Scar House was the third reservoir in upper Nidderdale to be built for the Bradford Corporation Waterworks. Construction work took 15 years finally completed in 1936 with one million tons of masonry being quarried from on Carle Fell opposite. The incline leading to the large quarry can be seen in the photo. The workers and their families lived in a temporary village on this side of the dale just off to the right complete with post office, hospital, church and cinema, to service a population of 1,250. For the bringing in of materials a narrow gauge from Pateley Bridge was used that had originally been constructed for the Angram Reservoir further up the valley. Water from the reservoir finds its way to Bradford purely by gravity. In 1930 British Pathé produced an interesting (silent) film about the construction of the dam. It can be seen on YouTube:
Leave a Reply