Randy Mere Reservoir

Randy Mere Reservoir (also known as Randymere Reservoir), is a freshwater reservoir owned and operated by Yorkshire Water, near Beck Hole, in North Yorkshire, England. The reservoir was built in the 1880s by Whitby Water Company and holds about 62,000 cubic metres (2,200,000 cu ft) of water. The reservoir is built on an overflow channel for the proglacial Lake Eskdale, and before being converted into a reservoir, the area was a tarn and a marsh that was used as a commercial leech fishery.

History

The Whitby Waterworks Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. ccix) authorised the building of a reservoir on Randy Mere. The right to take water from the springs in the Hazel Head area (which feed the reservoir) were acquired in 1871, and in 1884, the reservoir was constructed by Edward Easton & Company with two earthen embankments, one at either end of the reservoir, each being 75 yards (69 m) in width, and 300 yards (270 m) between them. The reservoir was built on an existing tarn and marshy ground that was once the site of a commercial leech fishery; locals would wade through the marsh with bare legs and then remove any leeches which had attached themselves to their bare skin. Soon after the opening of the reservoir, water was seen to be leaking from the sandstone around the dam. The {Whitby Waterworks Company had to repair this leak by applying puddle clay walls to the reservoir, but first, they had to prove that the new works, and the original works, were granted under the Whitby Waterworks Act 1864 that gave the water rights for Hazel Head Springs.