silent valley kilkeel northern ireland

The Silent Valley is an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Park is surrounded with breathtaking countryside, to the east Craggy Binnian, to the west the Cliffs of Slievenag Lough, and to the north Doon and Ben Crom.
At the turn of the 19th century water supplies in Belfast were low, this was due to Belfast's growing population and sudden industrialisation. To relieve this growing problem two upland water catchments were developed, however these catchments were unable to sustain water supplies for the area.
So with commendable foresight, the commissioners decided to carry out investigations with the aim of discovering, "a new sustainable area from which a plentiful supply of pure water might be obtained", to take them into the 20th century.
To find this source of water a distinguished local civil engineer, Mr Luke Livingstone McCassey was appointed. Five likely sites were surveyed in Down and Antrim. Following his investigations McCassey favoured the Mournes.
The Mournes were chosen primarily for their natural supply of pure water, which was a result of rainfall in the area. The area was also free from pollution and industry, which is of paramount importance when looking for a water source.
When the water commissioners identified the high Mournes as a suitable source for providing clean water, to an ever-expanding Belfast. Their plans included a wall to surround the 9000 acre, catchment area. The wall is now known as the Mourne Wall and it is said to be, "a monument to the skill of the men who built it".
The Mourne wall stands up to 8 feet high on average and it is 3 feet wide. The wall stretches for 22 miles and runs over the highest peaks in the Mournes. Work began in 1904 and finished in 1922 taking a total of 18 years to build.
The proposed area was capable of supplying 30 million gallons of water per day, as there wasn't a need for so much water the scheme was divided into 3 stages.
The first stage was to divert the water from the Kilkeel and Annalong rivers through pipes to a new reservoir near carryduff. These two rivers would be able to supply 10 million gallons of water per day.
The second stage was to build a storage reservoir across the Kilkeel River. Then pipes were to be laid to supply another 10 million gallons of water per day.
The third stage was to build a second storage reservoir in Annalong to impound the Annalong River.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• silent
• valley
• kilkeel
• northern
• ireland
• mournes
• mourne
• belfast
• newry
• hilltown
• atticall
• dam
• senic

[ncrawford1221]

im from kilkeel!!!!!!!!!! silent valley is so peaceful once your there

[almepanes]

very nice song about the mourne mountains my girlfriends parents came to england looking for gold but unfortunately they never returned to ireland. ireland is a fantastic country with very warm and hospitable people

[TheCucuWilson]

We're The Wilsons living, in Bali Indonesia, my husband is also called David Wilson. His father was called Tommy Wilson from Kilkeel, brother of David Wilson; their father was also called David and he owned the fishing boat the Mary Joseph. We now live in Bali, but my husband grew up in Annalong.

[sayno2lolzisback]

@krislundberg you may as well ask the locals, im sure theyl be happy to help!

[mrnatty122]

My dad worked on spelga dam when it was build in the 50s.A great bit of engineering from John Laing

[krislundberg]

Hi, this a beautiful tribute. My long awaited dream for visiting the.valley came trye last summer. I'm coming back to county down and spending atleast a week there. I've written a screenplay about the Irish War of Independence and am looking to write a companion piece on the families of the builders of the valley. Do you have any suggestions on how I might best contact the families to talk with them more extensively about their experiences? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thx.

[DinoDoesStuff]

A great walk to Ben Crom dam and back. Nice!

[wendy1234561]

this is were i went today,truely beautiful,so peaceful

[wet1wheat]

ever since duke of edinburgh i don't like the silent valley.

[686204]

My grandfather along with my father came from Kilkeel back in the early 1900's. His Bother David Wilson lived there all his life. Any related Wilson's from this area around?