In 1860, a project was launched for a comprehensive scheme of water supply for the towns of this district; a company was established, and, in the session of 1861, an act of parliament was obtained “for incorporating the Fylde Waterworks Company, and for authorising them to make and maintain waterworks, and to supply water at Kirkham, Lytham, Blackpool, Fleetwood, Poulton, Rossall, Garstang, South-shore, and Bispham, in the county palatine of Lancaster, and to shipping at Fleetwood and Lytham.” The act granted power to take the water from Grizedale Brook, a tributary of the Wyre, which rises in Grizedale Fell, one of the Bleasdale range, and, flowing through the gorge or pass, called Nickey Nook, divides the township of Nether-Wyersdale and Barnacre-with-Bonds, and falls into the Wyre a mile or so before that river reaches Garstang. A dam or embankment, upwards of 20 feet high, 70 feet wide at the base, and 12 feet wide at the top, was raised across the valley, converting the upper portion of it into a reservoir. At the west end of the reservoir, below the embankment, is a culvert, through which the water passes to a guage, where a stipulated quantity is turned into the brook, and the rest enters the pipe for the Fylde. Twelve miles of twelve inch pipes carry the water to the service reservoir at Weeton. The course is down Grizedale, under the railway, through Greenhalgh Green, Bowgrave, leaving Garstang to the right, then past Catterall Mill, through the grounds of Catterall Hall, and onward to the east of St. Michael’s, through Elswick, to Weeton. The service reservoir, situated on the most elevated ground, called Whitprick Hill, in the township of Weeton, has a diameter at the base of 400 feet, and at the top 468 feet. The embankment is at the base 70 feet in diameter, and 12 feet at the top, with a puddle trench in it, varying from 8 feet 8 inches to 6 feet wide. To the south a 10 inch main takes the supply of water for Kirkham and Lytham; and from the west side a main of similar size takes the water for Fleetwood and Blackpool, the supply for the former place branching off near Great Marton, and going by Bispham and Rossall. The Weeton reservoir was formed capable of containing fifteen million gallons of water. An additional pipe, running from Weeton through Singleton, Skippool, and Thornton, to join the Fleetwood main at Flakefleet, near Rossall, was laid in 1875; and a new reservoir, to hold 190,000,000 gallons, is in course of formation at Barnacre, above Grizedale. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. CONDITION, CUSTOMS, AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PEOPLE.