Overflow spillway at Butterley Reservoir, Marsden UK. A Grade II list structure replaced in concrete by the water company in 2016/17
The overflow spillway at Butterley Reservoir, Marsden, West Yorkshire. This Grade II listed structure was scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a concrete replica by Yorkshire Water, the local water company. It was described in the Listing as “rock-faced coursed stone with ashlar dressings. Overflow with stone weirs and stepped stone cascades. Sidewalls are of rock-faced stone with squared ashlar piers with moulded pyramidal copings. Copings to walls are stepped.” The structure was completed in 1906 by the Huddersfield Corporation and is the only such reservoir overflow spillway in the country to be Grade II listed. A group called Save Butterley Spillway campaigned to save this structure and get Yorkshire Water to fully explore design options for an additional structure to take the excess water in a flood. The existing spillway was not big enough to take the flows of a Probable Maximum Flood (a 1 in 20000 year event), which would risk eroding the earth dam embankment. A concrete replacement was built in 2016/17, removing the cascade sections but the campaign secured improvements over the initial design proposals, including retention of the stepped profile and stone walls.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Marsden, West Yorkshire, UK
Photo credit: © David Preston / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, butterley, cascasde, countryside, flood, flow, masonry, overflow, pennines, reservoir, rural, safety, step, stepped, steps, stone, victorian, water, yorkshire
