Wet Sleddale Reservoir

Wet Sleddale Reservoir is an artificial reservoir set amongst the Shap Fells 4 kilometres (2 mi) south of the village of Shap in Cumbria, England, and lies just within the boundary of the Lake District National Park. The triangular shaped reservoir, which can store 2,300 million litres of water, was created by the construction of a dam across Sleddale Beck in order to supply Manchester with water.[3] The dam is 21m high and 600m long.[4]

Wet Sleddale Reservoir
Wet Sleddale Reservoir is located in the Lake District
Wet Sleddale Reservoir
Wet Sleddale Reservoir
Wet Sleddale Reservoir is located in the former Eden District
Wet Sleddale Reservoir
Wet Sleddale Reservoir
Location in Eden, Cumbria
LocationShap, Cumbria
Coordinates54°29′47″N 2°41′44″W
Typereservoir
Catchment area12.14 km2 (1,214 ha)[1]
Basin countriesUnited Kingdom
Surface area30.7 ha (76 acres)[2]

The extracted water is carried to Haweswater, mainly through tunnels.[5]

The beck emerges from the foot of the dam as the River Lowther.[6] There is a public car park beneath the dam from which a public right of way gives access to the south side of the reservoir.[7] Alfred Wainwright describes a walk from here in the Wet Sleddale Horseshoe chapter of his The Outlying Fells of Lakeland.[8]

Manchester Corporation were given powers to construct the reservoir under the Haweswater Act, 1919 but construction did not start until the 1960s and completion was in 1966.[9]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wet Sleddale Reservoir.
  1. White, E., et al. “An Assessment of the Relative Importance of Several Chemical Sources to the Waters of a Small Upland Catchment.” Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1971, pp. 743–749. www.jstor.org/stable/2402681.
  2. British Lakes - Wet Sleddale Reservoir
  3. Article at VisitCumbria.com with images
  4. Article at engineering-timelines.com
  5. Culvert over the Naddle Beck possibly the only point where the Wet Sleddale - Haweswater aqueduct comes above ground.
  6. Review of the Wet Sleddale "Waterbank" Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, ie. the regulation of discharges to the Lowther from the reservoir.
  7. Ordnance Survey 1:63360 scale Touring Map & Guide 3: Lake District
  8. Wainwright, A. (1974). "The Wet Sleddale Horseshoe". The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. Kendal: Westmorland Gazette. pp. 242–247.
  9. Article at www.thingstodolakedistrict.co.uk


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