Bessborough Reservoir

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Coordinates: 51°24′5.9″N 0°23′10.1″W / 51.401639°N 0.386139°W / 51.401639; -0.386139
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Bessborough Reservoir
Input station for Bessborough and Knight Reservoirs
A map of Surrey with a mark indicating the location of Bessborough Reservoir
A map of Surrey with a mark indicating the location of Bessborough Reservoir
Bessborough Reservoir
LocationSurrey
Coordinates51°24′5.9″N 0°23′10.1″W / 51.401639°N 0.386139°W / 51.401639; -0.386139
Typereservoir
Basin countriesUnited Kingdom
Water volume5.45 Gl (1.20×10^9 imp gal)

The Bessborough Reservoir is an embanked storage reservoir south of the

Walton on Thames. The reservoir is in the borough of Elmbridge
.

History

The Bessborough and Knight Reservoirs were initially built by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, whose works were across the river at Hampton. Construction began in 1898 replacing an old mansion and its farmed or landscaped estate, a manor, named Apps Court. The reservoirs were finished by the Metropolitan Water Board which had assumed responsibility for water supplies in London from 1902. The reservoirs were opened in 1907, and have a combined area of 125.5 acres (0.508 km2) and hold 1,198 million imperial gallons (5,450,000 m3).[1]

The key details of the Knight and Bessborough reservoirs are as follows.[2]

Parameter Knight Reservoir Bessborough Reservoir
Capacity 2,180 Mega litres 3,260 Ml
Surface area 20.8 ha 30 ha
Perimeter 1,800 m 2,000 m
Total excavation 1.15 million cubic metres
Puddle clay used 153,000 cubic metres
Concrete 57,000 cubic metres

The embankment walls have a puddle clay core extending down to the underlying blue London clay.

For details of construction and operation see Knight reservoir.

Apps Court

The last noble owner was John, Duke of Montagu, from 1709 until 1749 who died without surviving male issue in that year.

Either the son or the grandson of late 18th-century landowner Jeremiah Hodges, Colonel Hodges sold the manor in 1802 to Edmund Hill who finally bequeathed it on his death to John Hamborough, after whose death it was sold by the trustees of his estate to Richard Sharpe. Robert Gill bought it before 1867 and his widow took it after his death.

It was sold in 1898–1899 to the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, who pulled down the house, and "excavated [what is described in the

customary tenure. The water company tried to evade the tenure, but on petition of the tenant farmers, the Charity Commissioners sanctioned a scheme in 1903, by which the interest of £200 equivalent to £22,848 in 2021 paid by the Water Board was vested in trustees for the use of the poor of Walton and Molesey.[3]

Present use of the Apps Court Estate

The site is managed and operated by Thames Water.

Much of the farm of the estate remains by the road running parallel to and closest to the

Sunbury regatta.[5]

Knight and Bessborough Reservoirs are a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

See also

References

  1. ^ A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Borough of Elmbridge
  2. ^ "Walton Reservoirs". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. ^ H.E. Malden, ed. (1911). "Parishes: Walton on Thames". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  4. Ordnance survey
    website
  5. ^ a b "Car Boot events" website Archived October 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Apps Court Farm
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