These pages were originally published in 1910 by the Holmfirth Express and subsequently reissued as a limited edition in 1991 by Stanley F. Dickinson.

We have also obtained copies of a map from around the time of the Holmfirth flood and sections of it are included on the relevent pages. For a full map click here (NB 80Kb)

1. THE HOLMFIRTH FLOOD

2. HOLMFIRTH & THE HOLME VALLEY IN 1852

3. WHY THE HOLME RESERVOIRS WERE CONSTRUCTED

4. THE CONSTRUCTION OF BILBERRY RESERVOIR

5. THE RESERVOIR BEFORE THE FLOOD

6. ANXIETY AS TO THE RESERVOIR

7. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE FLOOD

8. THE EMBANKMENT GIVES WAY

9. BILBERRY MILL

10. BILBERRY BRIDGE & UPPER DIGLEY MILL

11. DIGLEY MILL

12. STATEMENT OF WITNESSES 1

13. STATEMENT OF WITNESSES 2

14. STATEMENT OF WITNESSES 3

15. BANK END MILL

16. HOLMEBRIDGE

17. THE COFFIN AND REMAINS OF A GROWN MAN

18. HINCHLIFFE MILL - A GREAT LOSS OF LIFE

19. JAMES METTRICK'S STATEMENT

20. BOTTOMS MILL

21. POGSON’S FOUNDRY, VICTORIA MILL, AND DYSON’S MILL

22. SANDFORD’S MILL

23. UPPER MILL & LOWER MILL

24. SCARFOLD

25. UPPERBRIDGE AND HOLLOWGATE

26. HOLMFIRTH

27. THONGSBRIDGE, MYTHOLMBRIDGE, HONLEY

28. ESTIMATED DAMAGE TO PROPERTY

29. COLLECTING THE DEAD

30. THE SUNDAY AFTER THE FLOOD

31. THE INQUEST

32. WIDESPREAD SYMPATHY AND MUNIFICENT SUBSCRIPTIONS

DIGLEY RESERVOIR, WHICH REPLACED BILBERRY DAM

On the 5^th of February, 1852, there occurred in this district one of the direst calamities upon record, when Bilberry Reservoir burst its banks, and spread death and destruction for miles down the Holme Valley. 

Up to that year, it may be safely affirmed, nothing more terrific and destructive had ever happened in England. 

This calamity attracted at the time the attention of the whole nation, and aroused the benevolent sympathy of all classes, from the Queen on the throne to the humblest persons in the realm who had a heart to feel for the sufferings of their fellow men.

To the older inhabitants of the district, this republication of the details of that calamity will prove somewhat interesting, but we anticipate that it will be more so to a younger generation, who have heard only disconnected incidents, from time to time, from the lips of their fathers or grandfathers.

Before proceeding with the details of this truly melancholy catastrophe, it may be convenient, and will materially facilitate the reader’s comprehension of the narrative, if we give some preliminary particulars respecting Holmfirth, its population, its trade, and the construction of the three reservoirs, named respectively; The Holmestyes, Boshaw Whams, and Bilberry, the bursting of the latter being the cause of such a great loss of life and destruction to valuable property.