Self-Activating Sluice And Regulating House, Waulkmill Glen Reservoir Including Draw-Off Tower

William Gale engineer, circa 1847-8. Irregular-shaped reservoir with earth embankment, Italianate masonry draw-off tower connected to embankment by footbridge, fine arcaded masonry frontage to sluice house set into embankment, and octagonal regulating house.

EMBANKMENT: roughly L-plan main embankment dam to NE 200 yards long, 60 ft high and 12ft wide at top with pitched earth walls strengthened with stone and sealed with puddle clay; 1 in 3 slope to front, 1 in 2 slope to rear.

BYEWASH AND TRACK BRIDGE: concrete-lined lower section within main embankment, providing overflow from reservoir. Plain girder track bridge with central bull-faced masonry pier and 21st century replica GCWW cast-iron railings with flower detail.

DRAW-OFF TOWER AND FOOTBRIDGE: octagonal bull-faced masonry sub-structure with long slit openings carrying Italianate sandstone ashlar valve house with round-arched windows to each elevation divided by plain pilasters; shallow octagonal piended roof with stone slates and cast-iron finial. Rectangular-headed doorway to NNW elevation with deep corbel below supporting later iron footbridge.

SELF-ACTIVATING SLUICE HOUSE AND REGULATING BASINS: set into land-side of embankment, immediately to N of valve tower. 3-arch arcaded frontage with flanking piers. Rusticated red sandstone ashlar with pronounced quirky vermiculation. Plain polished ashlar cornice; parapet. Iron gates to arches. 2 rectangular- plan regulating basins immediately to N with 20th century covers.

INTERIOR: triple vault supported by central buttress and 2 cast-iron columns.

REGULATING HOUSE: single-storey, octagonal-plan building with round-arched doorway and stone-mullioned tripartite windows. Rusticated sandstone ashlar with pronounced quirky vermiculation and polished ashlar dressings. Base course; eaves band; projecting stone eaves. Entrance with roll-moulded margin and pronounced voussiors; tripartite windows with projecting cills to alternate elevations. Shallow piended roof with squat stone finial.