page_title: Drinkwater Park
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Drinkwater Park / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of Irwell House taken from a postcard sent in 1921
context_page_description: Drinkwater Park is situated in the Irwell Valley on the western border of Prestwich, near Manchester, bounded by the River Irwell to the west, Agecroft Road and Rainsough Brow to the south, Butterstile Lane and Carr Clough estate to the east and Bunkers Hill to the north. The park is administered by Bury Metropolitan Borough Council and is part of Prestwich Forest Park, which also incorporates Philips Park, Mere Clough, Prestwich Clough, Forest Bank Park in Pendlebury and Waterdale Meadow.
context_section_description: In 1389 the Langleys of Agecroft Hall acquired the land which was farmed as part of the medieval estate of Robert de Prestwich. The Manor of Prestwich remained with the Langley family until 1561 when it was passed on by marriage to the Coke family. In 1777 Thomas William Coke, wishing to increase his Norfolk estates began to sell off the Manor of Prestwich and Peter Drinkwater, son of Thomas Drinkwater of Whalley, bought the Manor in 1794. Peter, a prominent Manchester textile mill owner, owned a town house in Manchester but resided during the summer months at Irwell House, a Georgian mansion, built around 1790 alongside the River Irwell. When Peter's son Robert died in 1861 his lands, including Irwell House, were left to his daughters. Irwell House and the land, known as Drinkwater Park were sold to Salford and Prestwich councils in 1902. Irwell House was converted to a smallpox hospital for which it was ideally suited due to its isolated position.  It was later abandoned and fell into disrepair. In 1958 the house caught fire during a civil defence exercise and was demolished some years later. The foundations and the first course of stones were left in place and are still visible today, as are the overgrown remnants of the gardens.
  The Ordnance Survey map of 1907 shows Drinkwater Farm located immediately to the west of what is now the northern end of the reservoir and a lodge approximately 500 feet (152.4 m) to the east of the farm, at the end of a narrow arm of the reservoir. However, both these buildings and the stretch of water that joined them have disappeared. For many years there was a sewage farm in the north of the park alongside Buckley Lane but this has now gone leaving only the lines of the walls and some evidence of the lagoons. There is now a pumping station just to the west of the site.
  Prestwich became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in 1974.
caption: Irwell House Isolation Hospital circa 1921
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