The second day of a two day residential for Year 4 pupils from a school in Lanchester. Next to the farm near Heddon-on-the-Wall where we were staying was this feature marked as an aqueduct on the map. I took the photo early this hazy morning before there was any movement from the kids’ wigwams. It turns out it dates from 1869 and was built to provide a water supply to Victorian Newcastle.
The aqueduct carried water from Whittle Dene Reservoir to filter beds at Throckley for the Newcastle & Gateshead Water Company. Nowadays the water is piped on a route closer to the Tyne. It’s amazing what you can find by Googling. It’s interesting that the one of the initial needs for a reliable water supply was from the fire insurance companies and not for clean, safe water for the populace.
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