BCWW - 1957
I scoured Google maps to locate this when it popped up last month figuring I might soon be in its vicinity. Turns out it was right on the route I was travelling from the North down to the Peak District for an extended birthday weekend, making it an ideal place to stop for half an hour...
The Buxton Corporation Water Works (I’m guessing that’s what the letters in the stone lintel above the door stand for) was built in 1957 to service the nearby Stanley Moor reservoir, a two storey building with yellow stone frontage and brick infill panels to the rear.
The reservoir itself had been built on a problematic geological faultline where limestone and millstone grit met – which despite the clay lining led to it leaking. No amount of investigation could rectify the problem - the water level was reduced by ten feet, and in 1946 the dam was breached in favour of a low-level weir channel. Capacity was reduced from 450,000 to 275,000 cubic metres.
The waterworks building has been derelict for some time, a consequence I believe of its functions now being carried out within the modern network of pipes themselves rather than in works such as these.
I'm surprised it's in relatively good condition to be honest, but then it is a bit hidden out of the way. A little vandalism, a little fire damage... some evidently human shit on the floor...
Otherwise, nicely decaying and worth the effort if you're anywhere near.
Thanks for stopping by
I scoured Google maps to locate this when it popped up last month figuring I might soon be in its vicinity. Turns out it was right on the route I was travelling from the North down to the Peak District for an extended birthday weekend, making it an ideal place to stop for half an hour...
The Buxton Corporation Water Works (I’m guessing that’s what the letters in the stone lintel above the door stand for) was built in 1957 to service the nearby Stanley Moor reservoir, a two storey building with yellow stone frontage and brick infill panels to the rear.
The reservoir itself had been built on a problematic geological faultline where limestone and millstone grit met – which despite the clay lining led to it leaking. No amount of investigation could rectify the problem - the water level was reduced by ten feet, and in 1946 the dam was breached in favour of a low-level weir channel. Capacity was reduced from 450,000 to 275,000 cubic metres.
The waterworks building has been derelict for some time, a consequence I believe of its functions now being carried out within the modern network of pipes themselves rather than in works such as these.
I'm surprised it's in relatively good condition to be honest, but then it is a bit hidden out of the way. A little vandalism, a little fire damage... some evidently human shit on the floor...
Otherwise, nicely decaying and worth the effort if you're anywhere near.
Thanks for stopping by
