Stanley Moor Water Works

Nestled in a picturesque corner of the Peak District in Derbyshire, just outside the charming market town of Buxton, lies The Buxton Corporation Waterworks (BCWW). This remarkable structure was built back in 1957 to cater to the now decommissioned Stanley Moor reservoir, located to the southwest. The reservoir itself was a modest rectangular shape, surrounded by earth embankments and resting on a combination of limestone and millstone grits. To ensure its durability, the interior was lined with puddle clay and topped with a layer of protective masonry pitching.

The reservoir relied on two nearby streams, one to the west and another to the north, as its primary water sources. These streams were cleverly intercepted and guided through aqueducts to the intake chute, thanks to the operation of "leaping weir" sluices.

However, despite these meticulous construction efforts, the reservoir faced a significant challenge. It was situated on a geological fault-line where limestone and millstone grit met, resulting in a troubling rate of leakage. Even with the clay lining, the problem persisted despite numerous investigations. In an attempt to mitigate the issue, the water level was initially reduced by three meters. Then, in 1946, the dam was breached in favor of a low-level weir channel, reducing the reservoir's capacity from 450,000 to 275,000 cubic meters. The exact date of the dam's decommissioning remains unclear, but once it occurred, the waterworks became surplus to requirements.