Bell Weir

Bell Weir is close to Runnymede, where the armies of King John camped at the signing of the Magna Carta on 15th June 1215. This document recognised rights of navigation on the Thames and formed the basis for the American Bill of Rights.

Across the Thames are the US Air Forces Memorial and the John F Kennedy Memorial set in an acre of English land given to the American people.

Bell Weir’s original lock house was converted to a pub, The Angler’s Rest, believed to have burned down in 1911. On the same site today is Runnymede Hotel.

Bell Weir is one of the growing numbers of locks fitted with public-accessed power, allowing it to be used outside normal opening hours.

Quite nearby, on the port bank of the Thames, is where the original London Stone was erected in 1285 to mark the upstream limit of the City of London’s jurisdiction on the Thames. This boundary line ceased with the establishment of the Thames Conservancy in 1857. The original London Stone is now in Staines Library, while today, a replica stands by the Thames.

Across the river once stood the Benedictine nunnery of Ankerwycke. Now an area of parkland acquired by the National Trust in 1998 and containing the remains of the 12th century St Mary's Priory, and the Ankerwycke Yew - a magnificent tree believed to be over 2,000 years old.

Seen regularly here are woodpeckers, parakeets, kingfishers, sparrowhawks and kestrels, plus the occasional buzzard and on the ground are foxes, badgers and muntjac deer.

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