The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal – one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites – is a feat of Victorian engineering and the 11-mile long heritage site, which flows through the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB, in Wales, needed some updated interpretation for a modern family audience. Working for VisitMôr consultancy and with the staff from various agencies making up the Landscape Partnership Scheme, I conducted content research and refined the stories that had been identified in the Interpretation Action Plan to deliver a content plan for various panels to be installed at key sites along the length of the canal, which includes Horseshoe Falls at the western end to Chirk Aqueduct and railway bridge (pictured above) at the eastern/southern end.

The interpretation celebrates the engineering feats through the stories of the key people of the time, including the pioneering engineers and designers, the navigators that built the canal, artists, travel writers and other local characters. It also focuses on the Picturesque movement and the importance of landscape in both Victorian and today’s society.

Graphic design and production was managed by VisitMôr with final copy in English and Welsh produced based on the concepts I had provided, which in many places remained largely unchanged.