In 1821 the Warrington and Stockport Turnpike Trust was granted the right to charge tolls on what is the present day A56; at this time the valley below the church was crossed only by a path leading to a footbridge over the stream. The Turnpike Trust then set about building a road and a new bridge over the valley. With their completion the ‘pool and stream’ below the church became the lake which exists today.

At the time of the Dam’s formation, the area was part of Lymm Hall Estate which covered much of the village in those days. In 1848 several sections of the estate were sold including what is now Lymm Dam, Lymm Rugby Club and the land between. This land was bought by George Dewhurst, a Manchester cotton trader, who had considerable influence in Lymm for many years. He built a manor house on the present day site of the Rugby Club where his family lived until the close of the 19^th Century. The house was known as Beechwood and the stone archway which still exists on Crouchley Lane was the entrance to the estate. The Wishing Bridge and the small boathouse are legacies of the Dewhurst era.

The Dewhursts eventually sold the estate to William Lever and shortly after the First World War he built the large concrete bridge at the southern end of the site. Lever was also responsible for the avenues of Lombardy poplar trees which flank Lymm Dam. These avenues were to form part of a residential development which William Lever planned for the land. But for reasons which are not quite clear, the houses were never built.

The area immediately surrounding the lake became the property of Lymm Urban District Council shortly after the Second World War. 

Lymm Dam has been managed by Warrington Borough Council since it absorbed Lymm UDC in 1974.

The Dingle and Slitten Gorge

If you cross the A56 from the path onto the western side of Lymm Dam, you will come to a flight of steps leading into the Dingle. This is an area of woodland through which a stream runs connecting the Main Dam and Lower Dam. A footpath runs alongside the stream into the village centre. The water flows over the Lower Dam and under the road into the mill race behind the shops on Bridgewater Street. It then runs through Slitten Gorge and eventually into the Manchester Ship Canal.

From the bottom of the Dingle cross the road in the village centre, turn left and immediately right into Bridgewater Street.  Follow the road under the canal bridge and you will see the steps leading down into Slitten Gorge on your right. The footpath through Slitten Gorge crosses the stream and passes the remains of the slitting mill before exiting onto Danebank Road.

Turn right along Danebank Road and then first left into Lymm Hay Lane. This will bring you to the Trans Pennine Trail. Turn left and the Ranger Centre is half a mile to the west of this crossing. From here you can pick up information on the footpath network in this area, and Lymm Heritage Trail.

Lymm Slitting Mill

The structure you can see spanning the stream in Slitten Gorge is the remains of an iron-slitting mill which operated between the early 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Bongs

At the southern end of Lymm Dam you will see a footpath leading into a wood known as ‘The Bongs’ (from a medieval word meaning ‘wooded banks’). The Bongs is a private wood but has a public right of way running through it. The wood extends for 1 mile south of Lymm Dam after which the public footpath continues on across farmland. For further details of the local rights of way network, contact the Rangers or refer to OS Explorer map 276.

St Mary's Church

The Doomsday Book shows that there was a church on this site way back in the 10th Century. Since then it has been rebuilt several times, most recently in 1851 with the financial help of the Dewhursts. The present tower was added in 1890 and St Mary’s now often forms a backdrop to paintings and photographs of the Dam.