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Watergrove Reservoir Skyline Walk

Total walk distance - 8 miles
 
Grade of Walk - 2
 
Pub - The Baum in Wardle - 10 mins drive away.
 
The Watergrove reservoir is about two miles east of Cowm. To get to it you can either walk over the moor from Whitworth or else travel into Rochdale and then out on the road through the village of Wardle. It was constructed in the 1930s, partly with the aim of providing jobs during a period of high unemployment, but mainly because the water requirements of Rochdale had become increasingly urgent. It is the largest reservoir supplying water to Rochdale. The opening ceremony took place on 6 April 1938.

There was a small village called Watergrove, now submerged under the reservoir, and scattered around the valley were about thirty farms, some of which had a few cottages close to them. In the nineteenth century the population reached about 300, but it had started to decline before the reservoir was built. It was about 250 at the turn of the century and about 200 in the 1920s. The Water Board insisted that nearly everyone should move out, including people living above the water line.

The village of Watergrove developed in the 1840s, and was completed within 20 years. Most of the houses were located along the west side of the main street, Ramsden Road. Watergrove Farm would have been the first house you passed, and three cottages were attached to it. Soon you would come to the Orchard public house, and next to it a block of six back-to-back cottages. There was a Methodist church, and then a side road led to a terrace of houses known as Bowers Row. Next on Ramsden Road there was another block of six back-to-back cottages. A little further along the road on the right stood Watergrove Mill. Then we will head back to the car and have a well deserved pint and Sunday lunch.