WORLD HERITAGE LIST NOMINATION FORM Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Under the terms of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, called ‘the World Heritage Committee’, shall establish, under the title of ‘World Heritage List’, a list of properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which it considers as having Outstanding Universal Value in terms of such criteria as it shall have established. The purpose of this form is to enable States Parties to submit to the World Heritage Committee nominations of properties situated in their territory and suitable for inclusion in the World Heritage List. This Nomination Document has been prepared in accordance with the ‘Format for the nomination of cultural and natural properties for inscription on the World Heritage list’ issued by UNESCO. The form has been completed in English and is sent in two copies to:- The Secretariat World Heritage Centre UNESCO 7 Place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION Nomination Form Published by Wrexham County Borough Council and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in 2008, with funding from Cadw, on behalf of the World Heritage Site Steering Group. Further copies are available from Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Crown Building, Plas Crug, Aberystwyth, Wales, SY23 1NJ, United Kingdom. Telephone 44 (0)1970 621200 e-mail [email protected] www.rcahmw.gov.uk ISBN 978-1-871184-31-0 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Steering Group This bid is led by Wrexham County Borough Council, British Waterways and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Other organisations committed to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal nomination for World Heritage Status are: 2 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE Aqueduct & Canal NOMINATION AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE Nomination Document 2008 4 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT FOREWORD AND CANAL by The Rt Hon James Purnell MP, WORLD HERITAGE Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport NOMINATION The World Heritage Convention has proved to be an effective and positive force in bringing together nations from all over the world to safeguard collectively sites of Outstanding Universal Value. Since the United Kingdom signed up to the Convention in 1984, we have fully supported UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee in its implementation. We continue to support UNESCO in its initiatives to achieve a thematic and geographical balance of properties on the World Heritage List and to identify potential World Heritage Sites in technological and other categories that are currently under-represented on the List. I am therefore delighted that the United Kingdom Government is now able to nominate Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal. Largely situated in Wales, the Site is a supreme example of a highly-engineered inland waterways transport route and an heroic monument which symbolises the technological innovation and technical achievement that played such a crucial role in, and contributed signifi cantly to, the Industrial Revolution during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I am extremely grateful to the Welsh Assembly Government for their support for this nomination, the fi rst from the United Kingdom for a site that extends across country borders. I would also like to express my thanks to the many people and organisations who have worked in a spirit of partnership to develop this nomination and its accompanying Management Plan. On behalf of the United Kingdom Government, I am delighted to give my full support to this nomination for World Heritage status. James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Foreword 5 6 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT PREFACE AND CANAL by The Right Honourable Rhodri Morgan AM WORLD HERITAGE First Minister for Wales NOMINATION Wales is a nation with a deep and diverse heritage. That is why we already have two unique and important World Heritage inscriptions, Blaenavon Industrial Landscape and the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd. This new nomination rightly places Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal alongside these two and is the fi rst since power over domestic affairs was devolved to Wales in 1999. If accepted, Pontcysyllte will join other sites of Outstanding Universal Value around the globe that are inscribed on the World Heritage List. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and its canal are loved and admired by the people of Wales and others from across the world. The aqueduct fi gured highly in a recent national poll to celebrate the wonders of Wales, and the consultation on this nomination has demonstrated overwhelming support from the general public: more than ninety-four per cent endorsed the proposal. The Site is appreciated internationally by those interested in the creative innovation of the Enlightenment or the history of early industrialisation and by those who have thrilled to the sheer mastery of the elements displayed by the ‘sky-borne canal’. Since 1947 the canal has come to be known and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of participants from all continents in the Llangollen International Eisteddfod that takes place on its banks every year, one of the largest international dance and music festivals in the world and the stage on which Luciano Pavarotti fi rst performed. I wish to thank especially the lead partners among many who have worked to make this such an excellent Nomination, particularly Wrexham County Borough Council, British Waterways, my offi cials in Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. I hope that in due course World Heritage Site status will allow Wales to share Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal ever more effectively with the international community. Rhodri Morgan AM First Minister for Wales Preface 7 8 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT CONTENTS AND CANAL WORLD HERITAGE NOMINATION Executive Summary 13 Section 1 – Identifi cation of the Property 15 1.a State Party and Country 17 1.b Region 17 1.c Name of the Property 17 1.d Geographical co-ordinates to the nearest second 17 1.e Maps and plans showing boundaries of the Property 20 1.f Area of the Property 20 Section 2 – Description 23 2.a Description of the Property 27 2.b History and development 75 Section 3 – Justifi cation for Inscription 105 3.a Criteria under which inscription is proposed and justifi cation 107 3.b Proposed statement of Outstanding Universal Value 118 3.c Comparative analysis 121 3.d Authenticity and integrity 131 Section 4 – State of Conservation and factors affecting the Property 139 4.a Present state of conservation 141 4.b Factors affecting the Property 149 Section 5 – Protection and Management of the Property 157 5.a Ownership 159 5.b Protective designations 159 5.c Means of implementing protective measures 169 5.d Existing plans related to municipality and region in which the proposed Property is located 173 5.e Property Management Plan 184 5.f Sources and levels of fi nance 188 5.g Sources of expertise and training in conservation and management techniques 190 5.h Visitor facilities and statistics 191 5.i Policies and programmes related to the presentation and promotion of the Property 191 5.j Staffi ng levels (professional, technical, maintenance) 197 Opposite: Section 6 – Monitoring 199 Thomas Telford’s curving 6.a Key Indicators for measuring state of conservation 201 weir at Horseshoe Falls, 6.b Administrative arrangements for monitoring the Property 202 which extracts water from the River Dee for 6.c Results of previous reporting exercises 205 the whole canal. Contents 9 Section 7 – Documentation 207 7.a Photographs, slides, image inventory and authorisation table and other audiovisual materials 209 7.b Texts relating to protective designation, copies of property management plans or documented management systems and extracts of other plans relevant to the Property 210 7.c Form and date of most recent records or inventory of the Property 212 7.d Address where inventory, records and archives are held 213 7.e Bibliography 213 Section 8 – Contact Information 221 8.a Preparer 223 8.b Offi cial local institution/agency 223 8.c Other local institutions 223 8.d Offi cial web address 223 Section 9 – Signature on behalf of the State Party 225 Section 10 – Acknowledgements 229 Opposite: The central spans of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct from the River Dee. 10 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT AND CANAL WORLD HERITAGE NOMINATION Executive Summary 11 12 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal PONTCYSYLLTE AQUEDUCT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CANAL WORLD HERITAGE NOMINATION State Party United Kingdom State, Province or Region Wales and England, with elements of the Site in Wrexham County Borough and the County of Denbighshire in Wales, and the Borough of Oswestry and County of Shropshire in England. Name of Property/Site Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal Geographical co-ordinates to nearest second The centre of the nominated World Heritage Site, at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, is at: Latitude: 52˚ 58' 13" N Longitude: 3˚ 5' 11" W. Textual Description of the boundaries of the Nominated Property The Nominated Site’s boundaries have been drawn to include all those areas or attributes that are a direct and tangible expression of its Outstanding Universal Value: the canal and its engineering features together with remains associated with its construction and historical operation. It consists of 11 miles / 18 kilometres of continuous waterway, from Horseshoe Falls near Llangollen to Gledrid Bridge near Rhoswiel. The boundary encompasses the full extent of the construction works of the canal and all its major engineering features together with areas of land relating to important views of and from the key structures.