Decommissioned reservoir. Near Aldershot, Hampshire.

Cake! · Jun 9, 2010

This empty reservoir sits within MOD land near Aldershot, Hampshire. It's an expansive area which includes Caesar's Camp, an ancient fort pre-dating Ceasar back to the Iron Age. I used to do lots of cycling round here and cooled off in this very reservoir around 20 years ago. I'm sure that sign wasn't there then!

The space is vast

You can get an idea of the depth of the reservoir by the ladder rungs on this tower. The water level came to just below the top section of the tower. I remember jumping from the top into the water below.

Part of the water catchment works surrounding the reservoir.

Here, courtesy of Google Maps you can see an aerial view.

And interestingly on Flash Earth the reservoir is full! I don't know when it was drained but judging by the amount of plant life there I'd guess at least a couple of years? Flash Earth Link

Foxylady · Jun 9, 2010

I love stuff like this. There's one not far from me, but it's really hard to get close enough to explore and take pics, and is completely overgrown.
Nice pics and tour, Cake. Cheers.

Flexible · Jun 9, 2010

This is different - nicely done. Love the fact that you actually had a swim in the water before it was drained!

spacepunk · Jun 9, 2010

Nice one brovver!
I love all these old rese style thangs.

night crawler · Jun 10, 2010

Like th eold sign saying "Dange Drinking water, bathing stricly forbidden" then you swimming in it

Cake! · Jun 10, 2010

night crawler said:
Like th eold sign saying "Dange Drinking water, bathing stricly forbidden" then you swimming in it

I don't remember that sign, selective memory maybe! 20 years ago I was 14, at that age a 'Strictly Forbidden' sign's surely an invitation!

rwalton159 · Jun 11, 2010

Nature soon takes back doesn't it! Shame they didn't keep some water in it as it could have become a nature reserve.

Nice post

the harvester · Jun 11, 2010

I was up here a while back never realised there was a resoirvoir here? there's some old brick shells of buildings dotted around, they look crap but the cattle grazing the ceasers camp area when I went seemed to have taken up residence of a lot of the area!!

hydealfred · Jun 11, 2010

Good site and a nice report - thanks.

Cake! · Jun 11, 2010

the harvester said:
I was up here a while back never realised there was a resoirvoir here? there's some old brick shells of buildings dotted around, they look crap but the cattle grazing the ceasers camp area when I went seemed to have taken up residence of a lot of the area!!

Hello The Harvester, I see you live in Farnborough; I grew up there though I'm now 100 or so miles to the west in Bristol.

There's a couple more reservoirs further down as well that are still full, the larger of the two is frequented by fisherfolk! See the Flash Earth link in the thread. It really is a great place, there's loads of pill boxes and hidden stuff. I didn't know there were cattle up there!

patrickblue · Jun 17, 2010

I spent half of my childhood on the common land around the reservoir. and the signs were definitely there then.
I'm 55 so we're talking 40-45 years ago
God I feel old now.

Derelict-UK · Jun 17, 2010

your pictures make it look tiny lol, that ladder looks like it was built for the borrowers!!

yortsandthat · Apr 19, 2022

When I lived in Farnham between 1980-2005 I swam there with friends during our summer school holidays. We would use that tower to jump off. Lost count how many times MP's on horseback chased us off.

Hayman · Apr 19, 2022

yortsandthat said:
When I lived in Farnham between 1980-2005 I swam there with friends during our summer school holidays. We would use that tower to jump off. Lost count how many times MP's on horseback chased us off.

"MPs on horseback"? Military Police? When I was at Longmoor Camp in the late 1950s early 1960s, nearby Frensham Ponds were known to be a local bathing spot.

yortsandthat · Apr 19, 2022

Hayman said:
"MPs on horseback"? Military Police? When I was at Longmoor Camp in the late 1950s early 1960s, nearby Frensham Ponds were known to be a local bathing spot.

Yes Military police patrolled the Aldershot common on horseback during the school summer holidays. Frensham Pond for us were too far away. We lived only a 30 minutes walk to that particular reservoir as seen in the photos above.

Hayman · Apr 20, 2022

yortsandthat said:
Yes Military police patrolled the Aldershot common on horseback during the school summer holidays. Frensham Pond for us were too far away. We lived only a 30 minutes walk to that particular reservoir as seen in the photos above.

If it was truly a 'common', had it been requisitioned by the War Department at some time in the past, and not handed back?

yortsandthat · Apr 21, 2022

Hayman said:
If it was truly a 'common', had it been requisitioned by the War Department at some time in the past, and not handed back?

'The Common' was what us local kids to that area called the place among ourselves. We had no idea about requisitions and war departments etc.

SimonCG · Jun 29, 2023

I vaguely remember visiting this reservoir as a child. I recently went to see if it was still there, little did I know it had been decommissioned for over a decade! If anyone has a photo of the reservoir in it’s full glory, I would immensely appreciate it. I find myself obsessing over this kind of thing, and I can’t quite piece together the memories without a photo.

BikinGlynn · Jun 29, 2023

SimonCG said:
I vaguely remember visiting this reservoir as a child. I recently went to see if it was still there, little did I know it had been decommissioned for over a decade! If anyone has a photo of the reservoir in it’s full glory, I would immensely appreciate it. I find myself obsessing over this kind of thing, and I can’t quite piece together the memories without a photo.

this is a very old thread so not sure if anything is left there now, maybe someone close can check it?

SimonCG · Jun 29, 2023

I did have a look myself recently! I was unable to get past the fences. It seems not much has changed since the original posting, expect 10 years of growth! The land has been left to its own devices. I was just hoping by the odd chance that someone should have a photo of the reservoir when it was in service. Just to help me restore those memories!

Decommissioned reservoir. Near Aldershot, Hampshire.

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