Old Weir And Ruined Bridge On River Blyth

[Malcolm Robinson]

Yep Brett the anti social angle did play a part I think.

[James]

The weir was originally constructed to supply water to Humford Mill. It was built at that position to create a head of water of sufficient height to allow it to gravitate through a pipeline to the mill. When the mill closed and the site converted into swimming baths, the same pipeline was retained to supply water to the baths. The pipeline ran from the weir, over the river, supported on the bridge and down to the baths. The river water was discharged from the pipeline into the filter bed where dirt particles settled out; the water then passed through filters and was then chlorinated before being delivered into the swimming pool. Old photographs of the swimming baths often show the filter bed. You can still see the odd supporting "plinth†on which the pipeline lay on the right side of the footpath leading up to the weir and the section of the woods between the baths and the weir was known by local's at that time as "The Pipelineâ€.