I’ve been in and out of a few small culverts now, but I think this is my first proper explore and certainly my first report. I’d seen the report by Jim and The Lone Ranger and taken the lack of information on the internet about Brushes reservoir to be something of a challenge. Plus, it seemed like an explore that was relatively unlikely to result in a gurgling death, which seemed a good place to start exploring culverts. So off I went with fourlegsgood to explore it.
I didn’t find out much more about the reservoir than either Jim or TLR, except a little background information. It seems the dearth of information may be to do with all the reservoirs in the area, which , “…receive the drainage from lands having an area of fifty square miles". There are many more prettier and interesting reservoirs (at least for the masses), which are still in use in the area. Perhaps as the second smallest reservoir in this series of four, holding a mere 52,165,000 gallons of water on its clay core, Brushes reservoir just wasn’t grand enough to steal any of the limelight. It does, however, feature briefly in a poem about the area,
"The Brushes with its rising ground
With reservoirs will soon abound ;
Its brooks and streams are good, I know,
But nowt like th' pump in Yorkshire Row."
It seems that prior to the construction of the reservoirs local people had little water to drink or bath in, relying heavily on wells and drain tubs (there was even mention of condensed water from the mills). There was a dry spell of historic importance during 1860 to 1870 before the construction of the reservoirs and, “…people felt the scarcity of water”. But even when the local's did get water from the reservoirs, according the the poem it was utterly shit compared to the stuff you could get from the pump at Yorkshire Row.
Also before the construction of the reservoirs in this area, “…the Tame was subject to sudden floods, which caused great damage to property on its banks…”. It seems that until the recent floods, the four reservoirs in the Brushes valley have done a reasonably good job to prevent that. There was some evidence of the Brushes bypass culvert having experienced recent use – small stones and silt being moved along the entrance to the culvert – but these didn’t extend into the closed part, so even with the horrendous flooding recently, the bypass wasn’t needed.
Anyway, that’s the additional information I have managed to find. On with the photos…
Brushes Reservoir
You have to fight through a lot of bush to get in it
Looking back out through the entrance
The pipes of interest and fourlegs
It's not the gradient of the land that's pretty, or the river, it's the culvert.
Demonic Culvert
Exit portal, which seems to have a few more stones knocking about since TLR's explore.
We did go up the embankment at the end, but it would have been much easier to retreat back through the culvert.
Hope the additional information and the couple of photos that are slightly different are of interest.
Thanks for reading
Cheers,
EOA
I didn’t find out much more about the reservoir than either Jim or TLR, except a little background information. It seems the dearth of information may be to do with all the reservoirs in the area, which , “…receive the drainage from lands having an area of fifty square miles". There are many more prettier and interesting reservoirs (at least for the masses), which are still in use in the area. Perhaps as the second smallest reservoir in this series of four, holding a mere 52,165,000 gallons of water on its clay core, Brushes reservoir just wasn’t grand enough to steal any of the limelight. It does, however, feature briefly in a poem about the area,
"The Brushes with its rising ground
With reservoirs will soon abound ;
Its brooks and streams are good, I know,
But nowt like th' pump in Yorkshire Row."
It seems that prior to the construction of the reservoirs local people had little water to drink or bath in, relying heavily on wells and drain tubs (there was even mention of condensed water from the mills). There was a dry spell of historic importance during 1860 to 1870 before the construction of the reservoirs and, “…people felt the scarcity of water”. But even when the local's did get water from the reservoirs, according the the poem it was utterly shit compared to the stuff you could get from the pump at Yorkshire Row.
Also before the construction of the reservoirs in this area, “…the Tame was subject to sudden floods, which caused great damage to property on its banks…”. It seems that until the recent floods, the four reservoirs in the Brushes valley have done a reasonably good job to prevent that. There was some evidence of the Brushes bypass culvert having experienced recent use – small stones and silt being moved along the entrance to the culvert – but these didn’t extend into the closed part, so even with the horrendous flooding recently, the bypass wasn’t needed.
Anyway, that’s the additional information I have managed to find. On with the photos…
Brushes Reservoir
You have to fight through a lot of bush to get in it
Looking back out through the entrance
The pipes of interest and fourlegs
It's not the gradient of the land that's pretty, or the river, it's the culvert.
Demonic Culvert
Exit portal, which seems to have a few more stones knocking about since TLR's explore.
We did go up the embankment at the end, but it would have been much easier to retreat back through the culvert.
Hope the additional information and the couple of photos that are slightly different are of interest.
Thanks for reading
Cheers,
EOA
There wasn't much to say about this culvert that hadn't already been said.
