Somerset, England

French Weir Park Slipway

Launch — A concrete slipway that Taunton Town Council runs as a bookable facility, with a stated capacity of 21 people.

Parking — Nearest parking is on-street, short-stay on Clarence Street; Tangier car park is a short walk away via Marshalsea Walk. Surrounding streets fall within a residents' parking permit zone under a 2002 traffic order.

Access — The park has entrances from Clarence Street, French Weir Avenue, and footbridges from Longrun Meadow and Marshelsea Walk, and is open all day, year-round. COACH, which operates on site under lease, has the right to shut its gates at set times with notice displayed.

Season — The reach above the weir, largely behind the COACH building, is a designated bathing water monitored by the Environment Agency through the bathing season (15 May to 30 September), with results published on the EA's Swimfo profile linked from the council's page. The launch also sits within the Environment Agency's flood-warning area for Silk Mills Bridge to Bathpool, which includes French Weir.

Regulations — The statutory right of navigation on this stretch of the Tone was abolished in 1969, but a common-law right of navigation persists and the reach above French Weir remains navigable. It is not on the Environment Agency's or Canal & River Trust's list of managed waterways, so no waterways licence applies here; downstream, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal beyond Firepool is a separate, licensed Canal & River Trust waterway.

The River Tone runs about 33 km from Beverton Pond in the Brendon Hills, through Clatworthy Reservoir, to join the River Parrett at Burrowbridge. This slipway launches onto the river's non-tidal reach through Taunton town centre, a few metres from the park's separate swimming steps.

Below French Weir

French Weir carries a fish pass named Salmon leap on OpenStreetMap. The Environment Agency repaired the weir's fish passes, at French and Firepool, ahead of the 2015 salmon run; young salmon were then recorded on the Tone for the first time in around two decades, and Environment Agency officers have since reported salmon ascending the pass at French Weir.

Downstream, on its way to the River Parrett, the Tone passes the Curry and Hay Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest, an internationally important wintering ground for wildfowl including Bewick's swans; the wider river also supports otters and coarse fish such as chub, roach, perch and pike.

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The Weir

An independent, dog-friendly cafe with outdoor riverside seating, operating from the COACH building in the park.

Website

Conditions to check

Weir

French Weir marks the head of navigation on the River Tone: boats cannot be taken further upstream than this point. It sits at the park's south-western corner, immediately downstream of the launch reach.

Source

Other

The reference gauge for this reach is the Environment Agency's River Tone at Taunton Market station: normal range 0.82m to 1.77m, with a recorded high of 1.84m on 21 November 2012.

Source

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