Yorkshire reservoirs: Best lakes in the region where you can have a picnic in the sun including Thruscross and Scar House that have abandoned villages

Reservoirs provide the perfect backdrop for a picnic feast, a stroll, a challenging hike or an afternoon of fishing.

Some of the reservoirs in Yorkshire have abandoned villages with rich histories that are only visible during a drought.

They are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse, or building any number of retaining walls or levees to enclose any area to store water.

Best reservoirs in Yorkshire to enjoy a picnic

Grimwith Reservoir

This reservoir is near the villages of Appletreewick, Burnsall, Hartlington, Hebden, and Skyreholme.

Its original form was completed in 1864 by the Bradford Corporation and covered 102 acres. This involved the abandonment of the hamlets of Grimwith and Gate Up, which would be flooded as part of the reservoir.

The reservoir outlet is the site of a renewable energy project that saw the installation of a small turbine.

The name was recorded as Grymwith in 1540 and is thought to have come from the Old English grima, meaning ‘spectre’ or ‘ghost’, and the Old Norse vior meaning ‘wood’, which potentially referred to ‘the wood haunted by a ghost or goblin’.

Fewston Reservoir

Fewston Reservoir was built in 1879 by the Leeds Waterworks Company and it can be found from the A59 road.

The overflow from the reservoir merges directly into the adjoining Swinsty Reservoir and is the property of Yorkshire Water, which manages it for the benefit of walkers, anglers and wildlife.

Early on during the work, Fewston Mill was demolished along with West House Mill at Blubberhouses, with the stone going to build a wall around the reservoir.

Scar House Reservoir

Scar House was the last reservoir to be built in the Nidd Valley and replaced an earlier reservoir, Hayden Carr, which was built in the early 1890s.

The construction of Scar House Reservoir began in 1921 and it took 15 years to complete.

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It was once home to more than 1,250 villagers who lived and worked building the Nidderdale dam in the 1920s.

You can still see the remains of the village to the left of the reservoir approach road in the form of concrete bases and also just below the car park where one of the original buildings is now used by a local farm.

Following the completion of the construction, the old village hall was moved to Darley, where it is still a village hall.

Thruscross Reservoir

Thruscross is the highest of the four reservoirs in the Washburn Valley and the dam is a concrete structure that stretches across the steep sided valley.

The reservoir is also known as West End, named after the village that formerly existed alongside the River Wash and during extremely dry conditions, it becomes visible to the public when water levels drop far enough.

Baitings Reservoir

In the 1930s, Wakefield Corporation Waterworks started impounding the valley of the River Ryburn, with Ryburn Reservoir being completed in 1933.

Baitings was built 20 years later with completion in 1956. Baitings is a place name that derives from the Old Norse of Beit (pasture) and Eng (meadow).

Baitings Bridge was flooded under the reservoir so that a concrete viaduct was built and during drought conditions, the old bridge is shown.