The Silent Valley Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Mourne Mountains near Kilkeel, County Down in Northern Ireland. It supplies most of the water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of Belfast. It is owned and maintained by Northern Ireland Water Limited. The reservoir was built between 1923 and 1933 by a workforce of over 1,000 men, nine of whom died during construction.
Silent Valley Reservoir
Panorama of the Silent Valley Reservoir
The Mourne Mountains, also called the Mournes or Mountains of Mourne, are a granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountains in Northern Ireland, the highest of which is Slieve Donard at 850 m (2,790 ft). The Mournes are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it has been proposed to make the area Northern Ireland's first national park. The area is partly owned by the National Trust and sees many visitors every year. The Mourne Wall crosses fifteen of the summits and was built to enclose the catchment basin of the Silent Valley and Ben Crom reservoirs.
View of the Mournes from Murlough Nature Reserve
The Mourne Wall on Slieve Donard, looking west
The eastern Mournes seen from Annalong Wood
Mourne Wall on Slieve Bearnagh