Elan dam's centenary celebrated

The dams were opened by King Edward VII in 1904

The centenary of one of Britain's great Victorian engineering triumphs which cost the lives of more than 100 workers is to be marked.

The anniversary of the 1904 opening of the Elan dam network in mid Wales by King Edward VII takes place in July.

A series of events to celebrate a century of a Welsh water supply to the people of Birmingham are being organised.

Construction of the four dams and reservoirs started in 1893 and involved a total of 50,000 people.

It cost a mammoth £6m and more than 100 workers were killed during the building work.

More than 100 people in the valley also had to move to make way for the dams. Three manor houses, 18 farms, a school and a church were demolished.

The Elan Valley reservoirs supply the city of Birmingham

The project was carried out by Birmingham Council to provide a source of clean, safe, water for the growing population and industries of the city.

Now a number of celebrations are planned for the 100th anniversary of the dam's opening.

"The dam is a great engineering achievement and hasn't needed much maintenance over the years," said Rob Andrew of Welsh Water's Elan Valley Countryside Rangers.

"Our budget for the celebrations is £10,000 and we are now waiting to see if grant applications for projects have been successful."

A statue of a dam worker has already been commissioned by artist Deborah Leeton-Bunker of Argoed Mill, near Rhayader.

'Sacrifices'

"Although there are plenty of pictures of people involved with building the dam, there aren't many of the thousands of Irish navigators that worked on the scheme," she said.

"They made huge sacrifices during the dam's construction.

"So it is important that we commemorate their lives by putting up a statue in their honour."

Her life-sized statue will be modelled in clay and cast in fibre glass and cement and will stand on a plinth of stone.

An exhibition based on the building of the reservoirs and dams will be held at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre which attracts 170,000 people a year.

The Elan Valley reservoirs send 360 million gallons of water a day along the 70-mile long pipeline to Birmingham, parts of Radnorshire and south Wales.