Queen Mary Reservoir

Queen Mary Reservoir
Location Surrey
Coordinates 51°25′N 0°27′W / 51.417°N 0.450°W / 51.417; -0.450Coordinates: 51°25′N 0°27′W / 51.417°N 0.450°W / 51.417; -0.450
Type reservoir
Basin countries United Kingdom
Surface area 2.8 km2 (1.1 sq mi)
Water volume 30.6 Gl (6.7×10^9 imp gal) [1]

The Queen Mary Reservoir is one of the largest of London's reservoirs supplying fresh water to London and parts of surrounding counties and is in the borough of Spelthorne in Surrey. The reservoir covers 707 acres (2.86 km2) and lies 45 ft (14 m) above the surrounding area.

Location

It lies south of the A308 and at its closest point 0.25 miles (0.40 km) northwest of the M3 motorway.

History

Designed by John Watson Gibson for the Metropolitan Water Board and opened in 1925, the reservoir since the organisation's formation has been owned by Thames Water. It was named after the Queen Consort of the time, Mary of Teck, and a plaque commemorates the event.[2]

The county of the reservoir, as with Spelthorne and Potters Bar, was from Anglo Saxon England until 1965, in Middlesex which is no longer used for administration.

In 1943, during world war II, the reservoir was used for testing submersibles. The submersible was nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty". In 2010 Prince Philip visited the reservoir to unveil a modern replica of the submersibles tested here. The model is on display at the Eden Camp museum near Malton in North Yorkshire.

Operation

200,000,000 imp gal (910,000,000 l; 240,000,000 US gal) of water are pumped into the reservoir each day from an inlet on the River Thames at Laleham between Chertsey Lock and Penton Hook Lock.[3]

The Queen Mary Sailing Club is a members sailing club on the reservoir. It owns a subsidiary company Queen Mary Sailsports, bringing all training operations "in house".

See also

References

  1. ↑ Queen Mary Sailing Club website Archived January 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. History (pdf)
  2. ↑ "History of the Queen Mary Reservoir - Village Matters". Village Matters. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Spelthorne Borough Council A Walk round Laleham village Archived November 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
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