Report - LadyBower Outfall - Jan 2013

[paulpowers]

The wife wanted to watch a musical about miserable french lesbians so I decided to head out while it was on (I was out 2 1/2 hours and it was still on when I got back)

History

Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943 by the Derwent Valley Water Board, and took a further two years to fill (1945). The dam differs from the other two as it is a clay-cored earth embankment, and not a solid masonry dam like the others. Below the dam is a cut-off trench 180 feet (55 m) deep and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide filled with concrete, stretching 500 feet (150 m) into the hills each side, to stop water leaking round the dam. The building of the dam wall was undertaken by the Scottish company of Richard Baillie and Sons. The two viaducts, Ashopton and Ladybower, needed to carry the trunk roads over the reservoir were built by the London firm of Holloways, using a steel frame clad in concrete. Both firms encountered mounting problems when the Second World War broke out in 1939 making labour and raw materials scarce. This extended the proposed build time, but the construction was carried on due to the strategic importance of maintaining supplies. The opening ceremony for the reservoir was carried out on Tuesday 25 September 1945 by King George VI accompanied by the future Queen Elizabeth.

I rocked up under the cover of darkness and checked the water level, the reservoir is about 2 - 3 foot off the top of the spillway so I was good to go

To say it's pretty big is something of an under statement it's fooking massive but the XM-L 3800 shone like a beauty

On with the pics

Taken a month ago

It's pretty cold out and a layer of ice covers the walls

The twin outfall at the end

​