Burrator Reservoir, Dartmoor National Park, England
Burrator Reservoir, Dartmoor National Park - a well chilled place. Burrator Reservoir is a beautiful spot set in the midst of farmland and moorland close to the villages of Sheepstor and Meavy. Mr Edward Sandeman (1862-1959) was appointed Plymouth's Water Engineer in July 1891. He had previously been the Assistant Engineer at Blackburn in Lancashire, where he had carried out important works worth over £1 million. In December 1891 he prepared a report on the water supply of Plymouth in which he recommended the Burrator Gorge for a storage reservoir and the provision of a direct pipeline from there into the Town. The Corporation adopted his scheme on March 30th 1892. The Plymouth Corporation Act of June 9th 1893 authorised the construction of the reservoir, along with a pipe-line from there to the service reservoir at Roborough. Work started on the construction of the Burrator Dam on August 9th 1893, with Sheepstor Dam being started the following year, both under Mr Sandeman's supervision. The Burrator Dam is built across the river Meavy at the Burrator Gorge. It is constructed of concrete faced with dressed granite. The smaller one at Sheepstor is built on a dividing ridge between the Meavy and Sheepstor Brook and is formed by an earth embankment with a core wall of puddled clay above the original ground level and a concrete section below ground. Officially opened Wednesday September 21st 1898 by the Mayor, Councillor J T Bond. It cost £178,000 of which the two Dams cost £102,000 and £24,000 respectively. It was reported shortly afterwards that as a result of the construction of the Reservoir, the revenue from the water property had increased from £13,000 to £15,000 per year while the expenditure had decreased from £4,000 to £3,500. Mention was also made of the fact that although the Reservoir was completely frozen over in January 1917, when the top was covered with ice 10 inches thick, a constant supply of water was still delivered to the Town. The watershed for the Reservoir was stated in the 1930s to be 5,360 acres. In order to preserve the purity of the water discharging into the Reservoir, the Corporation bought the whole of the watershed in 1916. The last portion of land was freely donated to the Town by Mr John Bayly. Boundary posts marked PCWW 1917 can be found on the moorland surrounding that area.
Work started on raising both the Burrator and Sheepstor Dams by 10 feet in December 1923. This would enlarge the capacity from 668 million gallons to 1,026 million. The work was financed by the Government as part of an unemployment relief programme. A suspension bridge was erected by Messrs Orr, Watt & Company, of Motherwell ion Scotland, near Burrator Dam to carry traffic while the work proceeded. At each end was a sign that read:
NOTICE
NOTHING EXCEEDING
10 Tons WEIGHT
MUST CROSS THIS BRIDGE.
CHARS-A-BANC
ARE NOT ALLOWED
ON THE BRIDGE.
However, that apparently did not deter Mr Russell Lillicrap, a timber merchant from Horrabridge, who drove his traction engine towing a threshing machine across it. The weight strecthed the cables so much that they had to be repaired. The enlarged reservoir was opened by the Mayor of Plymouth, Alderman W H J Priest, at the Fyshinge Feast held on Wednesday September 12th 1928. On September 21st 1929 the Council granted the workmen a days paid leave. The whole area has been afforestated and gives the Reservoir the look of an alpine lake. The area of the Reservoir at overflow level is about 150 acres.
Burrator Reservoir
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Burrator Reservoir is a reservoir on the south side of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. It is one of a number of reservoirs and dams that were built over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries in the area now covered by Dartmoor National Park to supply drinking water to the rapidly growing towns in the surrounding lowlands.
Burrator Reservoir was completed in 1898, and the reservoir was expanded in 1929. The reservoir was built under the supervision of Edward Sandeman (1862-1959), the Water Engineer for Plymouth. The reservoir has two dams, the Burrator Dam, which is built across the River Meavy at Burrator Gorge at the south-western end, and the Sheepstor Dam built on a dividing ridge between the Meavy and Sheepstor Brook at the south-eastern end. The Burrator Dam was the first of the two to be built, with construction starting on 9 August 1893. It is the more massive of the two dams, constructed of concrete faced with granite blocks. The Sheepstor Dam was built in 1894 and is an earth embankment with a core wall of puddled clay above the original ground level, with a concrete section below ground. The reservoir was officially opened on 21 September 1898.
In 1923 it was decided to enlarge the capacity from 668 million gallons to 1,026 million. This was achieved by raising the height of both dams by 10 feet. Work began in December 1923, and a temporary suspension bridge was built near Burrator Dam to carry traffic while the work proceeded. The reservoir was officially re-opened on 12 September 1928.
In the 1930s the watershed on Dartmoor for the reservoir was stated to be 5,360 acres. The present-day area of the reservoir at overflow level is about 150 acres. The edges of the reservoir are planted with commercial forests.
The reservoir is now managed by the South West Lakes Trust, and is a popular spot for leisure activities including walking, cycling and fishing.
Location for Sat NAV users Post Code. PL20 6PE
Ep. 1 - Two Bridges To Yelverton
Episode 1 of my Dartmoor series. Set off from the Two Bridges Inn after a LUSH hot chocolate and went down to Yelverton.
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