I’ve taken photographs of what remains of the village of West End before, but I’ve never visited Thruscross Reservoir when the waters have been so low. Thruscross reservoir was commissioned in 1966 and many of the buildings and walls that made up the village of West End were submerged as the waters rose, though the village itself had long been abandoned, all bar the church that is. A few buildings still remain above the water line, but last week the waters had subsided to reveal an old dam, drystone walls, remains of buildings with fireplaces still intact and what would appear to be the workings of the old mills that once filled the valley. The water trickling over the revealed dam wall is the River Washburn.

I took these photographs on a very old square format Lubitel camera using a 200 ISO film. I’d also downloaded an light meter app onto my phone which seems to have worked pretty well.

If the dry weather continues it might be worth going back to see what else has emerged from below the waterline.