The Manchester Bury & Bolton Reservoir, commonly called Elton Reservoir, is located near the A58 Bolton Road in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, about 3 km (1.8 mi) south west of the town of

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. Constructed in 1842 at the height of the canal era, it remains today as legacy of the industrial era and a major leisure facility for residents of Bury,

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

and North

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 ...

Description

The reservoir covers 226,000 sq m (56

acres The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...

) and contains some 1 million cubic metres (220 million imperial gallons). It is an important area for both resident and migrating water fowl, attracting many species throughout the year.

History

The reservoir was constructed and opened in 1842 as a feeder for the

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. S ...

. The water was used to top up the canal as water was lost at the bottom end of the canal. Initially, water was to have been taken from the

River Irwell The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam. The Irwell marks the boundary be ...

, however local mill owners objected citing a loss of water for their mills so the reservoir was constructed. Today water is still taken from the Irwell at

Burrs Country Park Burrs Country Park covers a 36 hectare (86 acre) site on the banks of the River Irwell, 1.5 km (1 ml) north west of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It was acquired by Bury Metropolitan Borough Council in 1986 and transformed from a dere ...

and taken by feeder channel to Elton Reservoir which in turn feeds the remains of the canal.

Leisure use

The reservoir has been used for leisure since the Elton Club was founded in 1858. This club was initially for 'Gentlemen and their sons' to engage in the pursuit of fishing. The club later became the Elton Sailing Club and since 1870, the club has carried out sailing activities. The reservoir is also used for sailing activities by local community groups,

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

Sailing &

Windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

Section and the

scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

. The Triathlon clubs of Rochdale and Bolton also use the reservoir for Open Water swimming. The reservoir is now an important

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

in the north west of England managed by Bury Angling Association. The coarse fishery contains many species including, bream,

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

and

roach Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * California roach ...

. The National Cycle Route 6 passes alongside the reservoir. There is 6.5 km (4 ml) walking path around the reservoir which is described in the Bury Council book entitled "Walks Around Bury", Copies can be obtained at local libraries and Bury Tourist Information Centre or downloaded from the Bury MBC web site

References

External links

National Cycle Route 6
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester Bolton and Bury Reservoir Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Reservoirs in Greater Manchester Canal reservoirs in England Irwell Valley