The Upper Derwent Valley is an area of the Peak District National Park in England. It largely lies in Derbyshire, but its north eastern area lies in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Its most significant features are the Derwent Dams, Ladybower, Derwent and Howden, which form Ladybower Reservoir, Derwent Reservoir and Howden Reservoir respectively.
The Derwent is a river in Derbyshire, England. It is 50 miles (80 km) long and is a tributary of the River Trent, which it joins south of Derby. Throughout its course, the river mostly flows through the Peak District and its foothills.
Birchinlee is the site of "Tin Town", a village built by the Derwent Valley Water Board for the workers who constructed the Derwent and Howden Dams between 1902 and 1916. Most of the workers had previously been engaged in the construction, in Wales, of the Elan Valley Reservoirs where the accommodation was very basic. At Birchinlee, a "model village" was built; its infrastructure included hospitals, school, canteen (pub), post office, shops, recreation hall, public bath house, police station, railway station, rubbish dump with incinerator, and much else. One of the shops was a well-stocked store owned by the Gregory brothers from Tideswell. Accommodation consisted of workmen's huts, foremen's huts and married workmen's huts. The latter were decorated to a high standard, as photographs from the period confirm. The population rose to 900 people.
Derwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north of Derbyshire, England. It lies approximately 10 mi (16 km) from Glossop and 10 mi (16 km) from Sheffield. The River Derwent flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir. Between them they provide practically all of Derbyshire's water, as well as to a large part of South Yorkshire and as far afield as Nottingham and Leicester.
The Howden Reservoir is a Y-shaped reservoir, the uppermost of the three in the Upper Derwent Valley, England. The western half of the reservoir lies in Derbyshire and the eastern half is in Sheffield, South Yorkshire; the county border runs through the middle of the reservoir, following the original path of the River Derwent. The longest arm is around 1+1⁄4 mi (2.0 km) in length. The reservoir is bounded at the southern end by Howden Dam; below this, the Derwent flows immediately into Derwent Reservoir and subsequently the Ladybower Reservoir. Other tributaries include the River Westend, Howden Clough and Linch Clough.
The River Ashop is a river in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. Its source is on the eastern slopes of Mill Hill, three miles south east of Glossop and just north of Kinder Scout.
Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales.
Carsington Water is a reservoir, operated by Severn Trent Water, between Wirksworth and Kniveton in Derbyshire, England. The reservoir takes water from the River Derwent at Ambergate during winter months, pumping up to the reservoir by 10.5-kilometre (6.5 mi) long tunnels and aqueduct. Water is released back into the river during summer months for water abstraction and treatment further downstream. It is England's ninth-largest reservoir with a capacity of 36,331 megalitres.
Bamford is a village in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, close to the River Derwent. To the north-east is Bamford Edge, and to the north-west the Ladybower, Derwent and Howden Reservoirs. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,241.
Lake Vyrnwy is a reservoir in Powys, Wales, built in the 1880s for Liverpool Corporation Waterworks to supply Liverpool with fresh water. It flooded the head of the Vyrnwy valley and submerged the village of Llanwddyn.
Cropston Reservoir lies in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England. The dam and associated water works are in Cropston, while the bulk of the reservoir is in the neighbouring Newtown Linford parish. It was opened in May 1871 in a corner of Bradgate Park, a large expanse of open land northwest of Leicester. It is part of the 987-acre (399.3 ha) Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Clywedog Reservoir is a reservoir near Llanidloes, Wales on the head-waters of the River Severn. The construction of the reservoir was enabled by an Act of Parliament which asserted that "At certain times the flow of water in the river is inadequate ... unless that flow were regulated so as to ensure that at those times water in addition to the natural flow will flow down the river."
Derwent was a village 'drowned' in 1944 when the Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire, England was created. The village of Ashopton, Derwent Woodlands church, and Derwent Hall were also 'drowned' in the construction of the reservoir.
The River Alport flows for 5.6 miles (9 km) in the Dark Peak of the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. Its source is on Bleaklow, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Glossop, from which it flows south through the Grains in the Water bog, then over gritstone below the Alport Castles landslide to Alport Bridge on the A57 Snake Pass route from Sheffield to Manchester, where it joins the River Ashop. The Ashop flows into Ladybower Reservoir about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) down the valley, which discharges via the Rivers Derwent and Trent to the North Sea. The source of the Alport is close to the Pennine watershed.
Yorkshire Bridge is a small hamlet at grid reference SK200850 near the Ladybower Reservoir dam in the English county of Derbyshire. Administratively the area forms part of the civil parish of Bamford and the district of High Peak. The people who built the Ladybower Dam wall lived in the houses at Yorkshire Bridge.
Ashopton was a small village in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Ashop. The village population was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Aston, Derbyshire. In the early 1940s, the village was demolished to make way for the filling of Ladybower Reservoir.
Severn Trent Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities established in 1974. Its area of operation was the catchments of the River Trent and River Severn. It assumed the powers and responsibilities of existing water supply authorities in those catchment areas, the Severn River Authority, the Trent River Authority and the sewage and sewage disposal responsibilities of the councils within its area.
The Derwent Valley Water Board was constituted by the Derwent Valley Water Act 1899 to supply the cities of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield, and the county of Derbyshire, with water impounded by a series of reservoirs along the upper reaches of the River Derwent in the Peak District of Derbyshire.
The City of Nottingham Water Department (1912–1974), formerly the Nottingham Corporation Water Department (1880–1912), was responsible for the supply of water to Nottingham from 1880 to 1974. The first water supply company in the town was the Nottingham Waterworks Company, established in 1696, which took water from the River Leen, and later from springs at Scotholme, when the river became polluted. Other companies were set up in the late 18th century and in 1824, while in 1826 the Trent Water Company was established. They employed Thomas Hawksley as their engineer, who became one of the great water engineers of the period, and Nottingham had the first constant pressurised water supply system in the country. The various companies amalgamated in 1845, and Hawksley remained as the consulting engineer until 1879.
Staunton Harold Reservoir is a large reservoir under the management of Severn Trent Water, located between Melbourne and Ticknall in Derbyshire, England. Most of the water is within Derbyshire but a small part of the southern shore is over the border in Leicestershire. The site is also the home of Staunton Harold Sailing Club.
Ladybower Reservoir high and dry
Northern branch of the Ladybower Reservoir, showing aqueduct
Overflow for the Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower Overflow valve-houses
Layout of the Ladybower Reservoir
Overflow for the Ladybower Reservoir in full flow, May 2006
