Her Majesty looking around Ladybower Reservoir on the official opening in 1947.Her Majesty looking around Ladybower Reservoir on the official opening in 1947.
Her Majesty looking around Ladybower Reservoir on the official opening in 1947.

Forgotten pictures of when the King and Queen officially opened Ladybower Reservoir in 1947

The reservoir was built between 1935 and 1943, and was officially opened by King George VI on September 24, 1947 and we have dug out pictures to remember the historic day.

The ceremony marked the completion of a work programme initiated in 1899, when an Act of Parliament authorised the Derwent Valley Water Board to construct six reservoirs to supply water to Derbyshire and the surrounding corporations of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.

The Howden Reservoir was opened in 1912, the Derwent Reservoir in 1916, and a diversion of the rivers Alsop and Alport in the Derwent Reservoir was completed in 1930.

Heralded as the largest artificial reservoir formed by the construction of an earthwork embankment in the British Isles, Ladybower Reservoir was intended to supply 53,666,000 gallons per day. It took two years to fill.

Work on the reservoir had begun in 1935, but its completion was delayed by the Second World War.

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Heralded as the largest artificial reservoir formed by the construction of an earthwork embankment in the British Isles, Ladybower Reservoir was intended to supply 53,666,000 gallons per day. It took two years to fill.