Bold Venture Reservoir
Coordinates: 53 ° 41 ′ 32 " N , 2 ° 28 ′ 21" W
The Bold Venture Reservoir is a reservoir in Darwen , Lancashire , in England. It was laid out in 1844 by a mill owner near a quarry on the edge of a moor above the town. At that time the reservoir had a storage volume of 20,000 cubic meters and the dam was 10 m high. It broke on August 23, 1848 when it was flooded in a storm. This caused a flood in Darwen, killing twelve people.
The misfortune
The accident happened the night people were sleeping in their homes. The tidal wave tumbled down Peggy Brook, struck Water Street, where it entered houses, flooded basements, then on to Bury Street and Market Street. In these two streets in particular, people drowned in their cellars. This included children and a baby. One survivor was John Lassey. He climbed onto a table and survived with only two inches of space between the water and the ceiling. An investigation then revealed that it was an accident and that if the dam was rebuilt, a major overflow should be built.
Today there is a lake in the same place in Bold Venture Park . In the park, sculptures on a circular path remind of the event.
literature
- Lessons from historical dam incidents, Environment Agency, Bristol, August 2011, p. 137. URL: [1]
- Townships: Over Darwen, A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6 (1911), pp. 269-275. URL: [2]
See also
Single sources
- ^ The Sculpture Trail
- ↑ Darwen flood tragedy recalled in new sculpture trail around reservoir
- ↑ Castle Metals help with The Huntington Trail in Darwen ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Darwen flood tragedy recalled in new sculpture trail around reservoir
- Small Raised Reservoirs - the need for regulation (PDF file 395 kB)
- The Sculpture Trail (PDF file 1170 kB)
- Bold Venture Park