Scar House Reservoir
| Scar House Reservoir | |
|---|---|
 | |
 The reservoir dam, completed in 1936 | |
| Location | North Yorkshire |
| Coordinates | 54°11′17″N 1°54′40″W / 54.18806°N 1.91111°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Basin countries | United Kingdom |
| Surface area | 70 ha |
| Max. depth | 36.3m (120ft) |
| Water volume | 10 million cubic metres (2,200 million gallons) |
Scar House Reservoir is the second of the three reservoirs in Upper Nidderdale, England, the others being Angram Reservoir and Gouthwaite Reservoir. Between them they attract around 150,000 visitors a year.
Angram and Scar House were built to supply water to the Bradford area of West Yorkshire, England. Water from here is transferred to Chellow Heights via the Nidd Aqueduct using only gravity and no pumping.
The dam contains over one million tonnes of masonry, it rises to 55 metres above the river and is almost 600 metres long. It was completed in 1936. The dam height is 71 m (233 ft). The reservoir is fed almost exclusively from Angram reservoir, which in turn is fed predominantly from the flanks of Great Whernside.
History
Scar House was the last reservoir to be built in the Nidd Valley and took fifteen years to complete, stone for the dam was quarried from the quarry on Carle Fell to the North and North West of the dam.
Scar House was once home to more than 1,250 villagers who lived and worked building the Nidderdale dam in the 1920s. Evidence of the village can be seen to the left of the reservoir approach road in the form of concrete bases and also just below the car park where one of the original buildings is now used by a local farm.[1] After construction of the reservoir was complete, the old village hall was moved to Darley, where it is still a village hall.[2]
The Nidd Valley Light Railway was constructed to enable the reservoirs at Scar House and Angram to be completed. The railway opened in 1907 and closed in 1937.
In 1932, the former church building at Scar House was moved to St Martin's Church in Heaton, Bradford.[3]
The geographical half way point of the Nidderdale Way is the dam at Scar House Reservoir.
Facilities
- Car park
- Toilets
- 3 picnic areas
- Wheelchair access
- Tea Van in high season
- Seasonal café (new 2014)
Activities
- Fishing - controlled by the Nidderdale Angling Club
- Walking
- Horse Riding
- Mountain biking
- Caving
References
- ^ Bolt, Andrew. A Walk In The Past.
- ^ "Scar House Reservoir's History" (PDF). Nidderdale AONB. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
- ^ "An Early History of St Martin's" (PDF). Heaton Local Church. pp. 1–4. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
External links
Media related to Scar House Reservoir at Wikimedia Commons