valle Crucis Abbey. The Cistercian abbey was founded in
1201 and fell into disrepair after the Dissolution of 1535, when it was the second-richest
Cistercian monastery after Tintern. It has been partially restored. It has sculpted memorial
slabs and includes parts of the church, 14th century chapter house and cloister. It has a not-
able west front with carved doorway and rose window. The chapter house has a rib-vaulted
roof near the original fishpond, the only monastic one in Wales. The name comes from the
valley of the cross. The 2.4m inscribed stone cross, just up the valley, was probably 9th cen-
tury and known as Eliseg's Pillar after the Prince of Powys who built Castell Dinas Bran and
was killed in battle in 603. The top third of the cross has been lost, having been pulled down
in the Civil War. Owen Glyndwr met the abbot one morning and remarked that he was up
early. The abbot replied that it was Glyndwr who was early, by a century, perhaps a reference
to the rise of the Tudors in 1485, to whom he was related. Glyndwr was not seen in public
again after this meeting.
A field that has been the home of the International Musical Eisteddfod since 1947 now has
a permanent pavilion. The Eisteddfod is an international gathering of music, song, dance and
poetry each July. The inaugural National Eisteddfod was also held in Llangollen and returns
here from time to time but it changes its venue around Wales every year.
Approximately fifty thousand people per season take horse-drawn boat trips from Llangol-
len Wharf, the longest-running trip boats on the entire canal system, having been established
in 1884 and more recently operated in three boats that are pulled by Welsh cobs. The wharf
building is now a restaurant.
