Straining Well and Valve House is a Grade II listed building in the Lake District National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 August 1985. Valve house.

Straining Well and Valve House

WRENN ID
moated-corridor-violet
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Lake District National Park
Constituency
Penrith and Solway MP: Markus Campbell-Savours (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
8 August 1985
Type
Valve house
Address
Straining Well and Valve House, St. John's Castlerigg and Wythburn, Cumberland
OS grid reference
NY 321 149
Coordinates
54.52526, -3.05002
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The straining well and valve house for Thirlmere Reservoir was built between 1885 and 1894 by engineer G.H. Hill for the Manchester Corporation Waterworks Committee. It features coursed slate nibble walls with red sandstone dressings and battlemented parapets. The structure includes a circular tower and lower double rectangular valve house sections, creating an overall V-shape. The building has a mock castle appearance, with plain openings and slit vents.

Local climate

Straining Well and Valve House sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,470 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 96% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 58 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 34 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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