Haweswater Reservoir
| Haweswater Reservoir | ||
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| Haweswater as seen from the south | ||
| Geographical location | Cumbria , England | |
| Tributaries | Mardale Beck , Riggindale Beck , Randale Beck , | |
| Drain | Haweswater Beck | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 54 ° 31 '8 " N , 2 ° 48' 18" W | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 246 m ASL | |
| length | 6 km | |
| width | 600 m | |
| volume | 28,000,000 m³ | |
The Haweswater Reservoir is a reservoir in the Northern English Lake District . The lake runs in a slightly curved shape from south to northeast in the valley of Mardale and has a capacity of 28 million m³.
description
Originally there were two natural lakes, High Water and Low Water . The construction of the dam raised the water level by 29 meters and a lake was created six kilometers long and 600 meters wide.
The controversial construction of the dam began in 1929 after the British Parliament passed a law to ensure water supplies in north-west England and the Greater Manchester area .
There were widespread protests against this project because the villages of Measand and Mardale Green in the valley of Mardale were to be abandoned and flooded. In addition, the valley was counted among the most scenic areas of West Morland , so that the plan met with little approval from the population.
Before the valley was flooded in 1935 after construction was completed, all buildings in the villages of Measand and Mardale Green were demolished, including the several hundred year old Dun Bull Hotel in Mardale Green. The stones from the village church were used to build the dam and the graves of the cemetery were moved to Shap, about ten kilometers to the east. When the water level drops in summer, the remains of the village can still be seen today.
The dam wall closing the valley is 470 meters long and 27.5 meters high and is supported by 44 pillars. It was considered at the time of a particular technical performance as it the first buttress dam was the world hollow construction.
The client, the Manchester Corporation , had a new road built on the east bank of the reservoir to its southern end, where the village of Mardale Green was before the flood. There is only one parking lot there today, which is used as a starting point for tours to the surrounding mountains Harter Fell , Branstree and High Street . Halfway there, the Haweswater Hotel was built to replace the old Dun Bull Hotel.
Today the reservoir is owned by United Utilities plc , a public limited company for electricity and water supply based in Warrington .
The valleys around the Haweswater Reservoir are the only region in England where golden eagles nest. In the remote side valley Riggindale which maintains Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) an observation station. The first pair of eagles nested there in 1969 and so far 16 chicks have been raised by different pairs. The female eagle has disappeared since 2004, but it is hoped that the remaining male eagle will find a partner again to raise new offspring.
The book author Alfred Wainwright lamented the construction of the dam and the flooding of the valley in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells : “If we can accept as absolutely necessary the conversion of Haweswater [to a reservoir], then it must be conceded that Manchester have done the job as unobtrusively as possible. Mardale is still a noble valley. But man works with such clumsy hands! Gone for ever are the quiet wooded bays and shingly shores that nature had fashioned so sweetly in the Haweswater of old; how aggressively ugly is the tidemark of the new Haweswater! " ("If we consider the transformation of Haweswater [into a reservoir] absolutely necessary, we must acknowledge that Manchester did it in the most discreet way possible. Mardale is still an excellent valley. But man is clumsy with his hands! Lost forever are the quiet wooded bays and pebble beaches which nature had made so lovely in old Mardale; and how aggressively ugly is the shoreline of the new Haweswater ")
In Cumbria -born author Sarah Hall describes in her novel Haweswater ( ISBN 0-0608-1725-9 ) the construction of the dam and the impact on the people in Mardale from the perspective of a farming family in question. The book received the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize for a debut work.
See also
Remarks
- ^ A. Wainwright, The Far Eastern Fells , Some Personal Notes In Conclusion
