The Stonehouse Leat was never ideal as a source of water due to the low gradient along its length. By 1833 the demand for water was increasing due to expanding housing and, in an attempt to meet the demand, some open-ditch sections of the Stonehouse Leat were replaced with lead pipes. In 1860, it was decided to construct a storage and a supply reservoir to augment the water flow. They were located in the area of the park now known as Reservoir Field and the remains of the walls can still be seen.
In practice, the reservoirs were too low down to be effective and they became disused by 1892. They were restored during the first world war for emergency use and during the second world war for fire-fighting.
Sizeable pools remained in the reservoirs after the war and Alan Foster has provided this description. Another local resident, Celia Bean, recalls catching tadpoles in the disused reservoirs as a child. https://soundcloud.com/fotonowcic/central-park-reservoirs
In 1972, the reservoirs were filled in to make a football pitch. The ground level was raised again in 2023 when spoil from the sustainable drainage system was spread across part of the field.
