If you enjoyed a cup of tea this morning, cleaned your teeth under a running tap or simply had a refreshing drink of water you probably didn’t consider where the water had come from. If you live in south east Suffolk, between Stowmarket and Felixstowe then your water almost certainly comes from Alton Water. And because the Alton Valley doesn’t have a sufficient catchment area to supply 250,000 people the reservoir is filled by pumping.
The majority of the water pumped into Alton Water comes out of the Gipping at Sproughton. A pipe runs over the hill at Copdock and into the reservoir via a fountain close to the A137. This river water is supplemented with water pumped from the Stour and from aquifers deep in the ground.
The raw water is treated in buildings on the Holbrook side of the dam and then pumped through the Orwell Bridge to the service reservoirs on Rushmere Heath. The reservoir also supplies the Shotley and Felixstowe Peninsulas, Hadleigh and the Gipping Valley.
Ipswich is one of the driest areas of the country with less than 600mm of rain in a typical year (incidentally it rains, on average, less than 100 days each year). Traditionally water had been drawn from underground sources but these were becoming depleted and it was imperative that an alternative source was established. Furthermore ground water from under Suffolk has high calcium carbonate content, on account of its passage through the chalk; this made the water very hard. Hard water re-deposits its calcium on the inside of pipes and kettles and will not lather when washing with soap.
The need for additional supplies was first identified in the mid 1960s when 20 potential reservoir sites were identified and considered. Flooding the Alton Valley became the chosen option in the late seventies and the enabling work was started. There were very few people living in the valley thus only a few relocations were necessary. Some buildings of note were identified, Alton Hall and Tattingstone Hall, both of which were demolished and Alton Water Mill (Stutton Mill) which was carefully dismantled and moved to the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket. There were also a small number of houses which were lost under the water.
On the south side of the new reservoir Argent Manor Farm was above the waterline but lost a substantial amount of land, submerged under the reservoir. Tattingstone Place, now the biggest house on the shore, stands proud on a promontory of higher ground on the edge of Tattingstone village. The village was split into two by the reservoir only to be reconnected by Lemons Hill Bridge. At the top of the hill is the workhouse of 1776, converted to St Mary’s Hospital in 1930 and again converted into apartments in 1991.
Tattingstone Church is dedicated to St Mary; it is predominately 14th Century with an earlier font. The best reason for a visit however is the magnificent range of 19th Century glass, a variety of Apostles and Martyrs. The bell in the tower has an inscription ‘RANSOME AND SIMS MADE ME IN 1853’ possibly the only bell made by the company.
The second church of the village, some distance to the south and standing in splendid isolation, is actually a folly, Tattingstone Wonder. Converted from three cottages and still used as a dwelling, the ‘church tower’ was built in 1790 for the local squire, Edward White, to provide a point of interest when viewed from his hall in the valley below. Its purpose, to give his neighbours ‘something to wonder at.’
The dam was constructed in 1978 using a substantial amount of London Clay which was dug from a pit (later to be flooded by the reservoir), just north of the sailing club. This increased the depth, and thus volume of the reservoir so that today it can hold 2,000 million gallons of water (7.5 million cubic metres).
Since opening as a reservoir Anglian Water has developed a variety of leisure amenities. There is an eight-mile circular route around the perimeter with signed paths for cycling and walking, and a camping and caravan site is due to open shortly. Notably there are facilities for people with mobility difficulties, both cycling and sailing, and like any other body of water, bird watching. Sailability offers an ‘on the water’ sailing experience for both wheelchair users and others whereas Bike Active gets similar people out and about on special bicycles, tandems and trikes.
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