The Vyrnwy dam is an impressive structure, said to have been the largest civil engineering project in the world at the time of its construction - though I've never known how we know that. From the foundation at bedrock level to the overflow lip, it measures 144 feet in height. You can get an idea of the scale by comparing it with the (much earlier - 1815) Pontcysyllte aqueduct, Telford's "stream in the sky". Our dam is 20 feet higher, not even allowing for the arches and the towers. 127 feet thick at the base, holding back 13,000 million gallons of water, it was designed with a life expectancy of 100 years - making it now 25 years past its sell-by date!
The arrival of clean fresh water made a huge difference to Liverpool in the early 1890s. The expanding city depended at the time on the inadequate Rivington Water Works, opened in 1857, and a leaky system of outdated water mains. Chiefly responsible for bringing in the Vyrnwy water was one remarkable man, employed by Liverpool Corporation from 1871 to 1890 and now largely forgotten. He died in 1909, nine months before the Prince of Wales came to declare the Vyrnwy works completed, and is buried at Addington, near Croydon. At Llanwddyn, he is commemorated by two windows and a brass monument in the church, and by his name, George Frederick Deacon, listed in the smallest letters at the very bottom of the bronze plate put up at the opening ceremony. You can see it at the north end of the dam.
The Lake Vyrnwy waterworks project was far from being George Frederick Deacon's only claim to fame. As a young man, he played a significant part in the laying of the second transatlantic cable, beginning a life-long friendship with Lord Kelvin, whose student at Glasgow he had been. Later, in Liverpool, he made himself an expert on the Mersey estuary, and then, working for the Corporation of Liverpool, he constructed about 70 miles of new and refurbished sewers. He was responsible for the introduction of solid street paving in Liverpool, for the laying of the tramway rails in 1877, and for a system of refuse disposal using "destructors" and hopper barges to carry refuse out to sea. In 1873, having designed a successful metering system to monitor water wastage through leaky mains, he was asked to recommend a scheme for a new water supply for the city, and this resulted in the Vyrnwy works, to which he devoted himself as designer, engineer, and project manager until its completion.
Rewards and recognition were plentiful - the George Stephenson Medal, Telford medals, an honorary doctorate of Glasgow University, among others - and later, working for himself as a Consulting Engineer, George Frederick Deacon advised the Canadian authorities on water management at Niagara Falls. In Western Australia he advised on water supply at Coolgardie, in the gold fields. At the time of his death, aged 66, he was involved in the planning and construction of the Alwen dam on Hiraethog for the Birkenhead corporation, where his name can be seen today on another bronze tablet.
It seems a shame to have forgotten him. Next time you cross the dam, look out for his name. Better still, go up to the church and admire the windows. George Frederick Deacon made a big difference to many people's lives.
Graham