Hollingworth Lake

Hollingworth Lake
Hollingworth Lake as seen from the north shore
Location	Littleborough, Greater Manchester
Coordinates	53°37′50″N 2°05′47″W / 53.630618°N 2.096415°W / 53.630618; -2.096415Coordinates: 53°37′50″N 2°05′47″W / 53.630618°N 2.096415°W / 53.630618; -2.096415
Primary inflows	Longden End Brook
Primary outflows	Hollingworth Brook
Basin countries	England

Hollingworth Lake is a 130-acre (53 ha) reservoir at Smithy Bridge, in Littleborough — part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. The lake was originally built as the main water source for the Rochdale Canal, but developed as a tourist resort from the 1860s, and became known as the Weighver's Seaport. Hotels were built around it, at least two of which had outdoor dancing stages with gas lighting. Tourism was helped by the arrival of the railway in 1839, which brought day-trippers and weekend visitors from Manchester, Bradford and Leeds.

The popularity of the lake as a resort declined in the early twentieth century, and the area was used as an army camp during the First World War. The canal company sold the reservoir, with seven others, to the Oldham and Rochdale Corporations for water supply in 1923, by which time the canal was in terminal decline. After the Second World War, boating rights were bought by Rochdale Council, who developed the area into the Hollingworth Lake Country Park in 1974. There has been a steady increase in facilities since, and it is now a thriving centre for water sports and other activities.

The lake was used for training by Captain Matthew Webb, before he became the first man to swim the English Channel in 1875, and was used for the "World Professional Mile Championship", a long-distance swimming event, in the 1880s. It is home to the Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club, which has been in continuous existence since 1872.

In 1794, an Act of Parliament sanctioned the construction of the Rochdale Canal. Hollingworth Lake with its three earth dams was a main feeder source completed in 1800, four years before the canal. The lake covers an area of 130 acres (53 ha) and the path around it originally measured 2.5 miles (4 km). In places the lake was 25 feet (7.6 m) deep, with the average depth being about 10 feet (3.0 m). When first constructed, it was capable of holding 400 million gallons (1,800 Ml) of water. The site was not a natural choice for a reservoir, as there was no natural hollow and plans exist which indicate the reservoir could have been built in the Ealees Valley which did. Consequently, three large earth embankments were built to enclose the reservoir. The main embankment, Hollingworth Bank, is approximately 36 feet (11 m) high and about 220 yards (200 m) in length. Fens Bank is 30 feet (9 m) high and 220 yards (200 m) long while Shaw Moss Bank is 26 feet (8 m) high and 140 yards (130 m) long. The lake surface is about 557 feet (170 m) above sea level, A steam engine was installed to lift water 45 feet (14 m) into a 4-mile (6.4 km) channel which fed it into the summit pound at Chelburn. The pumping engine was demolished around 1910.