Anglezarke Reservoir facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Anglezarke Reservoir |
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Anglezarke Reservoir, Rivington
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 Anglezarke Reservoir
Location in the Borough of Chorley
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| Location | Rivington |
| Coordinates | 53°38′30″N 2°35′0″W / 53.64167°N 2.58333°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | River Yarrow |
| Primary outflows | The Goit |
| Basin countries | United Kingdom |
| Settlements | Chorley, Lancashire |
Anglezarke Reservoir is a really big lake in Lancashire, England. It's not a natural lake, though! It's a special kind of lake called a reservoir. Reservoirs are built by people to store water, usually for drinking. Anglezarke Reservoir is the largest one in a group of reservoirs called the Rivington chain. It helps provide water to nearby towns like Wigan.
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What is Anglezarke Reservoir?
Anglezarke Reservoir is the biggest reservoir in the Rivington chain. It's located west of a place called Anglezarke in Lancashire, England. This huge reservoir has three main walls, called embankments. The longest one, Charnock Embankment, is about 850 meters long and 9 meters high. The Knowsley Embankment is about 219 meters long and 14 meters high. The Heapey Embankment is about 85 meters long and 10 meters high.
The reservoir gets its water from the River Yarrow. This river was actually moved from its original path to help fill the reservoir!
How Anglezarke Reservoir Was Built
Anglezarke Reservoir was part of a big project called the 'Rivington Pike Scheme'. This project was started by a man named Thomas Hawksley between 1850 and 1857. It was built for the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks to supply water to the city of Liverpool.
The plan was to build five reservoirs in total. They also built a water treatment plant at the south end of Lower Rivington. A long pipeline, about 17 kilometers (11 miles) long, carried the water to storage reservoirs in Prescot. Water from two higher reservoirs, Rake Brook and Lower Roddlesworth, flowed south in a channel called 'The Goit'. This channel connected them to the main reservoirs.
Fixing a Leak at the Reservoir
In November 1997, something interesting happened at the reservoir. After a very hot summer, the reservoir was refilled with a lot of water. There was so much water that they had to let some out quickly!
This low water level gave engineers a chance to check the Heapey embankment. This part of the reservoir had been leaking since the 1960s. The engineers found that the embankment needed special repairs. They had to inject a material called grout into the ground to stop the leaks.
After the first repair, the reservoir was refilled, but it was still leaking a bit. So, they did a second repair using more grout. After that, the embankment was finally fixed and stopped leaking!
Why the Leak Started
It seems the leak was caused by an old pipe. This pipe, about 18 inches wide, was used to send water to a stream called White Brook. The ditch for this pipe was dug much deeper than needed. It went through an old channel made by melting glaciers. Even though the pipe was turned off in the 1970s, the leak continued until the grouting repairs were done.
Waterman's Cottage
On the west side of the reservoir, there's a special house called Waterman's Cottage. It was built by the Liverpool Corporation using local stone. The cottage looks like it's from the Tudor period, and it's also known as Heapey Cottage. In the 1940s, a family named Denis and Anne Oakden lived there. Denis worked for the Water Authority, helping to manage the reservoir.
Exploring the Area
To the east of Anglezarke Reservoir, you'll find a smaller lake called High Bullough Reservoir and the open Anglezarke Moors. To the south is Upper Rivington Reservoir, and to the north-west is Healey Nab.
Today, the area around Anglezarke Reservoir is a wonderful place for wildlife. There's a special Woodland Trail that connects to High Bullough Reservoir, perfect for exploring nature.
