Damflask Reservoir is situated at grid reference five miles (eight kilometres) west of the centre of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

in the Loxley valley close to the village of

Low Bradfield Low Bradfield is a village within the Bradfield, South Yorkshire, civil parish of Bradfield in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated within the boundary of the city of Sheffield in the upper part of the River Loxley, Loxley Valley, 6¼ mile ...

and within the city's boundaries. The hamlet of Stacey Bank is located to the east. The

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 ...

has a capacity of 4,250.9 million litres (1,123.1 million gallons) and has a surface area of with a maximum depth of . The dam wall is approximately wide with a height of .

Construction

Damflask reservoir was built as one of a group of reservoirs in the Bradfield area (the others being

Strines Strines is a village in Greater Manchester, in the valley of the River Goyt. It is located midway between Marple and New Mills, about six miles south-east of Stockport. The village falls within the Marple parish and the Metropolitan Borough o ...

, Agden and Dale Dike reservoirs) to supply both fresh drinking water and a guaranteed supply of running water to the population and industries respectively of

. It was completed in 1896 with the dam walls being constructed from local stone, and its original purpose was primarily as a compensation reservoir to ensure a continuous flow of water to the

River Loxley The River Loxley is a river in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is a series of streams which rise some to the north-west of Sheffield, England, Sheffield on Bradfield Moors, flowing through Bradfield Dale to converge ...

downstream. It takes its name from Damflask village which was washed away in the

Great Sheffield flood The Great Sheffield Flood was a flood that devastated parts of Sheffield, England, on 11 March 1864, when the Dale Dyke Dam broke as its reservoir was being filled for the first time. At least 240 people died and more than 600 houses were da ...

of 11 March 1864; the village stood near the site of the current dam wall and had a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

(Barrell Inn), corn mill, paper mill, wire mill, blacksmith's shop and a few dwellings. The village was never rebuilt after the flood because plans were already in hand to construct Damflask Reservoir.

Ownership and use

Damflask Reservoir was built by the Sheffield Waterworks Company, and is owned today by

Yorkshire Water Yorkshire Water is a British water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company ...

which is part of the

Kelda Group Kelda Group Limited is a British utility company. It is based in Bradford, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but was taken private by a group of investors, Saltaire Water, in 2 ...

; they have opened the facility to various recreational groups. Three

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

clubs (City of Sheffield Rowing Club,

Sheffield University Rowing Club Sheffield University Rowing Club (SURC) is the rowing club for The University of Sheffield and is based on Damflask Reservoir near Lower Bradfield, Sheffield, England, and is affiliated to British Rowing. Based at Damflask Reservoir, within th ...

, and Sheffield Hallam University Rowing Club) are all active on the reservoir as is th
Sheffield Viking Sailing Club
It is also open to anglers all the year round who fish mainly for

Bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

Roach Roach or The Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * Cal ...

and

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

. The woodlands around the reservoir have always been popular with walkers although they were restricted to permitted paths and rights of way for many years. However, in August 2002 Yorkshire Water opened all the area under the

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), also known as the CRoW Act and "Right to Roam" Act, is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act impleme ...

, allowing access to previously restricted areas. A £60,000 project was completed by Yorkshire Water at the start of 2015 to allow better access for disabled people to the circular walking route around the reservoir. This includes widening of access points to allow wheelchair entry,

tactile paving Tactile paving (also called tenji blocks, truncated domes, detectable warnings, tactile tiles, tactile ground surface indicators, tactile walking surface indicators, or detectable warning surfaces) is a system of textured ground surface indicat ...

and improved information boards.Sheffield Star (accessed 6 April 2015)
Gives details of disabled access. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs along the south-western edge of the reservoir from Low Bradfield.

References

External links

Yorkshire Water
– Damflask Reservoir

{{authority control Reservoirs of the Peak District Reservoirs in South Yorkshire