Hawswater Dam

Not much narrative for this blog, it's just a series of photos which show how low the water level has sunk due to the hot and dry June and July we had this year. I'm led to believe about a month or so ago, the level was so low that parts of the settlements and roads (which were flooded when Manchester Council constructed the dam) could clearly be seen.

The dam was considered to be an engineering feat in its time. The creation of a reservoir in the Haweswater area was first looked at by a Royal Commission in 1866. Fifty years later in 1919 an Act of Parliament enabled the development of Haweswater beck into a reservoir with a capacity 85,000 million litres. Construction started in 1929 on the dam however it was abandoned for three years between 1931 and 1934. Once complete the reservoir took almost a year to fill with the first recorded water overtopping and flowing down the overflow slipway in 1941.

One of the major hurdles to the building of a reservoir in the Haweswater Valley was the village of Mardale. Before the water levels could rise the villagers were moved out and their homes and other buildings dismantled. At the centre of village life is the church. Bodies buried in the graveyard were exhumed and many reburied at Shap. One of the major hurdles to the building of a reservoir in the Haweswater Valley was the village of Mardale. Before the water levels could rise the villagers were moved out and their homes and other buildings dismantled. At the centre of village life is the church. Bodies buried in the graveyard were exhumed and many reburied at Shap. Windows and some of the stones from the church were reused in the draw-off tower situated a little way back from the dam wall. Two hundred men worked on the construction of the dam. They lived in a temporary village called Burnbanks, with their families which was built nearby.

Nature seems to eventually get its own back though and, as we have seen during an occasionally wet August, the rain will top it back up to its former level over the coming winter months.