History
A few years after Dowry castle buildings were completed parliament passed Oldham Corporation Waterworks Act. This allowed the construction of nearby reservoirs including New Years Bridge Reservoir. The name of the reservoir comes from the bridge/dam which was built in 1876-1883. Buried beneath the reservoir today lies New Years Bridge Mill which used to be one of the highest mills on the river tame. It was built on Denshaw brook, an old track which lead from Castleshaw to Rochdale via Denshaw.
In 1875, James Seville petitioned against the building of the reservoirs. James said the mansion would be exposed to increased cold and damp, lose significant meadow space for sheep and cattle and have its fresh water supply cut off. The reserviors were created by engineers Bateman and Hill, They started on 26 July 1876 and were finished by 1883, officially opening as Denshaw waterworks
In 2012 New Years Bridge spillway went under construction. The Purpose of the project was to upgrade the Overflow facilities at the reservoir. This involved the construction of a new spillway over the existing embankment. The existing spillway was utilised for the Dowry by-pass & New Years Bridge scour flows and connected the new structure. Picture by Simon Bisset, Director, TopWater Limited (the hydraulic design engineer on the reservoir spillway project shown in the image)
My Visit
Me and my non-member friend ended up here with a couple of hours spare after a short visit around Buckton Vale quarry. Most machinery has gone from there no, only left with just a few diggers dotted around. We had heard about this place and with nothing to do we thought we'd give it a try. With not much time it was abit of a rush, didn't help that 90% of it was a 4ft stoop either.
The culvert reduced from 8tf down to a 4ft stoop for 800m until it met the overflow from New Years Bridge Reservoir.
Every corner we turned led to nowhere, thankfully we had the sound of splashing water to keep us going.
As we finally headed out the tunnel we could not see the end as it was already dark.
Cheers.
A few years after Dowry castle buildings were completed parliament passed Oldham Corporation Waterworks Act. This allowed the construction of nearby reservoirs including New Years Bridge Reservoir. The name of the reservoir comes from the bridge/dam which was built in 1876-1883. Buried beneath the reservoir today lies New Years Bridge Mill which used to be one of the highest mills on the river tame. It was built on Denshaw brook, an old track which lead from Castleshaw to Rochdale via Denshaw.
In 1875, James Seville petitioned against the building of the reservoirs. James said the mansion would be exposed to increased cold and damp, lose significant meadow space for sheep and cattle and have its fresh water supply cut off. The reserviors were created by engineers Bateman and Hill, They started on 26 July 1876 and were finished by 1883, officially opening as Denshaw waterworks
In 2012 New Years Bridge spillway went under construction. The Purpose of the project was to upgrade the Overflow facilities at the reservoir. This involved the construction of a new spillway over the existing embankment. The existing spillway was utilised for the Dowry by-pass & New Years Bridge scour flows and connected the new structure. Picture by Simon Bisset, Director, TopWater Limited (the hydraulic design engineer on the reservoir spillway project shown in the image)
My Visit
Me and my non-member friend ended up here with a couple of hours spare after a short visit around Buckton Vale quarry. Most machinery has gone from there no, only left with just a few diggers dotted around. We had heard about this place and with nothing to do we thought we'd give it a try. With not much time it was abit of a rush, didn't help that 90% of it was a 4ft stoop either.
The culvert reduced from 8tf down to a 4ft stoop for 800m until it met the overflow from New Years Bridge Reservoir.
Every corner we turned led to nowhere, thankfully we had the sound of splashing water to keep us going.
As we finally headed out the tunnel we could not see the end as it was already dark.
Cheers.
