Tag: reservoir
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Not another one!
I remembered today a painting my aunty had above her fireplace. It was of a blue lady and it was years later that I discovered that it was just a reproduction sold in its thousands in 1960s furniture shops. The painting was called the Chinese Girl, and apparently the original was sold for nearly £1…
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Blue Lake
Originally known as Hanging Stone Dam it became known as Blue Lake because of the blueish tinge it had from salts washing out of the alum shales. But after a day’s rain, there was no sign of any blue tonight. It was built in 1880 by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease to provide water power for…
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Code Beck Reservoir
From Scarth Wood Moor. The little carpark at the top end of Cod Beck Reservoir quickly gets full. Tomorrow, a Bank Holiday Sunday will be even busier. The cars parked on the right verge risk being ticketed – there are parking restrictions along the lane which are vigorously enforced. Scarth Wood Moor is a National…
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On Dead Man’s Hill
Or the continuing story of Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib. We parked up at Scar House Reservoir at the top of Nidderdale last night and from across the reservoir, Dead Man’s Hill beckoned. A plan formed for my morning run. There was no phone reception at Scar House Reservoir so I had to wait…
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Westworth Reservoir
Had a look around the old Westworth Reservoir. This was one of my regular jaunts when I lived in Guisborough in the 1980s. Now just a puddle, it was a proper reservoir then, over 15,000 square yards, although no longer in use. Very popular with the local lads for swimming if I recall. A public…
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Scaling Dam
What came first the reservoir or the dam? I have always thought Scaling Dam was named after the village of Scaling when the reservoir was commissioned in 1958. But browsing the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1856 I noticed a hamlet by the name of Scalingdam comprising the sandstone buildings standing along the north side…
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Cod Beck Reservoir
A chilly circumnavigation of Cod Beck reservoir. Above the sky is blue with just a hint of cirrus but down in the valley, the Greylags on their watery roost have yet to feel the warmth of the morning sun. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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The Girt Dog of Ennerdale
Today there are many graphic images of farm animals having been mauled by out of controlled dogs. This is not just a modern phenomenon. On 12th September 1810, a dog was shot near Rowrah at the bottom end of Ennerdale. It had been on the rampage all that summer eluding many hunts and attempts to…
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Chew Reservoir
It’s been a long day. At the crack of dawn this morning I was on the high Pennine moors above Oldham. Maybe it was a dream. I came across Chew Reservoir quite suddenly out of the swirling morning mist. When full it holds 200 million gallons of water but the current level is substantially lower.…
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Blue Lake
Not really a lake and definitely not blue, more of a mucky brown. It is, of course, a small dam and the blue refers to the blue colour it was said to be because of the salts of alum that leached into the water. It was built in 1880 by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease to…