Weir Wood Reservoir, East Grinstead

[John]

The Sphere - Saturday 20 August 1955

A NEW RESERVOIR FOR A NEW TOWN

The Weir Wood Reservoir at East Grinstead

EAST GRINSTEAD TRANSFORMED - A GREAT NEW RESERVOIR WHICH HAS TAKEN SHAPE DURING THE PAST FIFTEEN MONTHS

A general view of the treating plant and pumping station of the new Weir Wood Reservoir, which is to be officially opened by the Duke of Norfolk on September 9. Built to supply the rapidly growing "new town" at Crawley, which now has a population of nearly 30,000, the reservoir, a vast lake, 40 ft. deep and 1,500 ft. wide, has been built in a comparatively short space of time from a two-mile stretch of a small stream, the Upper Medway. Within seven months of work starting, the lake was in existence and could be seen from miles away. Already purified water from the reservoir is flowing into Crawley, which was previously facing a serious water supply problem. The complete scheme has cost £1,500,000 and the 3,000,000 gallons of water which it can supply in one day are used by East Grinstead, Nutley and Cuckfield as well as by Crawley; 22,000 yards of water mains have been laid.

[M1ke_A]

There's a handful of photos on Britain from Above taken before it was completed.  https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW053113 for instance shows the treatment works in Feb 54

[pomme homme]

Were any buildings sacrificed in the creation of this reservoir or was it just agricultural land that went under the water? The internet seems to be silent on this point.

[PNK]

The NLS mapping overlaid on modern aerial photos may help although the georeferenced layers are limited in the years they cover. The link below is not for the georeferenced mapping but if you click on the first blue link it should be an option near the top of the page.

maps.nls.uk/os/6inch-england-and-wales/index.html

[PNK]

Okay, so I had to look! It seems the main dwelling would have been Walesbeech which may have been a farm. Also a number of footpaths were lost - are they still valid? There was also a set of pylons that must have been moved or converted to buried.

[M1ke_A]

As far as I am aware only Walesbeech was lost but I gather remnants of it and Admirals Bridge road have reappeared is recent dought summers.

I've walked around some of it but the northern path(s) below Standen do not follow the water's edge and are fenced off and along coppices, so you can't really see the reservoir. Certainly nothing like the path around nearby Ardingly Reservoir