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Upper, Middle And Lower Witton Reservoirs.

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There seems to be some kind of pipe by the bridge, but could well be nothing to do with the reservoirs.
 
Thanks Mike. In cases like this (post #7) I wish that they didn't have the same names. William - I think Jnr - who was alive in 1887, was president of the Erdington Historical Society and gave an address in that year which I've found very useful. He was also a JP.

The man himself from Bill Dargue's site...

"Mr. Wm. Fowler says, in an address he gave in 1883 on the History of Erdington: ‘The ancient ford and bridge were situate about fifty yards higher up the stream than the present bridge and a very short distance above the old bridge, and near to the Tame, though now cut off from it by the canal, there were, and indeed are still, several interesting natural caves in the sandstone rock, known as the Dwarf holes."

W H Duignan 1912 Warwickshire Place Names
 
The pipe does not seem visible on google earth, but then, as this old reservoir is no longer used for water supply, this is not surprising.
John, a friend of mine who was brought up in Erdington, remembers the Dwarf holes, which disappeared when Spaghetti junction was built.
Further to the last maps, in 1866 more work was planned in the area, with new pipelines and pump houses. the plans for this around Witton are shown below

View attachment 126817

From Post Number 1...

"A report in 1874 concerning the B' ham Waterworks Co, its history and works, describes Witton Well, although it has not included dates.... situated at the top of the Upper Witton Reservoir, near the Golden Cross at Short Health. (It then goes on to describe the details of the sinking) The quantity of water this well is capable of yielding has been tested as 2.5 million gallons per day."

This must be situated at the top left of the map near Turf Pits. The pipeline seems to bypass the reservoirs and join the existing main after Lower Pools.
 
Witton Well is on the corner of Bleak Hill Road and Perry Common Road. It used to be a very decorative building and keepers cottage that is still there. It was moderised at some stage to its current form.
 
I knew I had a photo, quite an iconic water works building sadly lost with a few others
 

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hi mort so is the house on the corner in your pic the same one that is showing in my post 18 with perry common road running across ??

lyn
 
yes thats it pedro..as said it looks to be on the site of the old waterworks...something to do with water maybe...thanks pedro

lyn
 
The old building may have looked on the inside just like the one we are trying to save at Sandfields in Lichfield. We think that (to be confirmed) the beam engines were built by the same Tipton company. So we know what the building would have looked like from the inside.

Have to say, the new building is a bit bland
 
The old building may have looked on the inside just like the one we are trying to save at Sandfields in Lichfield. We think that (to be confirmed) the beam engines were built by the same Tipton company. So we know what the building would have looked like from the inside.

Have to say, the new building is a bit bland

In one of the papers it gives a detailed account of the sinking. I will try and find and post.
 
There was another, smaller, lake on the other side of Bleak Hill and this whole area was named as 'The Bogs' on earlier maps.
 
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A couple of maps from the National Library of Scotland to show the course of Hawthorn Brook on its route to Upper Witton Pools, and from what I presume may be its source near the King’s Vale Pumping Station. The older is from the mid 1880s.

On the 1880s map it shows the Brook running to Lodge Pool, and then to a smaller pool before reaching the Upper Witton Pools. Looking at the map for around 1901 Lodge Pool now seems to be a swamp and a Hydraulic Ram is indicated. The smaller pool is marked as a Swimming Bath.

By 1913 Lodge Pool has disappeared, but the Swimming Bath still exists. In 1938 the Bath remains but the Hydraulic Ram has gone. There is also a stream flowing from a fish pond that joins the Brook just above the swimming Bath, the fish pond still exists in 1938
 
and is that the newer waterworks building on post 22 mort...looks disused now

It is, electric pumps. I have a feeling it is still an operational site. The modern sites don't need to be manned now, all automatic with the occasional mintenance vistis.
 
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