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Dee Estuary

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Across the estuary towards North Wales from Thurstaston in Wirral
Location within Flintshire
Location	Merseyside and Cheshire, England Flintshire, Wales
Grid reference	SJ200800
Coordinates	53°18′32″N 3°09′25″W / 53.309°N 3.157°W / 53.309; -3.157
Interest	Geological
Area	13679.7 hectares, 33,788.9 acres (136,739,000 m)
Notification	1954 /1984
Natural England website

The Dee Estuary (Welsh: Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming the boundary between the Wirral Peninsula in north-west England and Flintshire in north-east Wales. The Dee Estuary's largest towns along it include Holywell, Flint, Connah's Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Saltney Ferry, Heswall, West Kirby and Neston as well as other villages and towns alongside it. The A548 also passes along the estuary in Wales and parts of Cheshire West and Chester and Merseyside in England. The North Wales Coast Line follows the course of the Dee Estuary between Prestatyn and Chester.

Geology

The estuary is unusual in that comparatively little water occupies so large a basin. One theory is that larger rivers such as the Severn and/or Mersey once flowed into the Dee. The current view is that the estuary owes its origin to the passage of glacial ice southeastwards from the Irish Sea during successive ice ages, eroding a broad and shallow iceway through the relatively soft Triassic sandstones and Coal Measures mudstones underlying the area. The inner parts of this channel were filled by glacially derived sands and gravels long ago, and infilling by mud and silt has continued since. It is also thought that prior to the ice ages, the estuary received larger river flows as the upper Severn flowed into the Dee near Chirk. For a period, the Mersey may also have flowed into the Dee by means of a channel which it cut through the base of the Wirral Peninsula.

Conservation

The estuary is a major wildlife area and one of the most important estuaries in Britain, amongst the most important in Europe for its populations of waders and wildfowl. The Environment Agency is the Conservation Authority, and the estuary is protected or listed under several schemes:

• Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
• Special Protection Area (SPA)
• Sensitive Marine Area (SMA)
• Natura 2000 site
• Ramsar site

Large parts of the area are within the RSPB's Dee Estuary Nature Reserve.

Fishery

The estuary supports some important natural fisheries, including salmon and trout on their way to and from the freshwater river, as well as sea-fisheries and shell-fisheries, especially cockles.

Trade and industry

From earliest times, the Dee estuary was a major trading and military route, to and from Chester. From about the 14th century, Chester provided facilities for trade with Ireland, Spain, and Germany, and seagoing vessels would "lay to" in the Dee awaiting favourable winds and tides. As the Dee started to silt up, harbouring facilities developed on the Wirral bank at Shotwick, Burton, Neston, Parkgate, Dawpool, and "Hoyle Lake" or Hoylake. The excavation of the New Cut in 1737, to improve access to Chester, diverted the river's course to the Welsh side of the estuary, but failed to stem the silting up of the river, and Chester's trading function declined as that of Liverpool on the River Mersey grew. However, Chester was still a major port of passenger embarkation for Ireland until the early 19th century.

The Dee Estuary was industrialised from quite early on in the Industrial Revolution, and some industry remains today. Notable among these are Shotton Steel, formerly owned by John Summers & Sons, and now owned by Tata Steel; the gas-fired power station at Connah's Quay; three separate paper mills; a chemical manufacturing plant; and numerous smaller manufacturing industries. The estuary also receives the treated sewage effluent from Queensferry works and from Chester sewage treatment works. At the mouth of the estuary is the natural gas sweetening plant at Point of Ayr on the site of the former colliery. There are also commercial docks at Mostyn although their use is limited by the tide.

Signs of past industry are visible along the whole length of the estuary especially on the Welsh side. Large stretches of what now appear as flood embankments are long abandoned industrial waste heaps, some still containing highly reactive and caustic materials, including large heaps of Galligu, a by-product of the LeBlanc process used at the James Muspratt alkali works at Flint.

The Dee estuary also supported industries concerned with the synthesis of PCBs and some pharmaceuticals and was also home to several industrial waste oil-reclamation industries.

As a consequence of its industrial heritage, there are extensive areas of contaminated ground along the shores of the estuary.

The estuary also plays a part in the most modern of industries as it provides the first stage of transport of Airbus A380 wings on their way to Toulouse via barge to Mostyn docks.

References

• "Dee Estuary citation sheet" (PDF). English Nature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2013.

1. "The Dee Estuary". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
2. ^ Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory – Dee Estuary Archived 2008-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
3. Davies et al 2004, Geology of the Country around Flint. memoir of the British Geological Survey, sheet 108 (E&W)
4. Stephen J. Roberts, A History of Wirral, 2002, ISBN 978-1-86077-512-3
5. "Galligu". Archived from the original on 23 December 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2011.

External links

• Metropolitan Borough of Wirral: Dee Estuary SSSI
• Dee Estuary bird life
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
• RSPB Dee Estuary website
• The Dee Estuary Website

v t e Flintshire
Principal settlements	Bagillt Buckley Caerwys Deeside (Connah's Quay Queensferry Saltney Shotton) Flint Holywell Mold
Towns and villages	Abermorddu Afonwen Alltami Aston Park Bretton Broughton Bryn-y-Baal Brynford Cadole Caergwrle Calcoed Carmel Cefn-y-Bedd Cilcain Coed Talon Cymau Drury Ewloe Ffrith Flint Mountain Ffynnongroew Greenfield Gronant Glyncorrwg Gwaenysgor Gwernaffield Gwernymynydd Halkyn Hawarden Holway Higher Kinnerton Hope Leeswood Llanfynydd Llanasa Leadmill Mancot Mostyn Mynydd Isa Nannerch Nercwys Northop Northop Hall Oakenholt Pantasaph Pantymwyn Pentre Halkyn Penyffordd (Buckley) Pen-y-Ffordd (Holywell) Penymynydd Pontblyddyn Rhosesmor Rhes-y-Cae Rhydymwyn Sandycroft Sealand Soughton/Sychdyn Saltney Ferry Talacre Trelawnyd Trelogan Treuddyn Whitford Ysceifiog
Geography	Alyn Gorge Bretton Bridge Caerwys Rectory Clwydian Range Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB Dee Estuary Flintshire Bridge The Gop Greenfield Valley Heritage Park Moel Famau Moel y Gaer Moel y Parc Mostyn Colliery Nant-y-Ffrith Ogof Nadolig Point of Ayr Point of Ayr Gas Terminal River Alyn River Cegidog River Dee River Terrig Talacre Beach Wepre Park
Parliamentary representation	List of parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd Flintshire East Flintshire West Flintshire
Community councils	Argoed Bagillt Broughton and Bretton Brynford Buckley Caerwys Cilcain Connah's Quay Flint Gwernaffield with Pantymwyn Gwernymynydd Halkyn Hawarden Higher Kinnerton Holywell Hope Leeswood and Pontblyddyn Llanasa Llanfynydd Mold Mostyn Nannerch Nercwys Northop Northop Hall Penyffordd Queensferry Saltney Sealand Shotton Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor Treuddyn Whitford Ysceifiog
Topics	The historic county Alyn and Deeside Broughton Shopping Park Delyn Flintshire County Council Holywell Rural District Flintshire Detached (historically) Maelor Rural District Mold cape Point of Ayr Colliery Company Prestatyn Coal Company RAF Sealand Borough of Rhuddlan Western Mostyn Colliery Company SSSIs Country houses Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Museums Schools History Listed buildings Grade I Grade II* Listed parks and gardens Notable people Sport Visitor attractions Public art
Geography Wales

v t e Ceremonial county of Merseyside
Metropolitan districts	City of Liverpool Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough of St Helens Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Major settlements (cities in italics)	Bebington Birkenhead Bootle Bromborough Crosby Earlestown Eastham Formby Greasby Halewood Halsnead Haydock Heswall Hoylake Huyton Kirkby Litherland Liverpool Maghull Moreton New Ferry Newton-le-Willows Prescot Rainhill Seaforth Stockbridge Village St Helens Southport Upton Wallasey West Kirby Whiston See also: List of civil parishes in Merseyside
Rivers	Alt Mersey Dee
Topics	People Population of major settlements (with links) All places Parliamentary constituencies Schools SSSIs Commemorative plaques Country houses Grade I listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings Scheduled monuments History Museums Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Football clubs Aintree Racecourse

• Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
• Rivers of Cheshire
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cheshire
• Coast of Flintshire
• Bodies of water of Flintshire
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Clwyd
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Flintshire
• Estuaries of England
• Estuaries of Wales
• Ramsar sites in England
• Ramsar sites in Wales
• Special Protection Areas in Wales
• England–Wales border
• River Dee, Wales