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Keighley Moor Reservoir

Coordinates: 53°51′04″N 2°01′12″W / 53.851°N 2.020°W / 53.851; -2.020
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Keighley Moor Reservoir
The Big Dam
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Interactive map of Keighley Moor Reservoir
LocationKeighley Moor, West Yorkshire
Coordinates53°51′04″N 2°01′12″W / 53.851°N 2.020°W / 53.851; -2.020
TypeReservoir
Morkin Beck
136 hectares (340 acres)
Built1830s
First flooded
1840
Surface area
5.74 hectares (14.2 acres)
Average depth
5.4 metres (18 ft)
Water volume
312,089 cubic metres (11,021,300 cu ft)
Surface elevation
372 metres (1,220 ft)
References[1][2]

Keighley Moor Reservoir (known locally as the Big Dam) is a freshwater reservoir west of Oakworth, in West Yorkshire, England. Although it was originally built to keep a constant supply of water to downstream mills, it is now used for freshwater supply within the Keighley and Bradford areas, with water overflowing the reservoir running via North Beck into the River Worth in Keighley. The reservoir is now owned and operated by Yorkshire Water.

History

The reservoir is built upon sandstone of the Millstone Grit Carboniferous Period, and is some 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) west of Oakworth at SD987394.[3][4] The reservoir covers an area of 5.74 hectares (14.2 acres) with an average depth of 5.4 metres (18 ft) at an altitude of 372 metres (1,220 ft) above sea level.[2] It has a catchment area of 136 hectares (340 acres) and holds a water volume of 312,089 cubic metres (11,021,300 cu ft),[1] although a sediment survey carried out in 1990 estimated that it could hold over 346,000 cubic metres (12,200,000 cu ft).[5] Yorkshire Water, who own and operate the reservoir, are allowed to abstract a maximum of 6,951,230 cubic metres (245,480,000 cu ft) per year until 2027, when the maximum abstraction level will be dropped to 818,280 cubic metres (28,897,000 cu ft) per year.[6]

Keighley Moor Reservoir (known locally at the time of its building as the Big Dam), was originally built in the 1830s to a design by W. Hopkinson and contractors Bailey & Brothers, to ensure a good flow of water to power mills further downstream.[7] The becks downstream of the reservoir had 14 mills along their length, and in 1832, after a series of droughts, the mill owners got together to build a reservoir so that the water supply through North beck was always plentiful.[8] The dam was completed in 1840, and funding for the dam came from the mill owners who paid according to how many mills they owned and the amount of water needed to power their waterwheels.[8] It was enlarged in 1846 when it was found that the flow rate was insufficient.[9][10] Initially, the mill owners rented the reservoir, then leased it from the Duke of Devonshire's estate.[11]

Prior to Yorkshire Water assuming control in 1974, the reservoir was owned by the Craven Water Board, who themselves had taken over the licence from the Duke of Devonshire (a local landowner) in 1939 for a payment of £1.[8] The catchment area consists of peat, and is used both recreationally and for grazing sheep and raising grouse.[3] Several streams flow into the reservoir from the higher ground to the east, but only two, Crumber Hill Dyke, and Fairy Fold Dyke are named on mapping.[12]

Water overflowing from the reservoir travels 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) via Morkin Beck, which later becomes North Beck, eastwards into the River Worth at Keighley.[13][14] The dam wall of the reservoir, which is at the eastern end, also doubles up as a walkway and carries the Millennium Way footpath.[15] The reservoir is now owned by Yorkshire Water, and it supplies fresh drinking water to the local area.[8]

Hydrometry

Like nearby Watersheddles Reservoir, the sandstone of the area is overlain by peat, which discolours the water flowing into the reservoir.[16] Testing in 1988 revealed a ph range of 4.0–6.1, which was higher than Watersheddles which was measured at the same time and found to be 2.8–4.5.[17] The water quality in the reservoir was designated as a fail by the Environment Agency in 2019, due in part to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).[18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Keighley Moor Reservoir Water body ID 30435". uklakes.ceh.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Keighley Moor Reservoir | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blundell, A.; Holden, J. (February 2015). "Using palaeoecology to support blanket peatland management". Ecological Indicators. 49: 111. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.10.006.
  4. ↑ Stephens, J. V., ed. (1953). Geology of the Country Between Bradford and Skipton. London: HMSO. p. 56. OCLC 5097198.
  5. ↑ Butcher, D. P.; Labadz, J. C.; Potter, A. W. R.; White, P. (1993). "6: Reservoir sedimentation rates in the Southern Pennine Region of the U.K.". In McManus, J.; Duck, R. W. (eds.). Geomorphology and sedimentology of lakes and reservoirs. Chichester: Wiley. p. 84. ISBN 0471937738.
  6. ↑ "Water resources licence to abstract water" (PDF). www.yorkshirewater.com. 22 March 2013. p. 4. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  7. ↑ Longbottom, Robin (21 September 2024). "Water way to overcome dilemma at 18th-century mill". Keighley News. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Shand, Alistair (28 November 2020). "Keighley reservoir was answer to mills' drought threat". Keighley News. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  9. ↑ Keighley, William (1879). Keighley, past and present, or An historical, topographical and statistical sketch of the town, parish, and environs of Keighley. Keighley: A. Hay. p. 231.
  10. ↑ Ratcliffe, Roger (11 March 2023). "Weekend Walk; Newsholme Dean and Keighley Moor Reservoir". The Yorkshire Post. Country Week. p. 36. ISSN 0963-1496.
  11. ↑ Third report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the best means of preventing the pollution of rivers : (Rivers Aire and Calder). London: HMSO. 1867. p. 423. OCLC 40236471.
  12. ↑ "Ordnance Survey, SD93 - B (includes: Briercliffe; Heptonstall; Keighley; Trawden; Wadsworth)". maps.nls.uk. 1955. SD9839. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "Water resources; licence to abstract water" (PDF). www.yorkshirewater.com. p. 7. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "North Beck from Source to River Worth | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  15. ↑ "Around Keighley Moor" (PDF). www.bradford.gov.uk. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  16. ↑ Stephens, J. V., ed. (1953). Geology of the Country Between Bradford and Skipton. London: HMSO. p. 154. OCLC 5097198.
  17. ↑ Patrick, S. T.; Stevenson, A. C., eds. (1988). An assessment of the use of reservoir sediments in the southern Pennines for reconstructing the history and effects of atmospheric pollution (Report). London: University College Palaeoecology Research Unit. p. 62. OCLC 59748865.
  18. ↑ "Reason for Not Achieving Good: 566327 | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
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