Silent Valley
The Silent Valley is in the Mourne Mountains, up in the hills north of Kilkeel in County Down. It is part of the valley of the Kilkeel River, beside Slieve Binnian, whose slopes tower over the valley's eastern edge. The valley is a popular place for walking and recreation, and known as the Silent Valley Mountain Park.
The valley was dammed to create a vast reservoir (the 'Silent Valley Reservoir) between 1923 and 1933, which reservoir supplies most of the water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of Belfast.
The valley is owned and maintained by Northern Ireland Water Limited, who maintain both the reservoir and a series of waymarked paths through the valley and educational displays. When the reservoir was being built between 1923 and 1933 it had a workforce of over one thousand men labouring in the valley. The workers were settled in a new village in the valley known as Watertown, of which few traces now remain, but in its day it had a cinema, a clinic and a school. There is a memorial in the valley to the nine men whom died in its construction.
History
The valley was formerly known as "Happy Valley", said to be from the joyful songs of the Cornish miners who once sought a living here. The name "Silent Valley" dates from the time of the work to build the reservoir.
With Belfast's rapid growth, there was a fast-growing demand for more and more water. The two existing upload water catchments were becoming increasingly insufficient. Local civil engineer, Luke Livingston Macassey was appointed the task of finding a source of water large enough to sustain Belfast. Five potential sites were surveyed in County Down, and County Antrim. Macassey ultimately decided on the Mourne Mountains of South Down for the cleanliness of the water and the high amount of rainfall. Water commissioners securing a 9,000 acre catchment area in the mountains and this area is surrounded by the Mourne Wall, built entirely by hand, taking eighteen years to complete. At the time the catchment was capable of providing some 30 million gallons of water a day, but this was too much.
A scheme was developed and divided into 3 stages:
- The first stage was to divert water from the Kilkeel and Annalong river through pipes to a reservoir near Carryduff. These water pipes were capable of supplying 10 million gallons of water a day.
- The second stage was to build a storage reservoir across the Kilkeel River, after new pipes laid there were able to supply another 10 million gallons of water a day.
- The third stage was planned to be another storage reservoir in Annalong to impound the Annalong River. However, after the difficulties encountered in building the Silent Valley dam the second dam was not built. Instead, in the 1950s, a second dam was built at Ben Crom, further up the Kilkeel river valley. Also a tunnel was driven under Slieve Binnian to bring water to the Silent Valley reservoir from the Annalong river.
The Binnian Tunnel
Between 1947 and 1951 over 150 men drove a tunnel almost two and a half miles long underneath Slieve Binnian. The tunnel was built to carry water from the Annalong valley to the Silent Valley Dam, which had been completed in 1933, 14 years earlier. This was to further supply the growing demands of Belfast's water supply. Two work squads began at each end of the tunnel, and met half way almost 2,600 feet under the mountain. The technology in the day was lacking in every standard, and was led by candlelight. When the two squads met, they were mere inches off. The tunnel measures 8 feet square – and 2¼ miles long. Its entry is at Dunnywater and its exit is on the roadside, a short distance from the visitor's centre. The Binnian Tunnel was officially opened on Thursday, 28 August 1952.
Outside links
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