Boshaw Whams Reservoir

Boshaw Whams
Bowshaw Whams
Boshaw Whams
Location within West Yorkshire
LocationHade Edge, West Yorkshire, England
Coordinates53°32′49″N 1°46′23″W / 53.547°N 1.773°W / 53.547; -1.773
EtymologyOld English sceaga (shaw)
Old Norse hvammr (wham)
Primary outflowsDean Dike
Catchment area53 hectares (130 acres)
Built1840
Surface area5 hectares (12 acres)
Average depth3.3 metres (11 ft)
Water volume153,940 cubic metres (5,436,000 cu ft)
Surface elevation300 metres (980 ft)
References[1]

Boshaw Whams Reservoir is an upland waterbody near to the village of Hade Edge, in West Yorkshire, England. The site was originally built in 1840 to keep a supply of water for mill-owners downstream, but is now owned by Yorkshire Water but still used as a compensation reservoir for river water levels. It is used recreationally by a sailing club and for fishing. It is the only known site in Yorkshire where the invasive narrow-clawed crayfish is present.

History

An act of Parliament was obtained in June 1837 titled Holme Reservoirs Act 1837 (7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. liv) which permitted the building of three reservoirs; Bilberry-Mill, Holme-Styes and Boshaw Whams.[2] The reservoir was built in 1840 to provide water for mills further down the valley.[3] It transferred to the ownership of the Huddersfield Corporation via the Huddersfield Corporation Act 1937 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6. c. lxix).[4][5] The reservoir is now owned by Yorkshire Water, which was consolidated from several local water corporations in 1973.[6] During the 1995 drought in the Yorkshire region, Yorkshire Water were importing water into the area via a fleet of tankers,[7] but the water from Boshaw Whams could not be used to supply drinking water as it was not connected to the rest of the Yorkshire Water network.[8] It was used to compensate water flow in the local river system, however, in November 1995, an emergency drought order meant that water was taken from Boshaw Whams as it was 85% full, compared to other reservoirs which were only 13% full.[9]

The reservoir covers an area of 5 hectares (12 acres) at an altitude of 300 metres (980 ft), with a catchment area of 53 hectares (130 acres). Boshaw Whams has an average depth of 3.3 metres (11 ft) and holds 153,940 cubic metres (5,436,000 cu ft) of water.[10] The reservoir dams the New Mill Dyke, and the outflow is through Dean Dike, through which it now acts as a compensation reservoir for the River Holme system.[11][12]

The reservoir was inspected in 1852 after the floods in Holmfirth caused by the embankment of the Bilberry Reservoir collapsing in February of that year.[13] The water exiting both the Holme-Styes and Boshaw Whams reservoirs feeds into watercourses through Holmfirth, and the authorities were keen to avoid a repetition of the floods from Bilberry Reservoir. The engineer declared that although the banks and dam head of Boshaw Whams were structurally sound, the "waste weir was much dilapidated and requires immediate repair..."[14]

The name of the reservoir derives from a combination of the Old English sceaga (shaw), meaning a copse, thicket or small wood, and the Old Norse hvammr (wham), meaning a swamp, a marshy hollow, or a dale among the hills.[15]

Rainfall

Rainfall at Boshaw Whams – yearly average, 1968 to 1991
Year Rainfall[a] Ref Year Rainfall Ref
1968 1,415 millimetres (55.7 in) [16] 1980 1,416 millimetres (55.7 in) [17]
1969 1,040 millimetres (41 in) [18] 1981 1,443 millimetres (56.8 in) [19]
1970 1,171 millimetres (46.1 in) [20] 1982 1,231 millimetres (48.5 in) [21]
1971 1,021 millimetres (40.2 in) [22] 1983 1,319 millimetres (51.9 in) [23]
1972 1,166 millimetres (45.9 in) [24] 1984 1,168 millimetres (46.0 in) [25]
1973 1,013 millimetres (39.9 in) [26] 1985 956 millimetres (37.6 in) [27]
1974 1,310 millimetres (52 in) [28] 1986 1,540 millimetres (61 in) [29]
1975 881 millimetres (34.7 in) [30] 1987 1,117 millimetres (44.0 in) [31]
1976 985 millimetres (38.8 in) [32] 1988 1,289 millimetres (50.7 in) [33]
1977 1,418 millimetres (55.8 in) [34] 1989 1,081 millimetres (42.6 in) [35]
1978 1,037 millimetres (40.8 in) [36] 1990 1,233 millimetres (48.5 in) [37]
1979 1,347 millimetres (53.0 in) [38] 1991 968 millimetres (38.1 in) [39]
  1. ^ 1968 – 1980 at SE153057 283 metres (928 ft)
     1981 – 1984 at SE154058 283 metres (928 ft)
     1985 – 1991 at SE153058 263 metres (863 ft)

Recreation

The reservoir is used by Huddersfield Sailing Club since 1958, and the site is also used for fishing.[40][41][6] The sailing club's race control tower, which overlooks the reservoir is part of the original Emley Moor transmitter which collapsed in 1969.[42]

In 2019, the anglers who use the reservoir reported the existence of narrow-clawed crayfish, an invasive species; the crayfish at Boshaw Whams appear to be the only site in Yorkshire where the invasive species exist.[43] Downstream of the reservoir is a known site for white-clawed crayfish, which could be at risk when scour tests, conducted twice a year, release water into Dale Dike which runs downstream to the site at Armitage Bridge which is where the white-clawed crayfish are.[1] Other non-native species found at the reservoir include Curley and Canadian pondweed.[44]

References

  1. ^ a b Harwood et al 2025, p. 3.
  2. ^ "Holme reservoirs". Huddersfield Chronicle. Vol. 101. 6 March 1852. p. 8. OCLC 1326218001.
  3. ^ Patrick, S. T.; Stevenson, A. C., eds. (1988). An assessment of the use of reservoir sediments in the southern Pennines for reconstructing the history and effects of atmospheric pollution (Report). London: University College Palaeoecology Research Unit. p. 61. OCLC 59748865.
  4. ^ River Ouse (Yorks) Catchment Board annual report 1937 (Report). Leeds: River Ouse Catchment Board. 1937. p. 9. OCLC 1454938199.
  5. ^ "Huddersfield Corporation Act 1937" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  6. ^ a b Harwood et al 2025, p. 2.
  7. ^ Laycock, Mike (1 November 1995). "Bridge over troubled water". The Yorkshire Evening Press. p. 1. OCLC 765951094.
  8. ^ Parkin, Jenny; Darling, Alison (11 November 1995). "Full reservoir can't be used to ease crisis". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. No. 43, 571. p. 5. ISSN 0962-1644.
  9. ^ Darling, Alison (11 November 1995). "YW's u-turn on using reservoir". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. No. 43, 601. p. 5. ISSN 0962-1644.
  10. ^ "Boshaw Whams Reservoir Water body ID 31760". uklakes.ceh.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2026.
  11. ^ Garner, J.; Brown, F.; Lovett, M., eds. (1936). Report upon chemical and biological survey of the River Holme. Wakefield: The West Riding of Yorkshire Rivers Board. p. 5. OCLC 655190574.
  12. ^ "Yorkshire Water". Journal of the Institution of Water Engineers and Scientists. 36–37. London: Institution of Water Engineers and Scientists: 284. 1982. ISSN 0309-1600. OCLC 1321297.
  13. ^ Ewen, Shane (October 2014). "Socio-technological disasters and engineering expertise in Victorian Britain: the Holmfirth and Sheffield floods of 1852 and 1864". Journal of Historical Geography. 46: 23. doi:10.1016/j.jhg.2014.05.021.
  14. ^ "Holme reservoirs". Huddersfield Chronicle. Vol. 108. 24 April 1852. p. 8. OCLC 1326218001.
  15. ^ Goodall, Armitage (1914). Place-names of south-west Yorkshire, that is, of so much of the West Riding as lies south of the Aire from Keighley onwards. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 253, 297. OCLC 5809268.
  16. ^ Rainfall 1968. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1974. p. 13. ISBN 0-11-400279-7.
  17. ^ Rainfall 1980. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1984. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-174-1.
  18. ^ Rainfall 1969. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1979. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-021-4.
  19. ^ Rainfall 1981. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1984. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-189-X.
  20. ^ Rainfall 1970. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1979. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-022-2.
  21. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1982 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1985. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-192-X.
  22. ^ Rainfall 1971. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1980. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-026-5.
  23. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1983 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1985. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-205-5.
  24. ^ Rainfall 1972. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1980. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-046-X.
  25. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1984 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1986. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-209-8.
  26. ^ Rainfall 1973. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1981. p. 9. ISBN 0-86180-047-8.
  27. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1985 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1988. p. 6. ISBN 0-86180-229-2.
  28. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1974 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1981. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-060-5.
  29. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1986 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1988. p. 6. ISBN 0-86180-242-X.
  30. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1975 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1981. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-067-2.
  31. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1987 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1989. p. 18. ISBN 0-86180-253-5.
  32. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1976 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1982. p. 8. ISBN 0-86180-073-7.
  33. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1988 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1989. p. 18. ISBN 0-86180-259-4.
  34. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1977 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1982. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-076-1.
  35. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1989 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1991. p. 28. ISBN 0-86180-274-8.
  36. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1978 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1982. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-143-1.
  37. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1990 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1991. p. 26. ISBN 0-86180-291-8.
  38. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1979 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1983. p. 7. ISBN 0-86180-146-6.
  39. ^ Monthly and annual totals of rainfall 1990 for the United Kingdom. Bracknell: Meteorological Office. 1993. p. 28. ISBN 0-86180-298-5.
  40. ^ Robinson, Andrew (3 February 2023). "Not many are lucky enough to have a view like this from work...". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. p. 7. ISSN 0962-1644. Hade Edge is also popular with ramblers, road cyclists, mountain bikers - and sailors. Huddersfield Sailing Club has been based at Boshaw Whams Reservoir in the village since 1958.
  41. ^ "hsc". www.huddersfieldsailing.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2026.
  42. ^ Moran, Joe (2013). Armchair nation: an intimate history of Britain in front of the TV. London: Profile Books. p. 368. ISBN 978-1-84668-391-6.
  43. ^ Harwood et al 2025, p. 1.
  44. ^ "Invasive Non-Native Species Management - Yorkshire Water". www.the-rsc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2026.

Sources

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