London Teddington Lock weir (#0418)

The weir at Teddington, first built in 1811 with the first lock, but rebuilt many times since due to damage from flooding. Based on various websites and pictures it appears that the portion closest to me may date back to the major reconstruction in the 1850’s, but that some or all of the portion further away was constructed in 1991-92; the newer portion includes two sluice gates. The building of the weir, in 1811, resulted in Teddington being the end of the tidal flow of the river. The hydro source linked below describes the weir and the plans to convert a portion of it to being used for electricity generation.

Just in case you’re wondering, the difference between a weir and what we commonly call a dam in the U.S. is that a weir (which is a small dam) is used to alter the flow of a river while ‘dam’ commonly refers to a structure designed to impound water, often in a reservoir. Water often flows across the top of a weir, while typically water only flows through a sluice gate on a dam. See the Wikipedia link.

Hydro source: www.hamhydro.org/the-project/history-of-teddington-weir
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir

(Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)