CHAPTER XV 



Liverpool's water supply Lake Vyrnwy Its fishing Tasteful planting 

 Brambles Vitality of seeds Barrows May-flies Creeper fishing 

 Black-game. 



How far Liverpool may be satisfied with its water-supply is 

 not a question that concerns us here ; but there can be no 

 two opinions about the added beauty and attractiveness 

 which the Montgomeryshire mountains have received from 

 the formation of the huge reservoir that contributes this 

 supply, and is known far and near as Lake Vyrnwy. It 

 collects the upper waters of the river of that name, and, 

 being contained by a dam of solid masonry, nearly 400 

 yards in length, winds up a most picturesque valley for a 

 distance of about 4^ miles : in width the lake does not 

 generally much exceed half a mile. It forms the second 

 largest sheet of fresh water in Wales, covering some 1 1 20 

 acres. The dam rises to a height of 84 feet above the bed 

 of the stream, the foundations having been carried down 

 nearly as deep again. It is built of the Silurian rock of the 

 district, obtained from a quarry close at hand, laid in beds 

 of concrete, and faced with immense blocks of stone, each 

 of many tons in weight. Indeed, it is said that the stones 

 averaged over four tons apiece, the largest weighing more 

 than ten tons. A wide carriage road is carried along the 

 top of the dam on a viaduct of thirty-one arches, through 

 which pours the superfluous water when the lake is full. 

 In the pool below the fall thus formed, I saw some large 

 Chub rising one hot September afternoon. The Chub is an 

 abundant and little appreciated fish in the river Vyrnwy, 

 and seems to be on the increase in the lake, notwithstanding 

 the netting resorted to in order to hold it in check. I was 

 rather surprised to find that it was known to some of the 



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