Anglezarke Reservoir

Anglezarke Reservoir lies west of Anglezarke village in Lancashire, part of the Rivington chain of reservoirs. It is the largest in the chain and holds water from the River Yarrow, which was diverted in the 19th century. Three embankments hold back the water: the longest is the Charnock Embankment, stretching 850 yards and rising 31 feet. The Knowsley Embankment is shorter but taller at 45 feet, while the Heapey Embankment is 280 feet long and 32 feet high. The reservoir once supplied Liverpool but now mainly serves Wigan. The reservoir’s history goes back to the Rivington Pike Scheme led by engineer Thomas Hawksley between 1850 and 1857. The scheme built five reservoirs and a treatment works, connected to Liverpool by a 17-mile pipeline. In 1997, after a hot summer, heavy rain filled the reservoir so quickly that an emergency draw-down was needed. Inspections revealed a long-standing leak in the Heapey embankment, traced to an old 18-inch cast iron pipe buried too deep through a glacial meltwater channel. Waterman’s Cottage stands on the west bank, a Tudor-style building also called Heapey Cottage. It was once home to Denis and Anne Oakden, who lived there in the 1940s while Denis worked for the Water Authority. To the east lies High Bullough Reservoir and the open moorland of Anglezarke Moors. To the south is Upper Rivington Reservoir and to the north-west Healey Nab. The area is now a wildlife haven with a Woodland Trail linking to High Bullough Reservoir.