Today we took Mark & Lesley on a stroll around Grimwith Reservoir. Beautiful light, beautiful views …. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. 


Boredom alert ….. long list of facts coming up …..

According to the official text ….

Grimwith Reservoir is located in the Yorkshire Dales. It was built by the Bradford Corporation as one of eleven reservoirs in the Yorkshire Dales to supply fresh water to Bradford and is the largest reservoir owned by Yorkshire Water in terms of water storage.

Holding 21,772,000 m3 of water it is Yorkshire Water's largest reservoir.

The original reservoir was completed in 1864 and covered 102 acres, contained up to 670 million gallons and was approximately 288 metres (945 ft) above sea level .

Construction involved the abandonment of the hamlets of Grimwith and Gate Up, which were flooded. 

In 1970 the reservoir was increased by seven times and the water level was raised by 20 metres. 

The reservoir outlet is the site of a renewable energy project with a turbine that generates 1400 MWh of electricity per annum.

The reservoir is an important area for birds and is home to Eurasian wigeon, teal, greylag geese and Canada geese, ringed plover, northern lapwing, common redshank, Eurasian curlew, reed bunting, lesser redpoll, whinchat and sedge warbler.

At the eastern end of the reservoir is a grade II listed barn. The Cruck Barn used to be further west but was reconstructed on its present site above the waterline to preserve it. This type of barn is rare for the Yorkshire Dales. Its origins were in the 16th century and was rebuilt in 1982 when the reservoir was extended. See extra.