IN THE MONTH OF FEBKUARY, 1852. 141 



which the water would continue to flow with impetuous 

 velocity. The Woodhead valley, on the contrary, has a much 

 more gentle slope, and is much wider throughout, occasion- 

 ally expanding into level flats of considerable width. Con- 

 sequently the velocity of the water would be speedily dimi- 

 nished, and its volume absorbed by filling up the flat ground 

 on each side. The damage was comparatively trifling, being 

 all repaired or compensated for by the payment of little more 

 than £:^,000. 



The embankment was restored, and no further flood of any 

 consequence occurred until the work was far advanced. The 

 remaining reservoirs in the valley had been some time pre- 

 viously laid out and commenced, and abundant provision had 

 been made at these new reservoirs for the passage of the 

 floods. 



Of the various rain gauges which are placed in the district, 

 one only is registered daily, viz., that at Crowden Hall, the 

 others being placed on the heights in somewhat inaccessible 

 situations, and only observed weekly or monthly. The quan- 

 tity of water which was received into the Woodhead Reservoir, 

 or passed by the flood watercourse on the occasion of the 

 flood alluded to, must have exceeded 3 inches in the 24 hours, 

 or rather, in the 17 or 18 hours during which the rain fell 

 most heavily, and yet the depth registered at Crowden Hall 

 was only l^i^^inch. Crowden Hall is about two-thirds of a 

 mile below the Woodhead embankment, and the heaviest 

 portion of the rain must therefore have been on the hills 

 above the reservoir. At the Redmires Reservoir of the 

 Sheffield Waterworks, on the same day, there were registered 

 nearly 2^ inches. The distance from Woodhead, in a direct 

 line south-east, is 13§ miles. 



The fall of rain in 1849 was about an average, there being 

 at Crowden Hall 54-i4 inches : 1850 was considerably below 

 the average, the rain being only 44-^^; and singularly 

 enough, almost the only heavy flood which occurred in the 



