Thruscross Reservoir: What weather climate makes Yorkshire’s sunken village of West End visible? Everything you need to know about the reservoir between Harrogate and Otley

Thruscross Reservoir is one of the four reservoirs in the Washburn valley located between the north of Otley and west of Harrogate. It supplied Leeds with drinking water in the 1960s.

Thruscross was completed in 1966, the process of building the reservoir resulted in the flooding of the village of West End, which was already largely derelict following the decline of the flax industry.

The remains of a flax mill can be seen at the edge of the reservoir, and more of the village has been revealed on occasion, such as the summers of 1989 and 1990. The last time it was visible was the summer of 2022.

The work to build the reservoir included clearing trees, removing sacred items from the church, and exhuming bodies from the graveyard.

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Thruscross Reservoir is owned by Yorkshire Water that manages it to benefit walkers, anglers and wildlife.

Five of the exhumed bodies discovered during archaeological studies date from the 17th and 18th centuries and more research has been carried out to find out more about their diet and lifestyle.

Yorkshire Water has issued a warning to visitors not to swim in the reservoir as it is very dangerous and reservoirs have a lot of dangers hidden beneath the surface.

The foundations of the other buildings and the village itself can sometimes be exposed during drought periods.