Home
Preamble
Index
Areas
Hills
Lakes
Dales
Places
References
Me
Saunterings: Walking in North-West England
Saunterings is a set of reflections based upon walks around the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and
North Yorkshire in North-West England
(as defined in the Preamble).
Here is a list of all Saunterings so far.
If you'd like to give a comment, correction or update (all are very welcome) or to
be notified by email when a new item is posted - please send an email to johnselfdrakkar@gmail.com.
224. Around Anglezarke Reservoir
Anglezarke Reservoir lies between Preston and Bolton, just east of the M61. It
was built in the 1850s to provide water for Liverpool and is the largest of a
series of reservoirs nearby. The walk around the reservoir is one of the most
popular in the region, especially for those seeking an outing from the nearby towns.
With Moor Road closed at the north end of the reservoir for work on the
Heapey Dam, we began by walking away from the reservoir towards the unexpectedly
smart hamlet of White Coppice. Groups of youngsters were wandering about,
heavily backpacked and clutching maps. They had camped somewhere and had been
given the challenge of navigating themselves to the safety of Rivington.
We walked across fields to the Goit. This is a sort of canal that
enables water from reservoirs to the north to flow to Anglezarke Reservoir.
For many years it was covered over and left to fall into ruin but it has recently
been opened up to provide a wildlife corridor with pleasant walks alongside.
Because of all the noisy youngsters we weren’t able to Goit alone.
Crossing the road, we entered woodland with Anglezarke Reservoir to
the right, although we could hardly see it through the trees. The reason we
couldn’t see it was because there was no water, only the dried mud of its shore.
Emerging from the wood for our first real view of the reservoir, we could see
that it was half empty, which is not a pleasing sight.
The first sight of Anglezarke Reservoir
Every so often we’d come across another gaggle of youngsters studying their maps.
The organisers had chosen wisely because it would be difficult to come to any harm
or to lose one’s way on these well-trodden paths. We passed High Bullough Reservoir,
which is apparently the oldest of the reservoirs in the region but what its function
was and is I don’t know.
We briefly lost our way ourselves by wandering into the woodland above an
inlet of the reservoir but here it was quiet and more natural – and probably the
best bit of the whole walk. We returned to where we were supposed to be, where
the track was now surfaced, not for traffic, I think, but because the sheer numbers
of walkers would probably wear it away. The road continues by the reservoir’s edge
below the car park and picnic site to join a real road to the causeway at the
southern end of the reservoir.
We should have paused at the picnic site for our own sandwiches because
there was no provision for picnickers beyond. For no particular reason (other
than to find somewhere to sit for sandwiches) we wandered up to Yarrow Reservoir.
It was also half empty. There was at least a view of Winter Hill with its multiple masts.
Yarrow Reservoir and Winter Hill
Cars were parked all across the causeway by drivers who couldn’t be bothered to
continue a little further to the car parks. Upper Rivington Reservoir lay to the
south but only a fraction of it could be glimpsed through the trees.
Even if Anglezarke Reservoir weren't half empty I don’t think the sight of
it from the causeway would have cheered me.
Water is designed to run free. It should be tumbling down gullies,
sparkling in becks,
challenging salmon to swim against, tipping
paddle-boarders into the river, washing away bridges and flooding villages.
It shouldn’t be stagnating here waiting for someone in Liverpool to want a cup of tea.
Anglezarke Reservoir from the causeway
We now began the return north on the west side of the reservoir. Those who write
about their walks generally seem to feel obliged to be positive, so everything is said to be
splendid. It’s rather ungracious not to be positive. Well, I’m sorry to say that
I found this whole walk rather dull and dispiriting. Of course, I appreciate that
it is me that is dull and dispiriting.
There is nothing wrong with the walk.
We didn’t become entangled in barbed wire, chased by bulls, or anything else that
I might amuse you with. But there was nothing particularly interesting or surprising
either. There were good numbers of people walking about (plus all the groups of
youngsters) and a few cyclists and runners, so they must consider this an enjoyable
activity. It must be me. I just wasn’t in the mood. (Ruth was: she seemed to
enjoy the walk.)
The walk back underlined my problem. The path is everywhere clear, because
so many people use it. But what is there to say about it? Nothing noteworthy
is passed. I saw no flora or fauna of interest (and not much of no interest).
There is only the occasional glimpse of the reservoir. There is a
view of Anglezarke Moor beyond but it is not the most exciting of moors. The sound
is mainly of the M61. I was glad to get back to the car.
One of the few glimpses of Anglezarke Reservoir on the way back
I can at least say something more positive about reservoirs in general. In 1955
W.G Hoskins wrote in The Making of the English Landscape that
“since the year 1914, every single change in the English landscape has either uglified
it or destroyed its meaning, or both. Of all the changes in the last two generations,
only the great reservoirs of water for the industrial cities of the North and Midlands
have added anything to the scene that one can contemplate without pain.”
This book became a pioneering classic on the topic of landscape, admired at first by
members of the general public for its readable text enabling them to appreciate their
own surroundings and then by academics who came to realise that landscape is a rich
area for study. Those academics have, as is their wont, made Hoskins’s ideas seem
naïve and idealistic today. Clearly, Hoskins had an overly nostalgic view of the
lost English landscape.
On the other hand, the new reservoirs submerged large areas of potentially
useful land. Sometimes whole villages went under. In addition, farming was
discouraged on the hills above the reservoirs for fear of polluting the water.
So a reservoir is not a simple addition to the landscape: there's a cost and a
loss too.
The reservoirs that Hoskins welcomed are still (in general) admired today. In
2010 Francis Pryor wrote in The Making of the British Landscape, after referring
to recent developments such as motorways and gravel pits, that
“One might be forgiven for thinking that these have all been changes for the worst, but
it is not that simple. Take, for example, the case of reservoirs. It is generally
supposed that the creation of these huge artificial lakes was one of the few positive
developments in the landscape of the twentieth century.”
Large, still bodies of water soothe the spirit (for some). The Pennine reservoirs do, of course,
contrast with the surrounding, somewhat bleak, moors and they provide a haven for different
species of wildlife. Those reservoirs that are no longer needed for their original
function can become recreational facilities, for fishing and boating. And you can
walk around them.
The engineering structures themselves can be of interest although they can
appear brutally functional and there is less
variety in dams (to the layman’s eye) than there is in bridges. There is a great deal
more to reservoirs than what we can see. The moors above are riddled with drainage
pipes to gather as much water as possible into the reservoirs and, of course, there are
outlets to take the water where it’s needed. The reservoirs were built at first to power
the local mills and then to provide drinking water for urban populations. As such,
reservoirs probably occupy a higher proportion of the land of Lancashire than they do
for any other county. If reservoirs are really such a great thing then perhaps
Lancashire should market itself as the ‘Reservoir District’.
Date: May 23rd 2025
Start: SD612183, layby on Higher House Lane (Map: 287)
Route: NE – White Coppice – S – The Goit, Moor Road – S past High
Bullough Reservoir, below car parks – causeway – SE – Yarrow Reservoir – NW – causeway – N – layby
Distance: 6 miles; Ascent: 60 metres
Home
Preamble
Index
Areas
Hills
Lakes
Dales
Places
References
Me
© John Self, 2018-
Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale;
Bottom photo: Ullswater