Lake Vyrnwy, Powys - lake - Friths series real photo postcard c.1960s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Lake Vyrnwy, Montgomeryshire [now Powys] - real photo type
• Publisher:  Friths series
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Lake Vyrnwy Nature Reserve and Estate (Welsh: Llyn Efyrnwy, pronounced [?'v?rn??]) is an area of land in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales, surrounding the Victorian reservoir of Lake Vyrnwy. Its stone-built dam, built in the 1880s, was the first of its kind in the world. The nature reserve and the area around it are jointly managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and Severn Trent Water. It was built for the purpose of supplying Liverpool and the districts later designated as Merseyside with fresh water. It flooded the head of the Vyrnwy valley and submerged the small village of Llanwddyn. Today it is a popular retreat, for people in the West Midlands and Merseyside for days out, and also for ornithologists, cyclists, and hikers. The reserve is designated as a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area, and a Special Area of Conservation.

Dr George Deacon (1843–1909) began the design of the Vyrnwy Dam in 1879 at the age of 36. In 1890, following Vyrnwy, he founded an engineering practice in London which subsequently became Sir Alexander Binnie Son & Deacon, then Mr Binnie and Partners. Its present-day successor is now Black & Veatch.

Dr Deacon was instructed to prepare the Parliamentary Plans for the scheme in 1879. The dam construction started in 1881 and was completed seven years later in 1888. It was the first large stone-built dam in the United Kingdom, and is built partly out of great blocks of Welsh slate. When built it cost £620,000, which today is around £22,000,000. The dam is 44 metres (144 ft) high from the bottom of the valley, and 39 metres (128 ft) thick at the base; it is 357 metres (1,171 ft) long and has a road bridge running along the top. It is decorated with over 25 arches and two small towers (each with four corner turrets) rising 4 metres (13 ft) above the road surface.

Vyrnwy was the first dam to carry water over its crest instead of in a channel at the side. At the bottom of the dam is a body of water known as the Stilling Basin, this is necessary to absorb the energy when the water flows over the crest and into the valley, and stops the water from eroding the foundations of the dam.

Underneath the West Tower is a building known as the Power House, which contains an electrical generator driven by water leaving the reservoir. Before mains electricity arrived in the 1960s, this was Llanwddyn's only source of power.

The West and East Towers release compensation water by huge valves, which are controlled by Severn Trent Water. This water is purely for the River Vyrnwy, which would otherwise dry out unless in flood. Depending on the Water Levels downstream the reservoir could release anything from 25 to 45 megalitres (5,500,000 to 9,900,000 imp gal) of compensation water per day. Only a few hundred metres downstream is a weir, which the Environment Agency use to measure the daily amount of compensation water. This weir also holds back enough water to create the stilling basin.

Earlier dams in Britain had been built by making great earth embankments to hold back the water. This new type of stone dam would change the face of the Welsh landscape over the coming years. The next stone dams to be built in Wales on an even bigger scale than Vyrnwy were those built in the Elan Valley.^[1]

type=real photographic (rp)

city/ region=vyrnwy

period=post-war (1945-present)

publisher=friths

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)