Thirlmere Aqueduct

History

Constructed by the corporation water works of Manchester the Thirlmere Aqueduct was built to convey around 55 million gallons of water per day from Thirlmere Reservoir in the Lake District to the busy City of Manchester. The aqueduct was constructed in multiple phases, the first being finished in 1897 the other phases were completed around 1925, the project was authorised by the Manchester Waterworks act of Parliment.

Common misspellings: Thirlmere Aquaduct (a in place of the e)

Water from the Lakes first arrived in Manchester on the 13th October 1894.

Statistics

Around 95 miles in length, 150 km, about 2 meters wide and 2.5 high mainly made of concrete construction but cut rock was left in place and a concrete floor added just to the North of Kendal as builders went into the hills. Thirlmere aquaduct is the longest gravity fed water system in the country, the water flows down to Manchester at a speed of approx 5.5 kmh, the water takes about a day to travel the distance.