Scar House Reservoir in Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

There is a beautiful walk round Scar House Reservoir in Nidderdale and well worth exploring, please find on an earlier post here, but Scar House is so much more than an enjoyable walk.  A complete history surrounds this amazing achievement which took fifteen years to complete.

In the early 1800’s Bradford was growing because of new industry there and people were flocking to the city in search of work. Water was soon in short supply with its ensuing problems. Gouthwaite Reservoir further down the valley was constructed first making sure that machinery was always kept going but soon clean drinking water was much needed and so Angram and Scar House reservoirs were to be planned and constructed further up the Nidd Valley. Work began on Angram in 1904 and Scar House 1921.

Scar House was the biggest project with it’s magnificent dam wall and you can marvel at it and wonder how it was built before today’s modern equipment. Walking across the dam wall some of the stones are unbelievably large the stone coming from the nearby quarry on the hill side. A small village was built to house the workers, their families and children and was quite self-sufficient, with school, a doctor, flush toilets even!

After the dam was opened the village was abandoned, there is still some evidence of it being there today but not a lot.

Now there are interpretation boards, a car park if you would like to do just a short walk from there, but definitely a place to visit whilst you’re here. If interested in finding out more before you go then follow the link here.

All our cottages are well within traveling distance of Scar House reservoir so do please get in touch and come on holiday with us to enjoy visiting this amazing structure. Call me Nadine or my daughter Joanne on 01969 663559 for friendly help and advice or please book online if you wish. Hear from you soon!