Anglezarke Reservoir is the largest

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

in the

Rivington Rivington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of ...

chain to the west of

Anglezarke Anglezarke is a sparsely populated civil parish in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. It is an agricultural area used for sheep farming and is also the site of reservoirs that were built to supply water to Liverpool. The area has a la ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. Anglezarke Reservoir has three embankments: the Charnock Embankment, the longest, is long and high, the Knowsley Embankment is long and high and the

Heapey Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 c ...

Embankment is long and high. It is fed by the River Yarrow, which has been diverted from its original course which is now covered by the Knowsley Embankment. It served the city of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

before its current status as a supply mainly for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. The original `Rivington Pike Scheme' was undertaken by Thomas Hawksley between 1850 and 1857 for the

Liverpool Corporation Waterworks Liverpool Corporation Waterworks and its successors have provided a public water supply and sewerage and sewage treatment services to the city of Liverpool, England. In 1625 water was obtained from a single well and delivered by cart, but as the ...

. The scheme was to construct five reservoirs and a water treatment works at the south end of Lower Rivington with a pipeline to storage reservoirs at

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 femal ...

. Water from two higher level reservoirs, Rake Brook and Lower Roddlesworth, was carried south in `The Goit', a channel connecting them to the reservoirs. In November 1997, the reservoir was refilled after the 1997 summer heat wave. The water flow was so large that the reservoir required an emergency draw-down. With the water level at a temporary low, there was an opportunity to inspect the

embankment on Moor Road, which had been leaking since the 1960s. The condition of the embankment and surrounding

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

were such that a phased

grout Grout is a dense substance that flows like a liquid yet hardens upon application, often used to fill gaps or to function as reinforcement in existing structures. Grout is generally a mixture of water, cement, and sand, and is frequently employe ...

ing operation was required to remedy the leakage. The reservoir was refilled, but was still leaking. After a second grouting and refill operation, the embankment was deemed leak-free. It appears that the original cause of the leak was an 18-inch cast iron draw-off pipe which supplied White Brook to the north of the embankment. The trench for the pipe was cut much deeper than needed, through a

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

meltwater channel. However, shutting the pipe off in the 1970s failed to remedy the situation. Watermans Cottage

Waterman's Cottage was built by Liverpool Corporation on the west bank of the reservoir. The cottage is a Tudor-style structure also known as Heapey Cottage. It was occupied by Denis and Anne Oakden in the 1940s. Denis worked for the Water Authority and moved to the property after several years in Porch Cottages,

White Coppice White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies ...

. To the east of the reservoir is the small High Bullough reservoir and the Anglezarke Moors,

Upper Rivington Reservoir Upper Rivington Reservoir is situated centrally in the Rivington chain of reservoirs, on the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire, England, between Rivington and Anglezarke. The engineer for the Rivington reservoirs was Thomas Hawksley and construc ...

is to the south and Healey Nab to the north-west. The area is now a wildlife haven, with a Woodland Trail which links to High Bullough reservoir.

Notes and references

{{Authority control West Pennine Moors Drinking water reservoirs in England Tourist attractions in Chorley Reservoirs in Lancashire