Mike Green & Pam Gould: The letters of J D Dawson.

Much has been written about the building of the Thirlmere reservoir dam but the struggle of the local farmers who fought to win fair compensation and to protect their land has remained hidden. The Armitt Museum in Ambleside holds the archive of Col. John Dawson and his negotiations with Manchester Corporation. This talk will be given by a group of local U3A volunteers who are researching the archive and unearthing the story of John and his sister, Mary, who lived at The Cragg in Troutbeck. This is a group project involving the presenters and also Joan Carus, Sylvia Foreman, Steve Lewis and Karen Trickett.

Thirlmere aqueduct is the longest aqueduct in Britain. It transports water 153km from Thirlmere reservoir in the Cumbrian hills to Manchester. It can carry up to 227m litres of water a day. Both the aqueduct and reservoir opened in 1894 after 4 years construction work. Thirlmere is the longest gravity-fed aqueduct in Britain – there are no pumps along the route. Water flows at about 6km an hour and takes just over a day to reach the city. The aqueduct runs in tunnels for around 80km and through cast iron pipes for another 72km. The first tunnel at the start of the route is the longest at 5km and runs under Dunmail Rise.