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Underneath an unassuming Liberton housing estate lies a real-life chamber of secrets that dates back to 1875.
What used to be the main source of the capital’s water supply is said to be ‘half the area of Charlotte Square ‘. Thankfully, no Slytherin secrets lie in the chambers.
Instead, it held a 15 million gallon tank – part of the Alncwickhall waterworks. After the waterworks closed, many of the buildings were demolished to clear space for new homes – though the disused reservoir was preserved.
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After pictures were released, councillors had several ideas on uses for the space. Leith architect Kieran Gaffney suggested the chambers could be used as a Festival venue. He commented: “It’s an amazing space, I wondered if it could become a venue of some sort – a theatre venue or a dance space.”
Unfortunately, the tunnels have never had a taker. Councillor Joanna Mowat believed the reservoir was impressive, adding: “It would be great if you could find a use for it, but it would be very expensive to do anything with it.
“It’s a lovely idea but it would need someone to see it, love it, find a use for it and manage to develop it.”
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When the waterworks were originally built, the total cost added up to £547,000. After considerable agitation surrounding the scarcity of water in 1868, the new scheme saw water flow to the city from lochs and burns around the area.
This included Portmore Loch, as well as the South Esk burn – both of which provided water to reservoirs to be filtered and carried to Edinburgh.
In February 1876, The Scotsman told readers: “This important portion of the works for increasing our water supply is to be constructed on a triangular shaped field to the south-east of the Alnwick Hill Reformatory, in the parish of Liberton.
“The service reservoir, which will receive the water from Gladhouse, will occupy an area of about five acres and will be capable of containing four days’ supply of water to the city, or 22 million gallons.”
Sitting at a depth of 22 feet, the chamber passed water into the city through Causewayside. Within the first few decades of Edinburgh’s ambitious new water supply, issues did arise.
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The Dalkeith Advertiser in 1897 published an article stating: “The water supply of Liberton was very inadequate. A few houses as Stenhouse had been without water in the house for six months, while it was discovered that the water was impure through the mingling of a sewerage drain with the reservoir.”
In 2012, the Alnwickhill waterworks were placed by a system at Glencorse. Reportedly supplying 175 million litres of water per day, the Water Treatment Works serve up to 450,000 customers in parts of West Lothian and Edinburgh.
This article was originally published on March 28, 2022.
