Longdendale is a valley in the Peak District of England, north of Glossop and southwest of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley" and the valley is mostly in the counties of Derbyshire and Greater Manchester.
The River Etherow is a river in northern England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale. The river has a watershed of approximately 30 square miles (78 km2), and the area an annual rainfall of 52.5 inches (1,330 mm).
Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both of which give views of the lake and of Helvellyn beyond. It runs roughly south to north and is bordered on the eastern side for much of its length by the A591 road and on the western side by a minor road. It occupies the site of a former natural lake: this had a fordable waist so narrow that it was sometimes regarded as two lakes. In the 19th century Manchester Corporation constructed a dam at the northern end, raising the water level, flooding the valley bottom, and creating a reservoir to provide the growing industrial city of Manchester with water supplies via the 96 mile-long Thirlmere Aqueduct. The reservoir and the aqueduct still provide water to the Manchester area, but under the Water Act 1973 ownership passed to the North West Water Authority; as a result of subsequent privatisation and amalgamation they are now owned and managed by United Utilities, a private water and waste water company.
Woodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the trans-Pennine A628 road connecting Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire, 6 miles (10 km) north of Glossop, 19 miles (31 km) east of Manchester and 18 miles (29 km) west of Barnsley. It is close to the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail. Although part of Derbyshire since 1974, like nearby Tintwistle and Crowden, the hamlet was in the historic county of Cheshire.
Anglezarke Reservoir is the largest reservoir in the Rivington chain to the west of Anglezarke in Lancashire, England. Anglezarke Reservoir has three embankments: the Charnock Embankment, the longest, is 850 yards (777 m) long and 31 feet (9.45 m) high, the Knowsley Embankment is 240 yards (219.5 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) high and the Heapey Embankment is 280 feet (85.3 m) long and 32 feet (9.75 m) high. It is fed by the River Yarrow, which has been diverted from its original course which is now covered by the Knowsley Embankment. It served the city of Liverpool before its current status as a supply mainly for Wigan. The original `Rivington Pike Scheme' was undertaken by Thomas Hawksley between 1850 and 1857 for the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks. The scheme was to construct five reservoirs and a water treatment works at the south end of Lower Rivington with a 17-mile (27 km) pipeline to storage reservoirs at Prescot. Water from two higher level reservoirs, Rake Brook and Lower Roddlesworth, was carried south in `The Goit', a channel connecting them to the reservoirs.
Woodhead reservoir is a man-made lake near the hamlet of Woodhead in Longdendale in north Derbyshire, England. It was constructed by John Frederick Bateman between 1847 and June 1877 as part of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs to supply water from the River Etherow to the urban areas of Greater Manchester. It is at the top of the chain of reservoirs and was the first to be started, though, due to construction problems, it was the last to be completed.
Torside Reservoir is the largest man-made lake in Longdendale in north Derbyshire, England. It was constructed by John Frederick Bateman between April 1849 and July 1864 as part of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs to supply water from the River Etherow to the urban areas of Greater Manchester.
Rhodeswood Reservoir is a man-made lake in Longdendale in north Derbyshire, England. It was constructed by John Frederick Bateman between 1849 and June 1855 as part of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs to supply water from the River Etherow to the urban areas of Greater Manchester. It is third in the chain, and it is from here that the water is extracted to pass through the Mottram Tunnel to Godley for Manchester.
ValehouseReservoir is a man-made lake in Longdendale in north Derbyshire, England. It was built between 1865 and 1869 as part of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs, which was built to supply water from the River Etherow to the urban areas of Greater Manchester, while maintaining a constant flow into the river. The upper reservoirs supply the drinking water, while Vale House and Bottoms are compensation reservoirs which guarantee the flow of water to water-powered mills downstream. Valehouse, with a crest elevation of 503 metres (1,650 ft), is too low to supply water under gravity to the Mottram Tunnel, so could not be used as an impounding reservoir. Today 45 megalitres of compensation water are released each day into the River Etherow.
Bottoms Reservoir is a man-made lake in Longdendale in north Derbyshire, England. It was constructed between 1865 and 1877, by John Frederick Bateman as part of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs to supply water from the River Etherow to the urban areas of Greater Manchester. The upper reservoirs supplied the drinking water, while Bottoms and Vale House reservoirs regulated the flow downstream for the benefit of local water-powered mills.
The Longdendale Chain is a sequence of six reservoirs on the River Etherow in the Longdendale Valley, in northern Derbyshire. They were constructed between 1848 and 1884 to a design by John Frederick Bateman to supply the growing population of Manchester and Salford with fresh water.
Hollingworth Reservoir is a former reservoir near Hollingworth, Tameside, Greater Manchester. The reservoir straddles the Greater Manchester–Derbyshire border. It was constructed in 1854 as part of the Longdendale Chain, but was abandoned in 1987 and now forms part of the Swallows Wood nature reserve.
Swallows Wood
The Thirlmere Aqueduct is a 95.9-mile-long (154.3-kilometre-long) pioneering section of water supply system in England, built by the Manchester Corporation Water Works between 1890 and 1925. Often incorrectly thought of as one of the longest tunnels in the world, the aqueduct's tunnel section is not continuous.
The Staines Reservoirs are two large pumped storage reservoirs sitting to the east of the King George VI Reservoir near Heathrow airport in Surrey within the Colne Valley regional park. The village of Stanwell is mainly to the north east, and the town of Staines is to the south.
John Frederick La Trobe Bateman was an English civil engineer whose work formed the basis of the modern United Kingdom water supply industry. For more than 50 years from 1835 he designed and constructed reservoirs and waterworks. His largest project was the Longdendale Chain system that has supplied Manchester with much of its water since the 19th century. The construction of what was in its day the largest chain of reservoirs in the world began in 1848 and was completed in 1877. Bateman became "the greatest dam-builder of his generation".
Hurst Reservoir is a former, now disused, reservoir near Glossop, north Derbyshire.
Mossy Lea Reservoir is a disused reservoir near Glossop, north Derbyshire. In 1837, 50 local millowners and gentlemen, known as the "Glossop Commissioners", obtained an Act of Parliament to construct the Glossop Reservoirs. Hurst Reservoir was on the Hurst Brook and Mossy Lea Reservoir was to take water from the Shelf Brook. Only the Hurst Reservoir was constructed before the money ran out. Mossy Lea Reservoir was constructed privately in 1840 by the Duke of Norfolk. It was taken over in 1929 by the Glossop Corporation Waterworks. This became part of the Manchester Corporation Waterworks in 1959. Swineshaw Reservoir, Hurst Reservoir and Mossy Lea Reservoir are no longer in service.
The Godley Reservoir is a reservoir in Godley, Hyde, Greater Manchester. It was completed in 1851, as a critical part of the Longdendale Chain project that brings fresh water to Manchester.
The Mottram Tunnel is a tunnel carrying drinking water by gravity from Arnfield Reservoir, Tintwistle, Derbyshire, in the valley of the River Etherow, to Godley, Greater Manchester, in the valley of the River Tame. It was essential to the construction of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs constructed by John Frederick Bateman. The tunnel was built between August 1848 and October 1850, and the Godley Reservoir was finished in 1851 to receive and filter the water.
