Images of the past reveal how village disappeared
IT is a remarkable coincidence that at a time that the people of Lancashire are within days from a hose-pipe ban, a reader unearthed some amazing old photographs and material from the time that Greenbooth Valley reservoir was being constructed.
Mrs Helen Stubbs, in having a clearout came across a file which once belonged to Mr Alex Herd, who was her late grandad and was once the manager of the Heywood and Middleton Water Board.
Mr Herd was in charge of the construction of the Greenbooth reservoir located in the Naden Valley.
The images found within the file show the quiet village of Greenbooth being demolished to make way for a reservoir which was estimated to cost one and a quarter million pounds, with a final total showing that it cost £500,000 more.
The contract to construct the earthbank dam was awarded to Sir. Alfred McAlpine and Sons Ltd. From the information gained we feel that it took four years to construct the reservoir.
It was featured in a magazine named, ‘The Surveyor’ in 1962, which stated that the size of the undertaking was a width across the crest of one thousand feet, and 100 feet in the centre.
Clay was used to create a water tight seal within the reservoir bed.
A quantity was found on site, the remainder being imported. Clay once wet is trampled by the workers boots which provided a water tight bond, and kept wet, would last forever.
It was a huge and ambitious scheme which the Heywood and Middleton Water Board undertook at Greenbooth.
The final outcome doubled their water capacity.
It was stated that once the Naden Valley reservoir was completed it would cater for the water demands for the next 50 years.
A member of the Middleton Family History Group commented that on cold stormy, wintry nights, the church bell can be heard to ring over the flooded valley of Greenbooth.
Which is rather strange he said, as the church did not have a bell!