Bottoms Reservoir is a man-made

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate 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 par ...

in north

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. It was constructed between 1865 and 1877, by

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 ...

as part of the

Longdendale Chain The Longdendale Chain is a sequence of six reservoirs on the River Etherow in the Longdendale, Longdendale Valley, in northern Derbyshire. They were constructed between 1848 and 1884 to a design by John Frederick Bateman to supply the growing pop ...

of reservoirs to supply water from the

River Etherow The River Etherow in northern England is a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The up ...

to the urban areas of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

. The upper reservoirs supplied the drinking water, while Bottoms and Vale House reservoirs regulated the flow downstream for the benefit of local water-powered mills.Tintwistle - history
Tintwistle4728

The reservoir was obliged to release ten million gallons a day. To ensure this, a gauging basin in diameter was built. The drinking water flowed through the

Mottram Tunnel The Mottram Tunnel (Mottram in Longdendale) is a tunnel carrying drinking water by gravity from Arnfield Reservoir, Tintwistle, Derbyshire, in the valley of the River Etherow, to Godley, Greater Manchester, in the valley of the River Tame. It w ...

to the Godley covered reservoir. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs along the south-western side of the reservoir and over the dam.

History

In 1877, turbines were introduced at Bottoms to produce electricity that powered the company offices and the works electric train. These operated for 28 years. In 1998, remedial safety work was undertaken. The clay core and crest was raised by , and a dry metalled track constructed on the crest. The bywash channel bridge was replaced to give greater clearance, and the stonework of the bywash channel and the tumbling bay was repointed.

References

Reservoirs of the Peak District Works by John Frederick Bateman Reservoirs in Derbyshire {{derbyshire-geo-stub