WHY THE HOLME RESERVOIRS WERE CONSTRUCTED
Before the reservoirs under the control of the Holme Reservoir
Commissioners were constructed, it was found that the ordinary
supply of water which ran down the various valleys was inadequate
to the necessities of the manufacturers who plied their busy
machinery by the motive power of the water accumulating in
their mill dams.
Hence the necessity of constructing larger reservoirs, which
were formed for the purpose of treasuring up the water which
runs so abundantly in these mountainous districts, so that,
when needed, they may be let off into the different mill dams,
to turn the large water wheels which were then the chief motive-power
in the various mills in the valley.
In 1837 the Act of Parliament was passed and on the 8th
of June in that year. It received the Royal assent.
The preamble of this Act recites that there are many mills,
etc, situate on or near the line or course of the flowing
of the waters of the Holme and Colne, and of other streams
in the West Riding of Yorkshire flowing into the same; that
the supply of water to such mills, etc, was very irregular,
and during the summer months frequently insufficient for effectually
working the wheels, engines etc, in connection with the same;
and that the irregularity and deficiency might be greatly
remedied by the construction of an embankment on the Digley
Brook, at Bilberry Mill, and at seven other points named in
the Act; powers being thus given by the Act to construct eight
reservoirs altogether.
The Commissioners to be appointed under the Act were ordered
to be mill owners, or owners or occupiers of falls of water
in the district, to the annual value of £100 a year and upwards.
Powers were given to raise by subscription £40,000; and the
commissioners subsequently erected three of the eight reservoirs
intended, one at Bilberry , one at Holme Styes, and one at
Boshaw Whams, the cost of the whole being £70,000, of which
£40,000 were raised by share capital, this being the maximum
fixed by the borrowing clauses, and the remaining £30,000,
were borrowed on mortgage of the water rates.
 
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