![Thirlmere Aqueduct Higher Wheelton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Thirlmere_Aqueduct_Higher_Wheelton.jpg)
The Thirlmere Aqueduct is a 95.9-mile-long (154.3-kilometre-long) pioneering section of water supply system in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, built by the
Manchester Corporation Water Works
Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three f ...
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 aqueduct was built to carry approximately per day of water from
Thirlmere
Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Allerdale, Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for inst ...
Reservoir to
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. The construction of the
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 ...
and
aqueduct was authorised by the Manchester Waterworks
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
. The first phase was completed in 1897 and, for the pipeline sections, subsequent phases were completed in 1925. The first water to arrive in Manchester from the Lake District was marked with an official ceremony on 13 October 1894.
The route of the reservoir passes through
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
and then enters Manchester through Salford. It has been mapped on
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/7937446
History
![Thirlmere - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Thirlmere_-_geograph.org.uk_-_19789.jpg)
In 1874
John Frederick Bateman
John Frederick La Trobe Bateman (30 May 1810 – 10 June 1889) 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 reser ...
advised Manchester Corporation that the increasing demand for water, then averaging per day, would soon exhaust the available supply from
Longdendale
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.
Geography
The eastern part ...
. His first recommendation was to source water from
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age.
Geography
It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...
, but it was eventually decided to seek powers to acquire
Thirlmere
Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Allerdale, Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for inst ...
and build a dam there. In the face of local opposition the project received Royal Assent in 1879. Under this act Manchester was granted priority of right to per person per day.
Tunnel under Dunmail Raise Pass
This tunnelled section under
Dunmail Raise
Dunmail Raise is the name of a large cairn in the English Lake District, which may have been an old boundary marker. It has given its name to the mountain pass of Dunmail Raise, on which it stands. This mountain pass forms part of the only low-lev ...
was dug by two teams mining towards each other. The two tunnel sections joined within 20 cm of centre.
Thirlmere Dam
![Thirlmere Dam from Raven Crag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Thirlmere_Dam_from_Raven_Crag.jpg)
The dam at Thirlmere rises above the old stream bed, and the reservoir when full has a surface area of , and a holding capacity of above the level to which water may be drawn (540 O.D.) The total dry-weather yield of Thirlmere Reservoir is reckoned at about per day, out of which compensation water in respect of the area now draining into the Lake , amounting to per day average, is sent down the St. John's Beck. Manchester Corporation has acquired the drainage area of (in addition to other lands).
Aqueduct technical data
![Thirlmere Aqueduct Stretford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Thirlmere_Aqueduct_Stretford.jpg)
The aqueduct is 95.9 miles long from Thirlmere reservoir to
Heaton Park Reservoir
Heaton Park Reservoir is a granite sided reservoir in the North-West of England, on the border between the City of Manchester and Bury and is owned by United Utilities, and can be found within the grounds of Heaton Park. Heaton Park BT Tower lies ...
,
Prestwich
Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury.
Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...
. Its most common form of construction is
cut-and-cover
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
, which consists of a "D" section concrete covered channel, approximately wide and between and high. There are of cut and cover, made up of concrete horseshoe-shaped sections thick. Typically, the
conduit
Conduit may refer to:
Engineering systems
* Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids
* Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables
* Conduit curre ...
has of cover and traverses the contours of hillsides.
It is the longest gravity-fed aqueduct in the country, with no pumps along its route. The water flows at a speed of and takes just over a day to reach the city. The level of the aqueduct drops by approximately 20 inches per mile (30 cm/km) of its length.
Construction history
Sections of the route of the aqueduct have over time been modified for the construction of modern
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s. During the construction of the
M6 and
M61 connection a short section was diverted. A short section of the aqueduct near
Worsley
Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester.
Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...
, Greater Manchester, was also re-routed in the late 1960s during the construction of the
M62/
M63/
M602 motorway
The M602 motorway is a relatively short motorway, leading traffic into Salford, Greater Manchester, England, towards Manchester and by-passing the suburban town of Eccles.
History
The first section from Worsley to Eccles (now Junction 2) opene ...
interchange.
References
Further reading
Hoyle, N. & Sankey, K. ''Thirlmere Water, a Hundred Miles, a Hundred Years'' Centwrite, Bury 1994 .
External links
{{Commons category, Thirlmere Aqueduct
Salford council website showing listed status and an image (Dead link)* [https://archive.org/details/b28062759 Mansergh, James. "The Thirlmere water scheme of the Manchester Corporation : with a few remarks on the Longdendale Works, and water-supply generally." London: Spon, 1879] - popularising lecture, with copious plans & elevations, including map showing aqueduct route
Aqueducts in England
Grade II listed buildings in Greater Manchester
Buildings and structures in Cumbria
Works by John Frederick Bateman
Grade II listed bridges in Greater Manchester