Dee Estuary

Dingesmere is a place known only from the Old English poem of the Battle of Brunanburh. The name is found in versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from the year 937. Lines 53-56 of the poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (version A) read: Gewitan him þa Norðmen nægledcnearrum, dreorig daraða laf, on Dingesmere ofer deop wæter Difelin secan, eft Iraland, æwiscmode.(The B, C, D and W versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contain the variant spellings Dyngesmere, Dingesmere, Dynigesmere and Dinnesmere.) These lines have been translated as: Then the sorry remnant of the Norsemen, who had escaped the spears, set out upon the sea of Dinge in their nail-studded ships, making for Dublin over deep waters. Humiliated in spirit they returned to Ireland.As Dingesmere does not correspond to any known place-name its meaning has caused considerable controversy. Apart from “sea of Dinge”, suggestions have included: “dingy sea”; “sea of noise”; and “wetland of the Thing (assembly)”.One of the locations that has been cited is situated on the Dee Estuary at Heswall, Wirral. Another possible location is Lingham, on the Irish Sea coastline of Wirral at Moreton. In an article in Notes and Queries in 2022, Michael Deakin argues that such a wetland on the tenth-century Wirral coast of the Dee was unlikely.It has also been proposed that Dingesmere corresponds to Foulness Valley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which in Anglo-Saxon times would have been a wetland, or mere, from the region of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor to the Humber estuary. The name ‘Foulness’ comes from the Old English fūle[n] ēa, meaning “dirty water”, because iron deposits in the water produced a brown discolouration; i.e. a ‘dung-coloured wetland’, or, in Old English, ‘dinges-mere’ (Old English ding, dung + mere, wetland).

The Dee regulation scheme is a system of flow balancing and quality management along the River Dee managed by a consortium of the three largest water companies licensed to take water from the river, United Utilities, Welsh Water and Severn Trent Water; together with the regulator, Natural Resources Wales.

Dee Cliffs (SSSI) is an area of cliffs on the eastern side of the Dee Estuary and to the west of Thurstaston on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The area contains the best known example of clay cliff and bank habitat in Merseyside. The area also has some marl pits, which have a rich flora and fauna and an area of herb-rich neutral grassland.

The Wirral Country Park is a country park on the Wirral Peninsula, England, lying both in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside and in the borough of Cheshire West & Chester in the county of Cheshire. It was the first designated country park in Britain, opening in 1973.The park is located along the Wirral Way, which follows the track bed of part of the former Birkenhead Railway route from West Kirby to Hooton. The old line, which closed in 1962, follows the estuary of the River Dee for 7 miles (11 km) between West Kirby and Parkgate. The route then heads inland, across the Wirral peninsula, to Hooton. There are two visitor centres along the Wirral Way, located near to the site of Thurstaston railway station, at Thurstaston, and at the preserved Hadlow Road railway station, in Willaston.

Thurstaston railway station was a station on the single track Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The station served the village of Thurstaston situated to the north east.

Dawpool was a village in Cheshire, England. The village was located between Thurstaston and Caldy on the Wirral Peninsula.

Bagillt railway station was a railway station serving the village of Bagillt on the North Wales Coast Line in the Welsh county of Flintshire. Although trains still pass on the main line, the station closed in 1966.

Bagillt (; Welsh pronunciation: [ˈbaɡɪɬt]) is a market town and community in Flintshire, Wales. The town overlooks the Dee Estuary and is between the towns of Holywell and Flint. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 3,918, increasing to 4,165 at the 2011 census. The community also includes the villages of Walwen and Whelston.

Whelston is part of the West ward of Bagillt community council in Flintshire, Wales. It is just off the A548 coast road, and has been signposted as Boot End since 2002. Boot End is a colloquial name for the areas of Whelston, Walwen, Riverbank, and New Brighton in Bagillt.

Thurstaston is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village lies on the A540 road between Heswall and Caldy, although it extends some distance down Station Road to the Wirral Way and the River Dee estuary. At the time of the 2001 census, the village itself had only 160 inhabitants, although the national census included Caldy and parts of Irby, bringing the total population to 15,548.

Cleaver Heath Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Heswall, on the Wirral Peninsula, managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust. It forms part of the Heswall Dales Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Heswall Dales is regarded as the second best example (after Thurstaston Common) of lowland heath in Merseyside, hosting localised species including Western Gorse Ulex gallii, Many-stalked Spike Rush Eleocharis multicaulis and Green-ribbed Sedge Carex binervis. Common lizards are also present. The reserve overlooks the estuary of the River Dee.

Heswall Dales is an area of some 72 acres (290,000 m2) of lowland heath situated close to Heswall on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve. Heswall Dales offers views of the Dee Estuary and over the River Dee the Clwydian Hills of Wales.