Breach on the Llangollen Canal
The massive pre-Christmas breach on the Llangollen Canal at Whitchurch is set to cost millions of pounds to repair but Canal & River Trust has said it hopes to be able to re-open the canal before the end of the year.
The initial priorities are retrieval of the stranded narrowboats and more detailed investigations to establish the cause of the partial collapse of the 200+ year-old embankment, near the Whitchurch Arm, which happened during the early hours of 22 December 2025. Several sleeping boaters, moored over and near the breach location, were awoken by noisy torrents of water straining their mooring ropes as water levels dropped rapidly.
Miraculously, all the boaters, and their pets, managed to get themselves ashore before the strong currents took two of their boats, in Titanic-like dives, to the bottom of the 4-metre embankment and left one teetering on the edge of the huge drop which had opened up..
The disaster attracted UK and world media coverage; our Association’s initial reactions is set out in the news item below.
