A stone monument built in 1913 depicting Angram reservoir has been restored and donated to Nidderdale Museum.
The reservoir was one of three built in the Nidderdale area between 1896 and 1936 by Bradford Corporation Waterworks Department.
The company also built a railway to transport people and equipment from Pateley Bridge to the three reservoirs – Gouthwaite, Angram and Scar House.
Stonemason Robert Drummond, who was part of a team of stonemasons employed to build the reservoir, created the monument of Angram, which weighs over a ton.
It stood outside the Bradford Corporation Waterworks Office, moving several times before resting in the private garden of one of Mr Drummond’s descendants.
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In 2021, the monument was offered as a donation to the museum by members of the family, and it was accepted.
Stonemasons HA Green & Son from Ripon dismantled it and transported it to their workshop, where the monument underwent a restoration, sponsored by Yorkshire Water’s Beyond Nature Initiative.
On Friday, it was unveiled outside Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge to serve as a reminder of the history of the dams in the area.
Sue Welch, chairman of Nidderdale Museum Society said:
“We are delighted that Yorkshire Water agreed that the monument should come back to Nidderdale and be displayed so that everyone can learn more about the reservoirs and its history.”
The Lord Mayor of Bradford was in Pateley Bridge last Friday to unveil the model (pictured below).
Pictured are (left to right): Joyce Dixon, granddaughter of the stonemason; Sue Welch, chairman of Nidderdale Museum; Cllr Gerry Barker, Lord Mayor of Bradford; Jean Barker, Lady Mayoress of Bradford; Cllr David Ireton, chairman of North Yorkshire Council; Andy Shaw, head of water production for Yorkshire Water
The story of Angram
More than a thousand workers were involved in the construction work, with most of them living on site. During the work at Angram and Scar House the accommodation built was much better than most in the local villages, with electric power, communal buildings, a school and a cinema.
Many stonemasons were employed to build the reservoirs, and one of them, Robert Drummond, created this scale model of Angram during his spare time, working with his son Duncan.
It was finished in 1913 six years before the reservoir opened.
The aqueduct built to transport the water from the reservoirs to the water filtration plant at Chellow Heights near Bradford was a major feat of engineering, transporting the water underground for over 30 miles purely by gravity.
There is no pumping involved. The system is still in operation today, providing water to the Bradford area.
Nidderdale Museum, in the Old Workhouse, Pateley Bridge is a volunteer-run independent museum with 12 rooms full of items and information from the past 200 years of Nidderdale life.
It is open from 1.30pm to 4.30pm daily except Mondays over summer.
