Information

Watergrove Country Park is about 3 miles north east of Rochdale.  It lies in a high valley cupped by the South Pennine Moors.  The land belongs to United Utilies (North West Water) and due to improved water treatment processes, the public are free to roam and explore the valley and the moors.  Watergrove Country Park is approx 800 feet above sea level and faces south.  It has a relavtively high rainfall - over 50cm per anum.  compare that with the 40cm per anum that the suposedly wet Manchester receives.

People have lived in this area since prehistoric times and records show that there was a Bronze Age barrow on Hades Hill.  Ancient documents also show that this area was owned by Whalley Abbey during the 12th Century and that there were settlements here from just before the 13th Century.  During the 16th Century there was an increased demand for wool  and new farms were established on the nearby moors.  Some of their date stones have been preserved in the Wall of History at Watergrove Reservoir.  the farms her had a dual income - not from crops but from coal and wool.  The tops of Brown Wardle, Hades Hill and Rough Hill were covered with 100s of bell pits.  These were shallow hand dug pits, which the miners excavated downwards and outwards to make a large chamber beneath the surface of the moor.  Although the coal was of a poor quality, it was a welcome source of fuel as trees were scarce.  Remains of the spoil heaps can be seen in a ring around the valley.

In the late 18th Century, three water powered mills were built here, the Watergrove, Alderbank and Roads Mill.  These eventually became steam powered and provided work for the majority of the valley inhabitants until the late 1920s.  During the Cotton Famine years of the 1930s unemployment was high in the Rochdale area.  Gangs of umemployed cotton workers were used to build Watergrove Reservoir.  It was build between 1930 and 1938 and groups of approx 500 workers at a time used picks and shovels to construct the reservoir embankment.  A trench 156 feet deep and 6 feet wide was filled with over 65,000 cubic yards of concrete.  This was then made water tight by covering it with 90,000 cubic yards of puddle, a mixture of clay, sand and water.

Looking across Watergrove Reservoir to the Sailing Club and Rough HIll The Wall of HIstory, watergrove Reservoir Mill remains seen during a drought Looking across Watergrove Reservoir to Brown Wardle and Middle Hill

Watergrove Country Park is now a thriving outdoor recrerational area, catering to a diverse range of interests.  Its focal point is the West Pennine Sailboarding Club and the Country Rangers Office.  Many types of outdoor activities besides walking are encouraged here.  These include an annual Fell Race (the Brown Wardle Hill Race), horse riding, fishing, orienteering, working dog trials, mountain biking and even paragliding and hang gliding from the top of Brown Wardle.  There is also a thriving bird watching group.(Watergrove Reservoir Site Guide)  With all these activities going on, you could mistakenly imagine that this is a very busy area, however if you are prepared to leave the immediate environs of the reservoir and explore the remoter areas of the Country Park, you could feel at times as if you were miles from civilisation and other people.