Tittesworth Water is owned by Severn Trent Water Ltd and provides public amenities (car park, visitor centre, cafe, children's playground, fishing) but is managed for the benefit of wildlife.
Tittesworth reservoir was first constructed in 1858 by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Works Co to collect water from the River Churnet and provide a reliable source of water for the town of Leek and its textile industries. A new dam was built in 1963, increasing the reservoir's capacity to 6.5 billion gallons.
Water flows into the reservoir from the Upper River Churnet. Most of the water comes from winter floods and the reservoir acts as a huge storage tank, taking water in and out when needed.
The reservoir, is the second largest reservoir by volume in the county of Staffordshire.
Max. length - 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi)
Max. width - 0.6 kilometres (0.37 mi)
Surface area - 760,000 square metres (190 acres)
Water volume - 6,440,000m³ (1.4 billion gallons)
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Water from Tittesworth supplies homes and businesses in parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands, Stoke-on-Trent and Leek.It pumps on average 28 million litres of water a day and has the capacity to provide up to 45 million litres a day.
The visitor centre at the site was built in 1998. It offers tourist information, toilets, a gift shop and The Waterview restaurant. (
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There are two marked routes around Tittesworth, a shorter 1.5 mile route or the longer 5 mile trail.
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There are two hides available for bird watching, one which is wheelchair friendly in the east.
Tittesworth Water Sports and Activity Centre is a family run centre that offers an activities such as, sailing, kayaking, raft building and paddle boarding.
There are plenty of places picnic around the site and a designated BBQ facility near the visitor centre. There is also an outdoor play area suitable for 2-15 year olds, and toilets around the site, including those with disabled and baby changing facilities.
The site is open every day except Christmas Day.
The opening hours of the visitor centre are:
Apr - Sept 10am - 6pm.
Feb, Mar, Oct, 10am-5pm.
Nov, Dec, Jan 10am- 4pm.
The car park at the Visitor Centre is charged at £2.50 for up to two hours or £4.70 for the whole day.
A video of Tittesworth Reservoir can be seen at the following YouTube link: (
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