Tittesworth Reservoir Overflow, Staffordshire - July 2018

Visited with Humpa whilst out and about in the local area, checking out various new bits as well as some of the old classic places just to see how they were doing (generally quite badly!), also involved a stop off at the excellent BeerDock in Leek, be sure to check that out if you're ever in the area!

I've been to Tittesworth Reservoir countless times with my family when growing up, it's generally quite a nice place for a leisurely stroll at a weekend. I'd been wanting to do more of these overflow pipes since doing one in Kent back in 2012, and it seemed an obvious choice to do one at my local res.

Tittesworth Reservoir was initially constructed in 1858 by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Works Co., damming the River Churnet to create a reservoir covering an area of 51 acres. Initially being constructed purely to serve the textile industry in nearby Leek. Fast forward almost a century and the ever increasing demand for water from the Potteries, a decision was made to increase the area to 189 acres by increasing the height of the dam (the original dam height is shown by the "ridge" on the incline). Completed in 1963 this increased it's storage capacity to 6.5 billion gallons. Now owned by Severn Trent Water, it is the second largest reservoir in Staffordshire and delivers on average 28 million litres of water a day.