Queen Mary Sailing Club Live Cam

History

The origins of the Queen Mary Reservoir trace back to the early 20th century, when rapid urban expansion in west London created unprecedented demand for potable water. Conceived as part of the Metropolitan Water Board’s ambitious scheme to secure water supply for a growing metropolis, construction began in 1925 on farmland near the village of Ashford. Engineers selected the London Clay subsoil for its low permeability, ensuring that the new impoundment would retain water with minimal leakage. Over four years, thousands of laborers, many living in purpose-built camps on-site, excavated over 12 million cubic meters of earth to form the reservoir’s basin.

In 1931, Queen Mary herself inaugurated the facility, lending her name to what would become one of Europe’s largest service reservoirs. At full capacity, the embankment walls stand up to 20 meters high, stretching over 3.5 kilometers in circumference. The central lining comprises puddled clay and asphaltic membranes laid in overlapping layers, a technique refined from canal-building practice but adapted for modern water retention. Embedded within the embankments are inspection galleries—tunnels running the length of the dam face, allowing engineers to monitor seepage and inspect structural condition.