Colsterdale towers
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The Colsterdale towers are a number of interesting towers in and around Colsterdale, North Yorkshire, England.
Visible from Roundhill Reservoir and Leighton Reservoir above Arnagill Crags is a stone sighting tower built over an aqueduct near a water pumping station.[1] The similar Carle Tower is situated 3 km southeast just above Wandley Gill,[2] Carlesmoor Sighting Tower is a further 2 km east[3] and another sighting tower to the north is long since gone having been constructed of wood. The Greygarth Monument is also in the area,[4] commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
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[edit] Erection
The sighting towers were erected to conduct surveys (the steep-sided valley of Dallow Gill was once a proposed reservoir site) and as references for construction of the pipeline over hill and dale toward Harrogate. The pipe begins at the bottom of a small catchments reservoir above Spout Gill Farm and flows to Roundhill Reservoir, where it meets with the dam overflow pipe that runs to Carlesmoor and empties into the River Laver.
[edit] Reservoirs
The reservoirs were built by the Harrogate Water Corporation between 1895 and 1911. The Leeds Corporation explored construction of another reservoir to the north-west in Colsterdale but the proposal was rejected due to concerns over lead and coal mines in the area. The narrow-gauge Colsterdale Waterworks Light Railway built in 1901 as a supply line from Masham to Roundhill Reservoir closed in 1926 and was removed in 1932 (after being used during World War I for troop transport to the Leeds Pals camp at Breary Banks just north of Leighton) but is still evident on the south side of the dale.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Google Earth KMZ with markers, photos and 3D sketchups
