Woodhead Reservoir

A panoramic view of this big reservoir here in North Derbyshire consisting of three photographs (approx 170°). On the far side accompanying the full length of this water runs the infamous A628 Woodhead Pass trunk road, passing over the nine-hole bridge that we can just see too.

Woodhead reservoir was created between 1847 and 1877 with much difficulty, to supply the urban areas of Greater Manchester with fresh water. The Longendale chain of five reservoirs, of which this is the top one, were once the biggest chain of man-made reservoirs in the world. At the far end near the electricity pylon was the start of the Woodhead railway tunnel complex too. Three parallel trans-Pennine tunnels each 3-mile (4.8 km) long, now all closed the last in 1981) took at one time as many as 400 trains a day under the moorland. Many people died on the construction of these. The largest one now carries the national electricity power cables underneath instead of over the moors on pylons.

See PiP for tunnels