DEE (Welsh, Dyfrdwy;,

See also:

• LAT

Lat.., and in

See also:

• MILTON
• MILTON, JOHN (1608–1674)

Milton,

See also:

• DEVA (Sanskrit " heavenly ")
• DEVA (mod. Chester)

Deva)  , a river of Wales and England . It rises in Bala Lake, Merionethshire, which is fed by a number of small streams . Leaving the lake near the town of Bala it follows a north-easterly course to Corwen, turns thence E. by S. past Llangollen to a point near Overton, and then bends nearly north to Chester, and thereafter north-west through a great estuary opening into the Irish Sea . In the Llangollen district the Dee crosses Denbighshire, and thereafter forms the boundary of that county with Shropshire, a detached part of Flint, and Cheshire . From Bala nearly down to Overton, a distance of 35 m., during which the river falls about 330 ft., its course lies through a narrow and beautiful valley, enclosed on the south by the steep lower slopes of the Berwyn Mountains and on the north by a succession of lesser ranges . The portion known as the Vale of Llangollen is especially famous . Here an aqueduct carrying the Pontcysyllte branch of the Shropshire Union canal bestrides the valley; it is a remarkable engineering work completed by Thomas Telford in 1805 . The Dee has a total length of about 70 M. and a fall of 530 ft . Below Overton it debouches upon its plain track . Below Chester it follows a straight artificial channel to the estuary, and this is the only navigable portion . The estuary, which is 14 M. long, and 54 M. wide at its mouth, between Hilbre Point on the English and Point of Air on the Welsh side, is not a commercial highway like the neighbouring mouth of the Mersey, for though in appearance a fine natural harbour at high tide, it becomes at low tide a vast expanse of sand, through which the river meanders in a narrow channel . The navigation, however, is capable of improvement, and schemes have been set on foot to this end .

The tide rushes in with great

speed over the sands, and their danger is illustrated in the well-known ballad " The Sands of Dee " by Charles Kingsley . The Dee drains an area of 813 sq. m .