Tunstall Reservoir
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tunstall Reservoir was a
water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
storage
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 ...
completed in 1879, and now used solely to maintain minimum regulatory flows on the
River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...
in northeast England. It is situated in the north
Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...
of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, and lies 3.5 km north of the village of
Wolsingham Wolsingham is a market town in Weardale, County Durham (district), County Durham, England. It is situated by the River Wear, between Crook, County Durham, Crook and Stanhope, County Durham, Stanhope. History Wolsingham sits at the confluence ...
, in
Weardale Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. The u ...
,
County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
. The earthen
embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface ...
, which impounds the reservoir, is recognized as the location where
pressure grouting Pressure grouting or jet grouting involves injecting a grout material into otherwise inaccessible but interconnected pore or void space of which neither the configuration or volume are known, and is often referred to simply as ''grouting''. Th ...
with cement
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 ...
was first utilized in 1876 by engineer
Thomas Hawksley Thomas Hawksley ( – ) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with early water supply and coal gas engineering projects. Hawksley was, with John Frederick Bateman, the leading British water engineer of the n ...
, to reduce leakage within the rock foundation under an earth dam. Pressure grouting has since become normal practice for construction and remediation at dams and related water resource projects.


Dam construction

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 ...
was created for the Weardale and Shildon District Waterworks Company, with construction of the dam between 1873 and 1879.
p.81
/ref>Tunstall Reservoir (pdf downloadable at ) The earth embankment dam was built across the valley of Waskerley Beck, and measures long and high. It was constructed with a puddle clay core, which extended upward from the cut-off trench excavated into the rock foundation on the hillsides. A seven-foot diameter draw-off tunnel in one abutment controls reservoir elevation.


Early grouting

In 1876,A. Clive Houlsby, ''Construction and Design of Cement Grouting; A Guide to Grouting in Rock Foundations'', p.273
John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...
, 1990,
with the reservoir partially filled, water was found percolating through fissures in rock to downstream of the cut-off trench.Hawksley, Thomas
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
The supervising engineer,
Thomas Hawksley Thomas Hawksley ( – ) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with early water supply and coal gas engineering projects. Hawksley was, with John Frederick Bateman, the leading British water engineer of the n ...
, initially extended the cut-off with brickwork and concrete, but the leakage continued. Faced with few methods to treat such an unsafe condition, Hawksley then adopted the novel technique of pouring or pumping cement grout into holes bored in rock below the trench alignment. In 1877 and 1878, on another dam for which Hawksley was responsible, the same process was used to reduce underseepage from the Cowm Reservoir in
Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
; it became the second dam to use grouting for control of leakage. At the Cowm embankment, which was in construction from 1868 and opened in 1877, he injected grout under the cutoff of the embankment. The remedial treatment by grouting was successful until 1886, when leaks reappeared. Further treatment cured them. A tradition
avers Avers (; , ) is a high Alpine valley region and a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It includes Juf, the highest-altitude year-round settlement in Europe. History Avers is first mentioned in 1292 as ''An ...
that Hawksley said "he wished he had never seen Rochdale."


Changes in ownership and usage

As a result of amalgamations, Tunstall reservoir passed to the Weardale and Consett Water Company in 1902 and to the Durham County Water Board in 1920. Following nationalisation and subsequent privatisation, it is now owned and operated by
Northumbrian Water Northumbrian Water Limited is a water company in the United Kingdom, providing mains water and sewerage services in the English counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and parts of North Yorkshire, and also supplying water as Essex ...
. Until 2004, the reservoir supplied a water treatment works located immediately below the dam wall, but, with the opening of a new treatment works adjacent to
Burnhope Reservoir Burnhope Reservoir ( ) is a reservoir above the village of Wearhead, County Durham, England. The reservoir was created by the construction of an earth embankment dam across the valley of Burnhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear, above Wear ...
at
Wearhead Wearhead is a village in the civil parish of Stanhope, County Durham, Stanhope, in County Durham, England. It is situated at the top of Weardale between Cowshill and Ireshopeburn. It is named after the nearby source of the River Wear which runs ...
, the Tunstall works was abandoned. The reservoir is now used solely to maintain minimum regulatory flows on the
River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...
, in support of raw water abstractions further downstream, at
Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555. The town's history is ancient; ...
.) The reservoir borders the Backstone Bank and Baal Hill Woods
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
. At the northern end of the reservoir, there is a small marshy area where the nationally scare Thread rush, ''
Juncus filiformis ''Juncus filiformis'', called the thread rush, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Juncus'', with a circumboreal distribution. It has been introduced to South Georgia Island South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South ...
'', occurs; to protect this, Northumbrian Water has designated the marsh as a private nature reserve. The rest of the reservoir is used by Tunstall fishery for both Boat and Bank Fishing.


References

{{authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Reservoirs in County Durham Wolsingham