Major pipeline replacement at High Brunthwaite

Above: Work is under way to replace a collapsing local section of the 155-year-old pipeline which carries water from Barden to Bradford. Beyond the Swartha Wood aqueduct, the pipeline runs above Silsden golf course towards Riddlesden. This picture was taken from near the ninth tee. 

Above: the winding scenic lane uphill from Brunthwaite has become the command centre for the construction site. On behalf of Yorkshire Water, engineering company Bentley is replacing the original local length of pipeline, built of stone from Brunthwaite quarry in the 1850s, with 900 concrete pipes, each 2.5 metres long.  
Above: weather permitting, the new pipeline is due to be in place by early December and all the reinstatement work completed in January. The original gravity-fed pipeline from Barden to Bradford at the time it was built was reportedly the longest raw-water aqueduct in the world, stretching for 30 miles. Silsden reservoir was built in the late 1850s to compensate for water taken from rivers and streams. The pipeline was needed to supply water to Bradford's rapidly increasing population.