British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot, Shropshire Union Canal (South-East Side) (Llangollen Branch) Timber Store (Pine Loft) British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot

The Birch Timber Store, part of the British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot on the south-east side of the Shropshire Union Canal (Llangollen Branch), is a timber store built around 1806. It is located adjacent to the Ellesmere Canal, designed by William Jessop and Thomas Telford. The building features sandstone ashlar construction, a weatherboarded timber frame at the front, and a brick bay to the right, topped with a hipped asbestos sheet roof.

The structure has two levels, with a wooden cornice featuring dentils along the eaves. On the first floor, there are three windows: two 19th-century three-light casements on the left and right, with a 20th-century three-light casement in the center. The ground floor is open in four bays, supported by wooden posts. A later 19th-century single-storey sawshop range projects from the right bay, equipped with sliding doors at the front and glazed sides. An early 20th-century lean-to is located on the left, featuring three half-glazed sliding doors. The brick bay to the right previously housed a steam engine.

Inside, the building has a king-post roof and belt-drive gearing in the loft. Tracks leading from the building once transported coal trucks to a steam-powered engine located in the open ground-floor area. This engine was adapted from a locomotive, with its cylinder and piston mounted vertically, providing power for the machinery in the depot.

This timber store remains an important functional component of one of the best-preserved canal workshop sites in Britain. It was likely constructed under the designs of Telford and Jessop, who were responsible for a variety of structures related to canal operation, including locks and keepers' houses. All canal companies maintained yards for the upkeep of boats, locks, paddle gearing, and other essential elements of the inland waterways.