Bittell Reservoirs
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'Upper Bittell', 2005. |
The
Bittell Reservoirs are located above
Barnt Green to the south of
Longbridge in south
Birmingham. They consist of the Upper (Upper Bittell) and Lower (Lower Bittell) reservoir. They were built to feed the
Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which was finished in the
1790s, however, the reservoir was not completed until
1837. The 'Upper' reservoir is to ensure that the level of the canal is kept sufficiently high, even in times of drought. The 'Lower' reservoir(s) are compensatory reservoirs to ensure that the local area does not become parched in dry times.
The "Upper" reservoir can be seen as a form of
insurance. A dried up, i.e. unusable, canal would have been disastrous for the owners of the canal as well as the artisans and tradesmen who relied upon it for a living. The irony of the reservoir is the length of time it took to build: only 6 years after it was finished the
Birmingham & Gloucester railway was built alongside, mitigating the economic reasoning behind the large investment.
The reservoirs are quite obscure nowadays, however they are used actively. Today one can
fish in several places, especially on the lower reservoirs. The upper reservoir is used for
sailing and
windsurfing, and is the home of the Barnt Green Sailing Club. One bank of the reservoir is inaccessible due to the fact that it is a
SSSI. During the early
20th century, the bird life of the reservoirs was regularly recorded by the
West Midland Bird Club, long before such site-monitoring became commonplace. They were also visited regularly by a young
Bill Oddie.
*
Barnt Green Sailing Club*
Maintenance work on Lower Bittell (with photographs)*
West Midland Bird Club report from 1935*
West Midland Bird Club report from 1938
