British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot, Shropshire Union Canal (South East Side) (Llangollen Branch) British Waterways Board Offices And Dry Dock, British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot

A stables and stores building, now offices, with an attached dry dock, dating to circa 1806. It adjoins the Ellesmere Canal, specifically the Llangollen Branch, and was constructed alongside work by William Jessop and Thomas Telford. The building is constructed of roughly coursed sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings, and has a hipped slate roof. It is a long building situated on the canal side of the canal maintenance depot, with the dry dock located at its south-west end. The upper storey has six horizontal sliding sash windows directly below the eaves, while the ground floor has four windows with segmental heads, alongside boarded doors and three wide double doors. A round-headed arch to the south-west end provides access to the dry dock. An open lean-to structure, supported on wooden posts, extends along the canal side. A rectangular, ventilated louvre to the ridge features a weathervane shaped like a narrow boat.

The dry dock itself has a king-post roof with raking struts from the walls to tie beams on the canal side, and a stone sett floor with mooring rings. Originally, boats were built, repaired, and "indexed" within the dock. Water was drained using a temporary dam created by lowering “stop-planks” into iron-shod grooves. The boat would then rest on timber baulks in the now-dry dock.

The range and dry dock are of significant historical importance to the canal industry, representing one of the best-preserved canal workshop sites in Britain. The dry dock is an exceptionally early example of its type, predating similar structures at Devonport and Chatham. It was likely designed by Telford and Jessop, canal engineers who typically oversaw a range of structures. While canal companies commonly had maintenance yards, this site is exceptional in its preservation.