Thirlmere Be-dammed: The story of Thirlmere before & after the reservoir

Contact

Organizer: Keswick Museum

Name: Keswick Museum

Phone: 017687 73263

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.keswickmuseum.org.uk

Address

Fitz Park
Station Road, Keswick, Cumbria,
Keswick
CA12 4NF

Price Notes

Free entry in the museum's Community Gallery

Direction

Travelling from Penrith on A66, follow signs for town centre. Turn right after war memorial on to Station Road.

Details

A hundred and fifty years ago, in a quiet valley not far from Keswick, a small community of families made up of farmers, miners, labourers, blacksmiths, joiners, carters, a shoemaker, a nurse and a vicar (amongst many others) suffered a massive upheaval in their lives. The city of Manchester needed a more reliable water supply and the Waterworks Committee decided that building a dam across the Thirlmere valley and a 100 mile aqueduct to Manchester was the best way to get it. As a result, the homes, gardens, roads and fields that bordered the original twin lakes in the valley bottom were submerged by a new reservoir. Thousands of people pass by the Thirlmere reservoir on the main road each day without ever knowing the history behind it. It’s a valley that changed forever with the building of the dam and this exhibition is a small part of its story.

Event Details