Ladybower Reservoir Overflow - Derbyshire
The overflows at Ladybower have had me curious for some time. It's quite intimidating looking down into what seems to be an abyss, even though the drop is much shorter than it appears, it's still enough to do some damage.
The plan was to abseil down them at sunrise this year, but that idea hasn’t materialized (yet). After nearly detaching a testicle on an awkward high fence, we found ourselves on the ladder to the outfall.
As we climbed down, we noticed a small hut with a man inside who seemed to be looking our way. While walking further down, we also saw what we thought was a dog. Putting two and two together, we figured it was probably a Severn Trent Water worker with a potential security pooch, so we decided to keep going and hoped either he hadn’t seen us or would lose interest.
Apart from the vibrant moss covering the concrete tunnel, there wasn’t much to the place. It was a straight walk for a few minutes, then a left-hand bend that led to the bottom of the plughole. We faffed about down there for about 20 minutes before deciding to head out and keep Mr. Nosey happy.
Turns out we hadn’t been spotted, and the so-called security pooch was actually a rogue sheep that looked completely lost. We decided not to bother with the other spillway—I’m assuming it’s the same anyway.
History
“Ladybower Reservoir is a large artificial reservoir and the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west, the River Derwent flows south initially through Howden Reservoir then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir. Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943 by the Derwent Valley Water Board to supplement the other two reservoirs in supplying the water needs of the East Midlands, It took a further two years to fill which was done by 1945. The second world war caused some delay with the reservoir's construction but later on King George VI accompanied by his wife Queen Elizabeth formally opened the reservoir on 25 September 1945. During the 1990s the wall was raised and strengthened to reduce the risk of over-topping in a major flood, The original dam wall contains 100,000 tons of concrete, over one million tons of earth and 100,000 tons of clay for the core. The dam's design is unusual in having two totally enclosed bell mouth spillway overflows locally named the "plugholes" at the side of the wall, These are stone and of 78 feet (24 m) diameter with a drop of 66 feet (20 m). The plugholes regulate water levels in the reservoir by draining away excess water when they overflow, The water is then carried to the River Derwent through tunnels”.
