Burnhope Reservoir ( ) is a reservoir above the village of

Wearhead Wearhead is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated at the top of Weardale between Cowshill and Ireshopeburn. It is named after the nearby source of the River Wear which runs eastwards for approx to Sunderland. In the 2001 ce ...

, County Durham, England. The reservoir was created by the construction of an earth embankment dam across the valley of Burnhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear, above

. Construction of the dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1937; an extensive network of

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railways, the Burnhope Reservoir railway, was used during the construction of the dam. Filling of the reservoir commenced in 1936 and resulted in the drowning of the former village of Burnhope. Burnhope Reservoir was a joint project of the Durham County Water Board and the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company. It is now owned and operated by Northumbrian Water. The reservoir supplies water to the Wear Valley treatment works at Wearhead and there is a pipeline connection to Waskerley Reservoir, which supplies Honey Hill water treatment works. The reservoir serves as the source to meet regulated discharges into the River Wear and to compensate for abstraction of water at

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at ...

further downstream.)

References

External links

* Drinking water reservoirs in England Reservoirs in County Durham Dams completed in 1937 Stanhope, County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub

See also

References

External links