Reservoir plan was born when hoses of firefighters ran dry!
North Staffordshire historian MERVYN EDWARDS looks at the story of Tittesworth Reservoir, its importance to outlying areas, and how it developed into a must-visit tourist attraction
TITTESWORTH Reservoir in Meerbrook, near Leek, was created by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Company (formed in the 1840s) for industrial use in 1858. It is fed by the River Churnet and operated by Severn Trent Water – but what is its story, how important was it to outlying areas, and how has Tittesworth Water been developed as a must-visit tourist attraction?
All too frequently today, we waste our water supply, but in times past, clean water was a much sought after commodity.
Until the start of the 19th century, most people in Leek took their water from the River Churnet, or from wells. As indicated in the local press of 1849, the water supply in Leek was quite dire.
Locals were frequently vexed by the town bellman’s proclamations that ‘the water will be turned off all day tomorrow.’
Meanwhile, the town’s reservoir and fountain were reported to be full of fish, frogs, toads and tadpoles.
In the first half of the 19th century, Tunstall inhabitants received their water from the Round Well, the Sugar
Well and the Lady’s Well in the town. The water was said to be of good quality but scarce in dry seasons. There was also a Town Pump, though this was often in disrepair.
It was reported in 1850 that Fenton ‘may be said to have been almost destitute of water excepting such as falls from the heavens, and in summer the want is most severe; the manufacturers have frequently to prevent parties from carrying away the condensing water for use.’
The directors of the Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks Company reported in 1859 that there was immense difficulty in raising a supply of water up to Penkhull, and that a small reservoir might perhaps be built there.
In that year, Oliver Lodge Senior chaired a meeting of Penkhull residents who aired their dissatisfaction over the water supply issue. Some residents had been without water for between three and five weeks, or longer.
A similar meeting followed in August, 1859 – and only a day after, the need for a reliable water supply became manifest.
A fire broke out in a hay-filled barn belonging to Mr Crewe, a farmer, so a call went out for the Stoke fire brigade.
Mr Lodge and other plucky residents managed to extinguish the fire through suffocating it before the firemen arrived.
This was just as well, as it was found that there had been no water in the mains.
Only after this incident did the Waterworks Company refill their pipes with water – much to the joy of Penkhull inhabitants, it was reported, ‘as it formed quite an event in their history’.
Other towns could tell their own tales relating to the difficulties in sourcing water, and the gradual construction of a small number of reservoirs was intended to address the matter.
Despite initial problems in constructing the reservoir at Tittesworth, it soon proved its worth, according to Mr Elliot, an engineer with the Potteries Waterworks
Company who gave his report in 1864.
He remarked that construction work had created an extraordinary flood two years earlier, but that there was now ‘not the slightest’ subsidence and that the reservoir was perfectly watertight.
At this time it covered 42 acres and its greatest and was 40ft at deepest.
The ambient embankment was raised around 1876.
However, it was one thing to develop reservoirs in North Staffordshire, quite another to engineer a network of pipes and conduits to ensure that the water supply was available when most needed.
It continued to be the case that when water was required for firefighting, it could not always be secured.
At a Hanley Town Council meeting in 1870, Councillor Bodley, a manufacturer, reported that when his factory had recently caught fire, ‘it was the old, old story. When there was a fire there was no water to be had’.
In 19 out of 20 cases when there was a fire at a factory, he attested, there was no water available from the mains, thereby imperilling property and workers.
Superintendent Povey, who had arrived on the scene with his officers, subsequently reported that it was heartbreaking for him and his men to ‘stand by upwards of an hour’ and see Bodley’s packing house blazing away whilst his would-be firefighters were perfectly helpless.
History records that the Waterworks Company were regularly criticised when there was ‘no water in the mains’ for tackling blazes.
When a cowshed near to the Noah’s Ark pub in Hartshill caught fire in 1856, the pub was lucky not to catch flame itself – whilst a horrendously destructive fire of 1872 very nearly destroyed the beautiful Hartshill church.
It took years for the Waterworks Company to properly address the water supply issue.
In common with so many other large sheets of water in North Staffordshire, the Tittesworth Reservoir has known tragedy.
But within living memory, multifarious improvements have been made at Tittesworth.
In the late 1950s the dam was raised to 70ft high, and four years later a water treatment works was built to allow reservoir water to be used as drinking water.
The enlarged reservoir was inaugurated by Princess Margaret in 1962.
In 1992, a new treatment works was built, enabling 175,000 people in Leek and Stoke-on-trent to be supplied from the reservoir.
With the reservoir attracting thousands of visitors annually, it was decided to build the present visitor centre, which opened in 1998.
Site interpretation to be found inside the centre informs us that by 2007 the reservoir was able to store just over 1.4 billion gallons of water when full.
As an ardent ambulator and lover of our open spaces, I have visited this location twice in recent years and have enjoyed invigorating walks there.
One visitor, Beverley Joughinrobson, was so impressed that she wrote an eight-stanza poem, A Visit To Tittesworth Reservoir.
It’s a fine poem that praises nature but that evinces a twinge of conscience:
“Should we endorse our interference here? On this abandoned countryside, our lake?
“Yes! Without such conservation it is clear, all this wild countryside would disappear, under the bricks of builders on the make.”
Nowadays, there are signposted walks around the water, such as the Churnet Trail, the Fosters Trail and the Reservoir Trail. By the way, the so-called Long Walk is a circular route of five miles.
Memorial walks have been organised in memory of the recently departed.
An annual charity walk in support of Christian Aid has also been held around the reservoir. It began at Trentham Gardens in 1991, but later took place at Tittesworth.
The attraction boasts numerous interesting installations that reflect ideas about the environment, including the so-called butterfly boudoir which offers butterflies a hibernation shelter over the winter months, this being an alternative to the natural shelter of log piles.
Particularly eye-catching is the public sculpture known as the Iron Green Man by Jason Turpinthomson, a Sheffield artist, in front of the visitor centre. Multifarious events have been plentiful at Tittesworth, and Severn Trent has sometimes held Halloween Trails there.
Canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding have been held on the water, which now covers 190 acres.
This said, let’s not forget the primary function of the reservoir.
It pumps, on average, 28 million tonnes of water a day, and has the capacity to provide up to 45 million litres a day, keeping households in various parts of Stoke-on-trent, Leek and the Staffordshire Moorlands splendidly hydrated.