In the year 1853 the demand  for a clean water supply, resulted in the formation of the Rossendale Water  Works Company, which obtained an act of parliament for this purpose. The company constructed the Sheephouse Reservoir pictured below as well as the compensation reservoir on Newline. Previous to 1853 water was supplied to the people of Bacup through pumps situated in various parts of Bacup. At the  time of the 1849 Public Health report water was very scarce during the summer months with some people having to walk long distances to obtain a pitiful amount of water.

 

 

 

Extracted  from the Public Health Report of  1849

PRESENT SUPPLIES OF WATER.

I visited the places from whence the water is chiefly obtained and the following are some of my own observations and the information obtained on the spot. The first was Down The Yard spout.  Here  people were getting water for cleansing, and other domestic purposes though it was said not  to be used for food. The stream was about half a inch in diameter and looked more suitable for application to agricultural land as liquid manure than for any domestic use. There were at least a dozen women and children waiting with cans for water. The water at Bank house spring pictured right is of much better quality but the supply is very small. Dr Stewart advised me that about 200 houses obtain their water from this well. and that they often have to wait many hours before they obtain a canful.

 

Persons of all ages and sexes of course have to wait and it was stated that  the most demoralizing conversations took place. Dr Stewart added that illegitimacy is more common than in many towns. Peggy spout is a well at Lane Head some distance from the bulk of the population and about 340 yards from the centre of the town. I selected from the persons waiting for water, one of the eldest the wife of Abraham Stott, who said in answer to my enquiries "We have lived at Lane Head about 10 years. We have no other water near but Peggy spout well. We are not short of water in winter but in summer it dries up , and then we have to to Broad Clough, to Mr Whittakers Cawl, where it comes through the wall, and we catch it in a pint pot. That will not be less distance than half a mile and we have to carry it up hill. Many scores fetch their water from there. They fetch it into Bacup which will be about three quarters of a mile. People sometimes get up at 2 or 3 o'clock to get a canful. They often have to wait a hour for a canful".

Esther's spout or well is on the Yorkshire road is said to be the most copious spring and the best in the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Whilst the reservoir at Sheephouse gave water to many of the homes in Bacup it was unsuitable for those built at higher altitudes such as those in Sharneyford. In 1898 the corporation of Bacup gained statutory powers to construct high and low level  reservoirs at Cowpe shown above which were opened in 1910.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the reservoirs at Cloughbottom and Clowbridge didn't supply Bacup with water it did provide many Bacup and Stacksteads men with work during its construction.

 

 

 

The following is taken from the memoirs of Faron Robertshaw.

Enoch Tempest was the builder of Cloughbottom Reservoir, and he was a very good boss to work for. He was a man getting on in years and his son " Young Enoch " was very much in charge. To make the reservoir large a large bend in the  road and part of the hill was cut away and Enoch had one of the first steam navvies in this country working on the job. The men used to call her " The American Devil"  and those in charge of it called it that a hundred times a day or more. If that lump of old iron had been human it couldn't have been any awkwarder. Sometimes she was a little angel and would light up and be a roaring fire in a few minutes but at other times she was more wilful than old Nicks granddaughter and as full of tricks as a egg is full of meat.

Some time later we got another steam navvie and she was called the Jubilee she was worked in the bottom of the reservoir. There were two of us as engine cleaners and there were five engines to look after, the largest being called Jumbo, and the smallest called Little Egret. Jumbo was used for all the heavy dirty work, whilst little Egret was a lady and only took the empty trucks up to the quarry and brought the full wagons of stone down to the lower embankment. In the bottom of the reservoir there was a farmhouse and the clerk of the works lived there until the reservoir was nearly finished. The watchman had a hut on the new road and beside watching the road he had to keep a pump going on the embankment. On the lower side of the engine shed were the navvies huts and one portion of these huts and married men and their wives  and most of them took in lodgers. There was plenty of beer to be had in almost all of the huts, and plenty of rows amongst the men. The police kept a good eye on the camp and every now and them would mount a raid on the camp searching the huts for beer.

On  a Sunday some of the village Sunday schools sent up a choir, and so long as they didn't try to drive their religion down the men's throats they were listened to quite attentively. I used to enjoy going down amongst them  on  a Sunday afternoon, the stories these men could tell of different works both public and Government would have opened the eyes of a few people.