History of the Alton Water

Alton Water Reservoir. © Ed Maxwell - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Alton Water was built in the 1970s to alleviate water shortages in the Ipswich area. The heavy clay in the area made a particularly appropriate base for a new reservoir.

The sites of Alton Hall and Alton Mill were drowned by the advance of the waters. Alton Mill was dismantled and has since been re-erected at the Stowmarket Museum of East Anglian Life.