Carisbrooke Reservoir in WWI

  Sid took Bob and Aggie for a walk through Carisbrooke.

 

On the High Street, at the bottom of the village is the waterworks.

The waterworks is next to Clatterford Brook. Within a mile to the west of the waterworks, the brook is crossed by no less that 3 fords. The brook is also linked to the famous well of Carisbrooke Castle (read about Sid's visit to the castle at https://sidthescout.blogspot.com/2022/09/carisbrooke-castle.html).

"Let's take a selfie," said Sid, "then I'll tell you the story of Carisbrooke Reservoir.....

 

 I'm not quite sure where, but there used to be a reservoir near here.

At the beginning of WWI, in 1914 Scouts were drafted in to help guard valuable installations.

One Scout was tasked to protect Carisbrooke Reservoir. Like the Scouts in the photos, he marched around the site carrying his Scout Staff.

A man came up to the gate and went to open it. The Scout told him to go away. The man got quite irate, demanding entry, saying that he was the manager of the waterworks. The Scout told the man that as he was not personally known by him, he could not let him in. The man had to go and get the Scoutmaster to verify his identity, although he did compliment him on his diligence.

Although, said Sid, I wonder how he could have physically stopped the man if he had tried violence.