The Silting up of the Dee: its Cause. 
BY WwW. SS uON Bt. Gs. 
Read December 18th, 1884. 
N the year 1875 I commenced a series of observations on 
the tidal phenomena of the River Dee. By the courtesy 
of Captain His, R.N., the Marine Surveyor of the Liverpool 
Dock Board, I was allowed to have access to their splendid tide 
gauge on Hilbre Island, by aid of which the facts forming the 
foundations of this paper were obtained. I wanted several 
links, however, in the chain of observations between Chester 
and Hilbre, and they have recently been supplied by the 
evidence of Captain AtitpripcEe, R.N., before the Committees 
of the Houses of Lords and Commons in March this year, on 
the subject of the erection of the railway bridge over the Dee 
at Connah’s Quay. Captain ALLpRIpGE surveyed the river for 
the Admiralty as far back as 1851, and again in 1867. His 
knowledge of the Dee is consequently very extensive. 
THE ANCIENT SILTING UP OF THE DEE. 
The silting up of the Dee dates very far back, and it would 
be as well to briefly refer to such evidence as we possess upon 
this part of the subject. 
If we examine the most ancient maps of Chester, we find that 
the river flowed fairly straight from the Old Dee Bridge to the 
site of the Grosvenor Bridge, and that it was there deflected by’ 
an outcrop of rock in the bed of the stream against the clay 
cliffs of Curzon Park. These in turn deflected the river round 
the Roodee, making a very sharp curve, which caused the 
stream to pass by the Watergate along the City Walls, past the 
Water Tower (which stood out in the river), then it ran along 
by the site of Whipcord Lane, keeping by the clay cliffs of 
Blacon, and thence towards Parkgate to the sea. 
When the sewerage works at the Sluice House were in 
progress, I found a number of the whole shells of the common 
cockle, mussel, Tellina, Mactra, and also fragments of the same ; 
in fact, the excavated sand contained in bulk quite a fourth 
part of such fragments, mingled with microscopic but perfect 
shells of Foraminifera, &c. The River Dee Company, some 
