Weirs on the Exe

Weirs were traditionally built to raise the level of the water upstream of the weir so that water was deeper and maintained a higher level than if the river channel was natural.
The purpose was mainly to allow some of this 'regular' water to be channelled off to the waterwheels which produced water power for the mills beside the Exe.

Today the weirs are associated with the radial gates and relief channels. They are also important for maintaining water levels in sections of the river where fishing is popular and in some areas for controlling the levels in association with lock gates.