Aston Reservoir, sometimes known as Salford Lake, Salford Park Pool or Salford Bridge Reservoir, is a 19th-century

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 ...

, formerly used for

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

extracted from the River Tame,The History of South Staffordshire Waterworks Company, 1853 - 1989
- Johann Van Leerzem, Brian Williams in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. It was built by the Birmingham Waterworks Company and was at that time situated in the parish of

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

. On 1 January 1876 the company was purchased by Birmingham Corporation Water Department. It used to be a lake for boating more recently, but that is no longer the case. In the 1950s it was used for

speedboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the intern ...

racing. The area around the reservoir is used as a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

, Salford Park. It has a capacity of behind an earthfill dam,Environment Agency public register of Large Raised Reservoirs, as at 2 November 2020, via and sits immediately adjacent to Gravelly Hill Interchange (aka Spaghetti Junction) of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

and Aston Expressway, and in a bend of the river.

References

External links

Midland Hydroplane Meeting, 1952
( Pathé newsreel)
CROWDS ENJOY WATER SPORTS AT BIRMINGHAM (1952)
(british pathe) Former drinking water reservoirs in England Reservoirs in Birmingham, West Midlands {{WestMidlands-geo-stub