When working this wheel was turned by a shaft which came directly from the water wheel of the mill. it was set on this plinth by Persimmons Homes PLC on 26-2-93 to preserve part of the history of Wetherby
In the winters of 1947,1963 and 1981 were really bad so bad that the river had ice from bank to bank, in 1963 people were skating and riding bikes on the river, in 1981 the river ice was as thick as 3 inches (76mm), this and the following thawing put pressure on the weir,
During floods in April and May of 1982 a large section of the weir was destroyed giving 9 meters of free flow, the change in the river height caused many problems upstream
Three well known characters of Wetherby in 1981 Colin Wardman, Jack Taylor and Bill Gray met to discuss the problem with the weir, its was agreed that it could be fixed using volunteer labour, Jack made a request to speak to Wetherby Town Council.
On November 20th 1981 Jack set out the proposals for carrying out the repair work with a estimated cost of 9 thousand pounds but the council thought it would cost more like 20 thousand.
On the 1st April 1982 a meeting was held in the town hall, the hall was full to the brim but after 19 days the council announced that they would not help fund the repair of the weir.
Click on any of the plaques below to see more detail.
