FORMER HOPWAS RESERVOIR

On way back from the Woodhouse came along what was I first thought was a gypsy caravan, the wood plays funny tricks on you, turned out to be the former Hopwas reservoir.

the gypsy caravan!

I came  across the installation years back and was surprised back then at Hopwas woods knack of throwing up surprises! I assumed it was something to do with the military. The military connection with Hopwas  veils the woods in mystery in much the same way as military sites do everywhere and even give rise to all sorts of conspiracies and theories such as at Skunkworks, USA. Haven’t come across any of military stories/ urban legends related to Hopwas yet!

While putting my timehikes google map together I noticed the existence of the covered reservoir related with Hopwas pumping station but couldn’t determine its age or more about it until I came across a  link from Brownhills Bob’s blog to a very thorough online publication  called a history of the south staffordshire waterworks which reveals a mine of information on the reservoir, I’ve pasted the relevant information about the reservoir below:

It was thought that a better supply would be given to the district and it would be more cost
effective, by pumping direct into the top of a reservoir near to the Hopwas Pumping Station
instead of into the bottom of Glascote Reservoir, through four and a half miles of pumping
main, which also served as a supply main.
Careful consideration resulted in the Committee deciding to purchase a site in Hopwas Wood,
near the pumping station, at a height of 419 feet A.O.D. and to build a reinforced concrete
covered reservoir of one and a half million gallons capacity.
Consulting Engineers for the project were L.G. Mouchel and Partners, after collaboration
with the Joint Committee’s Engineer and Manager, J.C. Radford A.I.W.E., a case was drawn
up for submission to the Ministry of Health. On November 20th 1934 an enquiry was held
and sanction obtained to construct the reservoir. Tenders were invited and Messrs. Hussey,
Egan and Pickmere Ltd. of Birmingham, were awarded the contract. Work on site
commenced in June 1935 and the structure, pipework and ancillary works finished and ready
for service on 28th July 1936, leaving only the excavated ground to be replaced and banked
around the reservoir.
This was the first reservoir of its type in this country in which the concrete was consolidated
by the vibrated shuttering system. The walls of the reservoir are seven inches thick at the
base, finishing five inches at the roof, reinforced with steel bars, one and a half to three
sixteenths of an inch thick. Total weight of the steel bars in the structure is 130 tons, total
weight of the concrete 2,177 tons. When the reservoir is full, the water is sixteen feet deep.
Total weight of the water when the receptacle is at its maximum is 6,696 tons. The cost of the
reservoir was £7,416.

to the left is the earth embankment of the reservoir, you can just make out the path sloping down  that follows the route of the pump pipe(sorry if terminology isn’t right) down a couple of hundred feet to the Hopwas pumping station.

Don’t have much to add to exhaustive description from the online publication apart from adding more photos of the covered surface of the reservoir when I can.