Silent Valley Reservoir

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Silent Valley Reservoir
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Silent Valley Reservoir
Location County Down, Northern Ireland
Coordinates 54°08′N6°00′W / 54.133°N 6.000°W / 54.133; -6.000
Lake type reservoir
Basin  countriesUnited Kingdom, Ireland

The Silent Valley Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Mourne Mountains near Kilkeel, County Down in Northern Ireland. It supplies most of the water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of Belfast. It is owned and maintained by Northern Ireland Water Limited (formerly DRD Water Service). The reservoir was built between 1923 and 1933 by a workforce of over 1,000 men, nine of whom died during construction.

Contents

History

In 1891, the Belfast Water Commissioners (BWC and later the Belfast City and District Water Commissioners or BC&DWC) hired Luke Livingston Macassey to investigate options for a source of an additional water supply for the expanding city of Belfast. [1] Macassey selected the Mourne Mountains for the reasons summarised in a 1935 report:

The portion of the Mourne Mountains acquired by the Commissioners totals approximately 9,000 acres. It is all mountainland [sic], uninhabited, and a large part of it is rocky and precipitous. It extends from about 330 feet above sea-level to a maximum of 2,796 feet above sea-level, Slieve Donard being the highest mountain within the area. It is practically devoid of trees, being covered with heather, gorse, and bracken where not granite rock and boulders. The average rainfall on the area is 57.6 inches per annum. It is drained by two streams : on the west, the Kilkeel river flowing due south, and the Annalong river, lying parallel to and to the east of the Kilkeel river, draining the Annalong Valley. The catchment of the Kilkeel river is 5,500 acres in extent, that of the Annalong river being 3,500 acres. The water of both these rivers is similar and of excellent quality, having 2 degrees of hardness. [2]

Private Acts of Parliament (in 1893, 1897 and 1899) allowed the BC&DWC to secure the 9,000-acre (3,600 ha) catchment area with associated access and water rights. [3] At the time the catchment was capable of providing some 30 million imperial gallons (140,000 m3) of water per day, however as this much was not required immediately, a three phase approach was followed:

  1. The first stage was to divert water from the Kilkeel and Annalong rivers through the newly constructed Mourne Conduit to a reservoir at Carryduff. These water pipes were capable of supplying 10 million imperial gallons (45,000 m3) of water per day. Work was completed in 1901. [3]
  2. The second stage was to build a storage reservoir, the Silent Valley Reservoir, across the Kilkeel River. Design work on this phase began in 1910, but procurement of the work was delayed by World War I. A contract was eventually awarded in 1923 to S. Pearson & Son and work continued until 1933. [4]
  3. The third stage was planned to be another storage reservoir in Annalong to impound the Annalong River. However, after the difficulties encountered in building the Silent Valley dam the second dam was not built. Instead, a tunnel was driven under Slieve Binnian between 1947 and 1951 to bring water from the Annalong river to the Silent Valley reservoir. Between 1953 and 1957, a second dam was built further up the Kilkeel river valley to create Ben Crom Reservoir.

The Mournes catchment area is surrounded by the Mourne Wall, built entirely by hand. Started in 1904, it took 18 years to complete. [3]

Panorama of the Silent Valley Reservoir Silent Valley Reservoir panorama.jpg
Panorama of the Silent Valley Reservoir

Naming

An old name for the valley was Glen Setanta from a legend that the young Cú Chulainn spent time there. In the 1800s it was called Happy Valley apparently due to the jollity of prospecting Cornish miners. The name Silent Valley is supposed to derive from the absence of bird life during the long construction project. [5]

The Binnian Tunnel

Between 1947 and 1951 over 150 men drove a tunnel underneath Slieve Binnian. [6] The tunnel was built to carry water from the Annalong valley to the Silent Valley Dam, which had been completed in 1933, 14 years earlier. This was to further supply the growing demands of Belfast's water supply. Two work squads began at each end of the tunnel, and met half way almost 800 metres under the mountain. The technology in the day was lacking in every standard, and was lit by candlelight. When the two squads met, they were mere inches off. The tunnel measures 8 feet (2.4 m) square – and 2.25 miles (3.62 km) long. Its entry is at Dunnywater and its exit is on the roadside, a short distance from the visitor's centre. The Binnian Tunnel was officially opened on Thursday, 28 August 1952. [6]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binnian Tunnel</span>

Events during the year 1952 in Northern Ireland.

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  1. The first stage was to divert water from the Kilkeel and Annalong rivers through the newly constructed Mourne Conduit to a reservoir at Carryduff. These water pipes were capable of supplying 10 million imperial gallons of water per day. Work was completed in 1901.
  2. The second stage was to build a storage reservoir, the Silent Valley Reservoir, across the Kilkeel River. Design work on this phase began in 1910, but procurement of the work was delayed by World War I. A contract was eventually awarded in 1923 to S. Pearson & Son and work continued until 1933.
  3. The third stage was planned to be another storage reservoir in Annalong to impound the Annalong River. However, after the difficulties encountered in building the Silent Valley dam this second dam was not built.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Crom</span>

Ben Crom is a 526 metres (1,726 ft) mountain in the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated beside Ben Crom Reservoir, which is upstream from Silent Valley Reservoir. The mountain is composed of granite. An exposed area on the south west of the mountain shows where the Eocene aplitic granite meets the laccolith top of the older Mesozoic granite ring dike. The summit of the mountain features granite crags which are crossed by basic and feldspar porphyry dikes. The mountain is used for sheep grazing and hill walking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Crom Reservoir</span> Reservoir in County Down, Northern Ireland

Ben Crom Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Mourne Mountains near Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland. Along with Silent Valley Reservoir, which is situated further down the Kilkeel River valley, it supplies water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of Belfast. It was constructed between 1953 and 1957, as the final part of the Mourne scheme to provide water to Belfast which started with the passing of the Belfast Water Act in 1893.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annalong Forest</span> Forest in County Down, Northern Ireland

Annalong Forest is located near the village of Annalong in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is made up of two sections: Annalong Wood and Silent Valley. The forest consists of various species of conifer. It is part of the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There have been two major forest fires in the area since 2011. One, which started on 30 April 2011, required 10 fire engines to extinguish and caused the temporary closure of several roads. Another, on 24 April 2010, destroyed approximately 50 hectares of gorse and was believed to have been started deliberately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfast City and District Water Commissioners</span>

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The Mourne Conduit was a water main which ran 42 kilometres (26 mi) from the Silent Valley Reservoir to Carryduff, near Belfast and was built between 1893 and 1901 for the Belfast City and District Water Commissioners. This was supplemented by additional pipelines twice in the 20th Century. This system supplied water to Greater Belfast and North Down for more than 100 years. It is labelled as the Mourne Aqueduct in Ordnance Survey maps from the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slieve Lamagan</span> Mountain in County Down, Northern Ireland

Slieve Lamagan or Slievelamagan is one of the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland. It has a height of 702.2 metres (2,304 ft). Slieve Lamagan stands in the middle of the high Eastern Mournes, overlooking Ben Crom Reservoir to the west, Annalong River valley to the east, and Cove Mountain to the northeast. At its southern foot is a small lake called Blue Lough, and a rock formation known as 'Percy Bysshe'.

References

  1. "Your Place And Mine - Down - A Century of Water from the Mournes - a concise history". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. McIldowie, G. (1935). "The Construction of the Silent Valley Reservoir, Belfast Water-Supply" Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1935, 239:1935, pp. 465-516
  3. 1 2 3 "A Century of Water from the Mournes - a concise history". BBC News. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. "A Century of Water from the Mournes - Part 2 A concise history - The Silent Valley Reservoir - 1910 - 1933". BBC News. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  5. Acheson, Ben (1 February 2023). "From Happy Valley to new Watertown". Down Recorder .
  6. 1 2 "The Binnian Tunnel - Introduction and Background". BBC News. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2020.

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