Reservoir off Sandbank Rd, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5XU

The reservoir, located off Sandbank Road in Hilltown, Newry, County Down, is primarily of historical interest as an example of a small-scale local authority waterworks. Constructed between 1900 and 1919, it was built by contractor John Graham, under the direction of engineers Reside and McCarthy, and was cited as completed in July 1914 minutes of the Public Health sub-committee of the Newry No.1 Rural District Council.

The reservoir is cut into the west side of Tornamrock and supplied by a tributary of Shankys River. It features an open, cement-lined tank with an intake chamber and pipe at the south end, and an abstraction pipe and control valve to the north. A galvanised metal fence surrounds the reservoir, with a post and wire fence immediately outside. The intake pipe runs underground from a small weir across a stream approximately 150 metres to the south. An intake chamber, a cement-rendered structure with a metal door on its north elevation, is situated on the right bank. A finely dressed granite stone, measuring 28cm x 18cm and 75cm in height, stands just south of the intake chamber; it has a semicircular top and is inscribed with the letters "NDC" in 7.5cm high lettering. A similar stone is located on the west side of the track nearer the reservoir.

The reservoir began being filled in January 1915 and first appeared on the 1919 Ordnance Survey 6" map, labelled 'Leitrim Reservoir (Newry RDC)’. It entered valuation revision books in 1919, initially recorded as Rathfriland Water Works. The reservoir was superseded by Spelga Reservoir in the 1950s. It is currently in use as a water works structure and is noted as derelict, exhibiting industrial archaeological interest.