The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

chiefly of a light and easy character, and it is crossed by
bridges of stone or iron, at the necessary roads and occupation
crossings. Several heavy and important puddle trenches
have, however, been executed on this portion of the works.
These have all been completed, and now the well-smoothed
slopes of the various cuttings and embankments present
nothing to the eye to indicate the great engineering skill and
labour that has been bestowed upon these really important
portions of the undertaking—the constant object of the engi-
neer throughout the whole of the works having been to have
them so constructed that not a single drop of water, to which
the promoters—namely, the Corporation—may by their act be
entitled, shall, if possible, be allowed to escape.
The southern termination of the goit, or canal, brings us to
the first extensive storage reservoir, called the Anglezark
reservoir. This reservoir is about one mile and a half long,
and will, when full, cover a space of about 185 acres. Its
capacity for storage is estimated at about eleven hundred
million gallons, which will be supplied by the goit before
described, and by the watershed, or gathering ground, from
several thousand acres, including also the river Yarrow, which
takes its rise on the eastern side of it, in the hilly district of
the Anglezark Moor, and passes through the lower portion of
the reservoir, where its progress is now arrested by the
Knowsley embankment.
The locality of the Anglezark reservoir, and the various
works therefrom to form it into a reservoir, are as follow :
namely, the reservoir commences at Heapey, near to where
the canal or goit debouches into it, and is in fact a valley of
about one mile and a half in length, lying between hills, the
eastern side being the Anglezark Moor, with some fine wooded
and pasture lands at the foot, extending to the borders of the
reservoir, and on the western side are the wooded and pasture
lands of Heath Charnock, Anderton, &c. This reservoir ter-
minates at the Knowsley embankment, near to an elegant
mansion lately erected by Peter Martin, Esq., a county magis-
trate for the Bolton district, and which mansion is situated on
the banks of the Rivington, or lower reservoir, tobe hereafter
described.

For the purpose of enclosing and retaining the waters in
this reservoir the following works have been constructed, and
almost completed :—First, the Heapey embankment, at the
top or northern extremity of the reservoir. This embank-
ment is about 100 yards in length, and about ft feet high
from its base. It extends across a narrow pass, and will re•
tan the waters which used to flow from the Anglezark Moor
down the Ileapey Brook through the'}feapey valley westward.
The nest work on this reservoir is the Heath Charnock
embankment, now complete. This is an extensive work,
being about - 840 yards long, and has a side bank made to re-
rain the waters in the reservoir on the western side, where the
hoUndary of the valley was not sufficiently high for this pur-
pose. Its greatest height is about thirty feet above the old
natural surface of. the ground.
Opposite to this bank, and on the eastern sid of the reser-
voir, there' is also a side bank called the Leicester Mill bank.
This is not a water4ight bank, and has in the middle of it a
three-arched bridge; of light and elegant design, over the river
Yarrow. Through' chip bridge the waters will haveaccess on
both sides of the' embankment, upon the filling of the Angle-
zark reservoir: This embankment also carries theread that
used to pass along the' bottom of the valley from Anglezark
Moor and Leliester Mill to' ehorley.
The new road is- now continued:from the southern' end of
the Leicester All Bank, alonwthe side of the reservoir,- over
the Knowsley embankment; inth• the old road to Chorley.
We now come to the heaviest and, most expensive work that
that has been executed to enabfe• this•reservoir to be formed;
the Knowsley embankment.
This embankment is about 270' yards long, and crosses-
thevalley at a height of about fortyfive feet about its sun;
face: This embankment, as are also' the Heapey and Heath,
ChArnock banks, is perfectly water-tight, having a puddle-
wall running along its. entire length: The puddle-wall it'
founded= a water-tight stratutn, which; in several places in
this-embankment, is above twenty feet below the bottom of
the'ralley, or above 115 feet in its-total height to the top of
the embankment. Through the embankment on the western
side is-carried a tunnel, provided with a shaft and proper
valves and apparatus for discharging the waters-of this reser-
voir-into the'Rivington, or lower storage, reservoir.
[The Knowsley embankment, although not the most ex-
. teseive, was-in reality the most difficult andformidable of
all the embankments to construct. The chief difficulty
being-to nbtaim access to a really water-tight stratum for
the -foundatiOnifor the puddle-wall, which was not obtained
till theworkmen had excavated to 'a depth of seventy-two
ft;et below the 'surface of the valley ; and here 'a substantial
flundation.' was• found upon the' solid shale. The 'experi-
mental boring at this point gave some interesting geological
features -Or detail. The mass of shale was found to be-fifty feet
deep•withatit a joint; •through an additional depth of eighty
feet more the shale-was found a littlejOinty, and below this
enormous mass the millstone grit, the' prevailing formation
of the- district, was reached, whereas•at the lower end :of
the goit; the grit was reached at a depth of eighty feet, with-
out any iniperincumbent Shale.]

The Rivington or lower'reServoir commences immediately at
the foot of "the Knowsley embankment, and 'thence proceeds
along the valley, of the -Yarrow under the house of Peter
Martin, Esce Following the valley of thefirrow; the reservoir
is held up bYethe Yarrow embankment, at a point a little below
Mr. Martin's -house, and their is continued along the Rivington
valley, nearly north and south, having on its. eastern side the
village of Rivington, and the well-wooded and pasture lands-
at the foot of the famous Rivington Pike, which may be seen,
throughout the whole of this- reservoir, towering -above the-
low lands to the.south and west of it.
The western side of the reservoir is bounded by the western
lan& of Anderton; and across the valley at the lower end next
to Harwich has been constructed the Norwich embankment,
an extensivoze/kohout fifty:eight feet in height, which ter-
When full,. wilt cover about 268 acreseanh nalitorage
capacity will be about. 1,900,000,000 gallons,. which, added to
the Anglezark reservoir, gives a total average of above 450
acree, and a storage capacity of abent 3,000,000,000' gallons, for
the two large reservoirs alone.
The principal engineering works on the Blvingten Reser-
voir. an • the side-bank across the-river Yarrow, before men-
tiOned„which is in peogress, and only wants the.pitehing and
byewaah,- or overflow„ for the ildod4raters, to cemplete it ; the
Bllickboy embankment; which has for some time been
finished and which crussesthe reservoir opposite to. Rivington,
earryingthe road from that village to Anderten and Chorley,
which road used to run -along the valley, past the old Black-
bey,-or Black-a-moor'sehead Inn. This house ii-now under-
going.the process of demolition. Ita-suceessor, the intended
new, Bbiekboy Inn, has -been erected and completed imme-
dlatelY under Rivington ehitreh, and close to the=side of the
new-road, carried across -the valley by the Blackboy embank-
ment„by Robt. AndrewseEsge lord ©f the manorof Rivington,
and a county magistrate..
Nature has there assisted : the engineer, and:: saved the
pockets of the Corporation, by the depth of the valley down
which the reservoir will. be formed,. for we meet, with no fur-
ther artificial boundary- to the reservoir till we arrive at the
Millstone embankment,: a 'wayside bank„acrostea low dip in
the Anderton side of the valley. This embankment is about
800 'yards -long, and has been for some time completed. Its
greatest depth is about 30 feet. It also carries the turnpike-
road: from Bolton to Charley and Freston over its surface, in
Hsu, of the old road, which is now inside the reservoir.
The. final great work-. of this reservoir, is the. Horwich em—
bankment, which commences. at the southern extremity of the-
Mill Stone Bank, and is,. indeed,. partly a . continuation of it,,
and , proceeds by the- side of the Bolton .and Chorley road .
aouthreard for some distance, and then °turns nearly at right.
angles from the Anderton side-across-the valley to the Riving!!
ton side. Its length is about 640 • yards, and its greatest
height is about 68 feet above the Rivington-valley.
At the foot of the., Horwich embankment, without the
reservoir, and immedkttely adjoining. it, are the filtration
workes. These consist. of ;six compartments for filtering,_ and:
two pure water tanks,.. with which the main leading to Liver- -
pool communicates..
The above works-comprise the whole of the scheme for the
collecting, storing, and filtering the water for the supply of
the-town of Liverpool; and are altogether rapidly apprcaching
completion. There are at.present employed upon these works
abeut 1,400 men each day, and about 100 horses.
[Each of these embankments-is furnished with,a waste-
weir for allowing
.the surplus_ water- to escape, and so ,pre-
venting it from overflowingtheembankments ; yet these are
so constructed as to run the-waste water directly into the next
lower reservoir: to that from which it has escaped, except
the Horwich embanlonentio the waste-weir of which commee
nicates directly with the-brook. The embankments are •also
furnished; with apparatus. admirably suited,for running off
the supply, and also for-compensation water, both of which
will be,regulatedr with, the nicest accuracy,l
Afterlaving .walked over and inspected, the whole ef' the
works,,as.far as theßlackboy embankmer.t, in, the middle of
the Rivington reservoir, the company Kit down to & somptu-
ous.oollation in, the-sew House, Blackboy

After tbe.cloth had been removed, the Chairman gave the
health of " Her Majesty the Queen," which was. drunk with
all, the honours. Mr. Alderman S. Holme next proposed

" The Emperor of the French," remarking, on the excellent
moral and social qualities of the, French people, as he had
himself seen and experienced. The health of " The Mayor"'
was drank with all the honors,, which his worship tastefully
acknowledged. " The Dock Committee" was then proposed
by Mr. Fernihough, and, having been duly honoured by the
company, was responded to. by Mr. C. Turner, chairman of
the Dock Committee.

The company then proceeded to inspect the filtering beds,
and other portions of the works in that vicinity.
The filtering beds occupy the eastern half of the valley,
immediately to the south of the Horwich embankment, to
the extent of about 1000 feet, the western half being occu-
pied by two equalizing or pure water tanks. The filtering
beds are large excavated tanks, each 350 feet long, and 150
feet broad, separated from each other by an embankment
about ten feet wide at the top. They are each about ten feet
deep, and the filtering apparatus commences by a covered
drain sunk about two feet below the general bottom of the
tank, on each side converging in the middle to a sluice valve
communicating with the pure water tanks by a tunnel and
tube. Above the drain referred to is laid a bed of rough
broken stones, two feet in thickness ; this is covered by suc-
cessive layers of gradually finer broken stones and gravel, till
having reached a thickness of nearly five feet, when it is to be
covered by a stratum eighteen inches thick of washed sand.
The pure-water or equalizing tanks are each about 450 feet
in length, by about 300 feet in width. They are puddled all
round, and covered on their floors and sides by thick and well-
set masonry. They communicate with each other by sluice
valves, and are so constructed that either one or both may be
used, according as convenience may require. They are also
famished with a bye-wash for taking off the surplus water;
and, likewise, they have a means of communicating this sur-
plus water with the compensation water to the mills, which
runs into a brook. In the bottom of these pure-water tanks
there is an admirably contrived means of keeping the water
in a ceaseless current.

Most of the works are nearly, and some of the most impor-
tant, completely finished, those in the Anglezark reservoir

being so far advanced that they will be finished by Saturday
at the farthest. The contractors are busy with their respec-
tive works; an extent of fifteen miles of the large pipes has
already been laid, and only nine miles remain to be put in.
The chief difficulty hitherto experienced in the laying of these
pipes, by the committee and their contractors, has been over-
come in reference to the St. Helens deviation, and the work
will now be completed without further interruption.
Having completed .their tour of inspection, the excursionists
were again assembled at the Horwich Station, where, having
re-entered the carriages of the special train, they started on
their homeward journey, and arrived in Liverpool about half-
past eight o'clock, having spent a day of unalloyed pleasure,
each one impressed with the importance and scientific skill
displayed in the magnificent works which they had inspected.
Several of the gentlemen present, in all probability, from
the circumstance of not being very much acquainted with the
nature of such works as those they had been inspecting,
seemed to doubt the probability of a large supply of water
being collected in the different reservoirs ; an impression
further borne out by the dry condition the works were in at
the time of the inspection. To obviate any misconception on
this point, it may be by many deemed sufficient to state that
the area of the basin which is drained into these works is
9,847 acres, or nearly 15 square miles. As some difference
of opinion existed on this point of supply, prior to the
undertaking being proceeded with, Mr. Newlands, the
Borough Engineer, and Mr. James Simpson, C.E., were
requested to investigate the matter, and draw up a report
on the subject, which they did, and presented to the Town
Council early in 1819. From that report it appears that a
computation, extended over an average of six years, gives for
the district a rainfall of 21,800,000 gallons per day, which,
after deducting 8,200,000; the amount required for compensa-
tion, would leave 13,600,000' gallons per day for the supply of
Liverpool. It is true, these gentlemen state that such an
average is excessive, as it does not take into account the defi--
ciency caused by the extra dry seasons. They further express
an opinion, that the probable deffeiency,arising from the cause.
referred tq will be aggravated by the storage of the reser=
voirs not being sufficient to equalise' the water for ma'tn-
taining such a supply. These gentlemen, in their very able
report state the aggregate contents of the' three reservoirs at
2;849,497,575. gallons, while Mr. Hawkeley estimates their
capacity at 3,156;000,000 gallons. A disagreement on this
and other points of vital interest in connexion with so impor-
tant an undertaking having been thas brought under notice,
the Council referred the matter to the arbitration of Mr.
Robert Stephenson, the celebrated engineer. That gentle-
man, after a most minuteand painstaking investigation into
all the details of the question, and delivering a very elaborate
opinion concerning them, thus summarises the results of his
examination

" The contested parts of the.project have had my- uninter-
rupted study, and I believe it has been made evident

" That the Rivington schemele adequate to the supply of
an abundance of water to meet both the immediate watts of
the town, and alsc•the prospectice•demands which may arise
from any probable increase of population for the next twenty
ycdrs to come.

"That the reservoirs are fitted for such a storage as will
secure an uniform and•copious supply"at all seasons."

As the terms of the above report appear considerably antago.,.
nistic to the opinion carefully formed: and deliberately ex-
pressed by the Borough Engineer, it is•but right to give also
Mr. Stephenson's remarks •as to the discrepancy* in the com-
puted extent of storage. He says, at page 34 of his report :
" The capacity of the resertoirs -is •stated by Mr. Newlands to
be 2,849;1)00,000 gallons, and by Mr. Hawksley, 3,156,000,000
gallons ; which difference is.cansed by the addition, when re-
quired, of 6'76 feet to their depth by moveable shuttles, or flush -
boards= the weir, an intention probably unknown to Mr. New-
lands." Again, in respect to the anticipate& daily supply as
estimated by Mr. Newlands, Mr. Stephenson; at page 37 of
his report, Gays :—" I feel it but justice to Messrs. Simpson
and Newland.; to state, that when they made their calculations
on this subject they were unacquninted with several arrange-
ments contemplated by Mr. Hawksley, which arenot apparent
on the face of the parliamentary plans, although having a
decided bearing-upon the final results."