Blagdon Lake

Blagdon Lake
Photo of the lake surrounded by trees
Location in Somerset
Location in Somerset
Blagdon Lake
LocationBlagdon, Somerset
Coordinates51°20′06″N 2°41′51″W / 51.3350°N 2.6975°W / 51.3350; -2.6975
Typereservoir
Primary inflowsRiver Yeo
Primary outflowsRiver Yeo
Catchment area2,144 ha (5,300 acres)
Basin countriesUnited Kingdom
Surface area440 acres (180 ha)
Average depth14 ft (4.3 m)
Max. depth42 ft (13 m)
Water volume8,456 million litres (6,855 acre⋅ft)

Blagdon Lake lies in a valley at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, close to the village of Blagdon and approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Bristol, England. The lake was created by Bristol Water (Bristol Waterworks Company as it was known then), when it dammed the River Yeo, starting construction in 1898, to designs by Charles Hawksley, and completing this in 1905. The Wrington Vale Light Railway was constructed primarily to bring building materials for the lake.

The reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam and provided water to the pumping station which originally contained four Woolf compound rotative beam pumping engines, built by Glenfield & Kennedy of Kilmarnock, which have now been replaced by electric pumps. Two of the steam engines have been preserved, with one in working order as part of the visitor centre which also includes educational facilities for children. The pumping station is now a Grade II* listed building.

The 8,456,000,000-litre (1.860×109 imp gal; 2.234×109 US gal) lake still provides 9,547,000,000 L (2.100×109 imp gal; 2.522×109 US gal) of drinking water each year, but also acts as a fishing lake. It provides a habitat for a range of flora and fauna and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The original suction tanks, which formed the water supply for the steam boilers powering the pumping engines, are now used for trout rearing.