Chester Weir

Chester Weir is a weir which crosses the River Dee at Chester, Cheshire, England, slightly upstream from the Old Dee Bridge (grid reference SJ407658). The weir and the associated salmon leap are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. This was originally the site of a causeway across the River Dee. The weir was built in sandstone in 1093 for Hugh Lupus, 1st Earl of Chester, for the Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh (now Chester Cathedral). It was designed to provide a head of water for the medieval mills on the river. The mills were demolished during the 20th century and the weir was restored to serve the Chester City Council's hydro-electric power station, which operated from 1913 to 1939 on the site of the former mills. The weir continues to provide three essential roles in maintaining the very substantial water abstractions from the River Dee. It prevents tidal water ingress up-river for all but the highest tides; it provides the water head for an abstraction immediately behind the weir and it holds back what is a long linear lake which enables that largest abstraction to be taken at Huntington for the United Utilities supply to the Wirral and surrounding areas. The weir can be navigated by crossing over the top during high spring tides. On the city-side of the weir is the United Kingdom's only example of a weir gate, a low

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