Civil Engineering Gallery

Colliford Reservoir, St Neot, Cornwall. 1983

View of the newly constructed dam before the reservoir filled with water. The two people are thought be the photographer Charles Woolf and his wife, Phyllis. The reservoir on Bodmin Moor is an embankment construction, completed around the time this photograph was taken in 1983. The dam impounds water from the River St Neot. The reservoir supplies parts of North and South East Cornwall directly and also makes releases to the River Fowey which are treated at Restormel and distributed throughout much of Cornwall. The photograph was taken at the time of the archaeological excavation of the medieval tin works at Stuffle. Photographer: Charles Woolf / Joyce Greenham

© RIC, photographer Charles Woolf

Bridging the Lune JLP01_08_079743

TEBAY, EDEN, CUMBRIA. A view of the construction of the M6 Motorway through the Lune Gorge, showing the building of a bridge across the River Lune, probably the Roger Howe bridge which carries the A685 across the river.
The work on the Lune Gorge section of the M6 Motorway between Killington and Tebay (Junction 37 - Junction 38) was carried out by John Laing Construction Ltd. Work started in October 1967 and the motorway was opened to traffic in October 1970. On this stretch of the M6, 20 bridges and 17 culverts were built across rivers and streams. The Roger Howe bridge is located at the grid reference NY6129602758 and carries the A685 across the River Lune. Continuing along this road is the Lawtland House viaduct which carries the A685 over the M6, see also JLP01/08/079762

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection

Skidding oil tanks JLP01_08_022844

STANLOW OIL REFINERY, STANLOW, ELLESMERE PORT, CHESHIRE. An oil tank being skidded along tracks by two Caterpillar D8 tractors fitted with winches at Stanlow Oil Refinery.
The contract for re-sitting storage tanks at Stanlow Oil Refinery involved the removal of four tanks 650 yards from their original position. Each tank weighed 300 tons and the journey involved one 30 degree turn and two 90 degree turns for each tank. The tanks also had to cross the 25ft wide pipe track, over which a steel bridge with concrete buttresses was constructed in preparation for the journey. The tanks were raised on rails and skidded by tractors fitted with winches

© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection