One of the most impressive reservoirs in Nidderdale is created by Scar House Dam.  As you travel up the valley the dam is hidden by the twists and turns in the landscape, but as you move closer it grows out of the ground to form a 71m high and 600m long barrier holding back around 2,200 million gallons of water. (That is about the same amount as 25,000 25 metre swimming pools!)

Photo: Aerial View of Scar House Reservoir, taken in 1935 (courtesy of Nidderdale Museum)

On 5th October 1921 the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Gadie, cut the first piece of soil from the site to start the excavation of the foundations for the dam. The foundations were dug first, deep into the limestone over 200 feet down.

Photo: Sir Anthony Gadie, Alderman 1868-1948 (courtesy of Local Studies, Bradford)

Steam powered excavators were used to remove the rock, but at times hand drilling and explosive charges had to be used to make progress. It took over three years to complete the excavation of the foundations.

Photo: Digging the trench for the dam wall at Scar. Scar House can be seen on the hillside in the top right of the photo and a blondin crane can be seen top left (courtesy of Nidderdale Museum).

Two 'blondin' cranes (cable cranes) were put in place to move concrete and stone into place across the valley. A steel rope extended between the two cranes had a pulley system to move large buckets across from the concrete mixing plant. The support struts for the cranes can still be seen in the hillside today.

On the 5^th June 1925 Lieut. Col Anthony Gadie laid the first batch of concrete at the base of the dam. The navies would lay the concrete wearing leather britches to protect their skin.

Photo: View across the Scar dam trench looking North with the river diversion channel. A Blondin Crane can be seen at the far side of the dam. Taken from Bradford Corporation Waterworks album 2 (courtesy of Nidderdale Museum)

The dam was gradually built up using a lining of perfectly carved stones. The raw limestone was extracted by hand and using explosives from the quarries up on the hillsides. Navvies used hammers and steel rods to split the stones into the sizes required.

Photo: Stone masons at Scar House (courtesy of Nidderdale Museum)

A gravity railway system was used to move the men and stone up and down the hillside. As a carriage came down it would pull another one back up. The space between was filled with rubble and concrete to create a sturdy structure. The dam was built up in layers gradually getting higher and higher to eventually create a great engineering feat to hold over 2000 million gallons of water for Bradford and its surrounding villages and towns.

Photo: Zig zag railway lines up the side of the valley below Scar Dam wall, showing how engines and rolling stock were moved around the site (courtesy of Nidderdale Museum)

Costing over two million pounds at the time, Scar House Reservoir was originally known as 'Gadie's Folly' by those who opposed Alderman Sir Anthony Gadie. However those doubts were soon silenced after the reservoir prevented water rationing in two consecutive years of drought.