URPoint Details
Haweswater was built in the valley of Mardale. Haweswater was a natural lake about four kilometres long, nearly divided by a tongue of land at Measand; the two reaches of the lake were known as High Water and Low Water. The building of the dam raised the water level by 29 metres (95 feet) and created a reservoir six kilometres (four miles) long and around 600 metres (almost half a mile) wide. The dam wall measures 470 metres long and 27.5 metres high; using 44 separate buttressed units joined by flexible joints.
A parapet, 1.4 metres (56 inches) wide, runs the length of the dam and from this tunnel supplies can be seen entering the reservoir from the adjoining valleys of Heltondale and Swindale. When the reservoir is full, it holds 84 billion litres (18.6 billion gallons) of water.
There is a population of schelly fish in the lake, believed to have lived there since the last Ice Age.
- Type:
- Landmark