Bell Weir Lock

Bell Weir Lock

Bell Weir Lock with the M25 crossing beyond
Waterway	River Thames
County	Surrey
Maintained by	Environment Agency
Operation	Hydraulic
First built	1817
Latest built	1877
Length	78.51 m (257 ft 7 in)
Width	7.44 m (24 ft 5 in)
Fall	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Above sea level	47'
Distance to Teddington Lock	17 miles
Power is available out of hours

Bell Weir Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England situated on the Surrey bank near Egham. It is just upstream of the M25 Runnymede Bridge which carries the M25 and A30 road across the river. The lock was first built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1817.

The weir is just a short distance upstream above the island.

The first proposed location for a pound lock in 1811 was across the bend at the present recreation ground. The lock was built at its present site in the winter of 1817-1818. It was known as Egham Lock, but took its name from Charlie Bell, the first weir keeper and ferryman. The weir collapsed under weight of ice in 1827 and the lock collapsed in 1866. Lock and weir were rebuilt in 1867 but the lock had to be rebuilt in stone in 1877. A new weir was completed in 1904.

The lock can be reached on foot from the A308 road and is behind the Runnymede Hotel.

The reach runs through Runnymede to Old Windsor. Immediately on the Buckinghamshire bank is a major water input and management facility at Hythe End that supplies the Staines Reservoirs and King George VI Reservoir. There are then riverside dwellings at Hythe End, particularly on the Island. This is followed by woods along the bank in which Magna Carta Island is tucked away followed by Pats Croft Eyot placed a little further out. Further on are more riverside dwellings at Wraysbury and on Friary Island. The Surrey bank has riverside houses and then opens out into a recreation area. Following that are the Runnymead meadows and the end of these are marked by the Edwin Lutyens gate houses. The "Bells of Ouseley" pub here is supposed to commemorate the bells of Osney Abbey which were brought downstream at the dissolution and disappeared into the mud at this point. There is a built-up stretch at Old Windsor (which is now Berkshire). There are no river crossings on this reach.