The Howden Reservoir is a Y-shaped
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
, the uppermost of the three in the
Upper Derwent Valley
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 ...
, England. The western half of the reservoir lies in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
and the eastern half is in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
; the county border runs through the middle of the reservoir, following the original path of the
River Derwent. The longest arm is around 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
Ladybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped, artificial reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through Ho ...
. Other tributaries include the
River Westend
The River Westend flows through the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Its source is at Bleaklow Stones on Bleaklow, from where it flows south east into a western arm of the Howden Reservoir. Its lower reaches run through a ...
,
Howden Clough
Howden () is a market and minster town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York to the north of the M62, on the A614 road about south-east of York and north of Goole, which lies across the Ri ...
and
Linch Clough
Linch is an Anglican parish, and a loose collection of hamlets that make up the civil parish of the same name in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England, northwest of Midhurst. It has an eighteenth-century church dedicated to St Luke.
...
.
Work commenced on the dam's construction on 16 July 1901 and completed in July 1912. The chief engineer was Edward Sandeman. He was also in charge of building nearby Derwent dam and was awarded the
Telford Medal
The Telford Medal is a prize awarded by the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for a paper or series of papers. It was introduced in 1835 following a bequest made by Thomas Telford, the ICE's first president. It can be awarded in gold ...
in 1918 for his work "Derwent Valley Waterworks". The works involved constructing a temporary village at
Birchinlee
Birchinlee is the site of "Tin Town", a village built by the Derwent Valley Water Board for the workers (and their families) who constructed the Derwent and Howden Dams between 1902 and 1916. Most of the workers had previously been engaged in ...
, or "Tin Town", for the workers, a temporary railway line from the main line at
Bamford
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 ...
, construction of a link aqueduct to the Derwent Dam. The dam is of solid masonry construction, and tall, long, and impounds of water, from a catchment area of . The workers who died during the construction of the dam were buried in
St John the Baptist's Church, Bamford
St John the Baptist church is a C of E church in Bamford in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire, England.
History
The building that is seen today is largely a William Butterfield restoration dating from 1860, with a bell tower. The new church was conse ...
.
To the east of the reservoir stands Featherbed Moss, one of the highest tops in the area at , and one of several tops of that name in the area. This is not to be confused with the more well-known
Featherbed Moss
Featherbed Moss is a flat-topped hill, high, in the Peak District in the county of Derbyshire in England. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a joint county top.[Pennine Way
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...]
between
Kinder Scout
Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau and national nature reserve in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District, in Derbyshire and the East Midlands; t ...
and
Bleaklow
Bleaklow is a high, largely peat-covered, gritstone moorland in the Derbyshire High Peak near the town of Glossop. It is north of Kinder Scout, across the Snake Pass ( A57), and south of the A628 Woodhead Pass. Much of it is nearly 2,000 ...
.
Reservoirs of the Peak District
Dams completed in 1912
Reservoirs in Derbyshire
1912 establishments in England
RHowden
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