Llangollen route 418, offering journeys to Wrexham and to London via Shrewsbury, Telford and Birmingham. The Ellesmere Canal was intended to connect the coal mines and ironworks at Ruabon and Wrexham to the canal network and thence to the sea via the River Mersey and the River Severn. The plans were altered, and instead of connecting Trevor northwards to the sea via the River Dee and southwards to the Severn, the canal ran eastwards to join the national network at Hurleston Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal near Nantwich. A feeder canal, navigable to Llangollen, was constructed from Trevor to tap
Llangollen Canal is on the towpath side, with only the towpath separating it from the canal in places. Both are surrounded by woods, and the canal is fringed by oak trees, many planted by the Shropshire Union Company to ensure that they had supplies of timber to replace their fleet of wooden boats as that became necessary. At the far end of Blake Mere is the short Ellesmere Tunnel, just long, and beyond that the market town of Ellesmere. A short branch leads into the town, at the end of which is a three-storey, red brick warehouse, dating from the early 19th