The Vyrnwy Valley

During the 1870s, Liverpool City Council began searching for a suitable site on which to build a new reservoir that could supply water to the ever-expanding local population. George Frederick Deacon (1843 - 1909), Liverpool city engineer, identified Lake Vyrnwy as potential location for such a project. He presented his findings to the Liverpool Corporation on 27th November 1788, and the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks Act was passed by Parliament in 1880. The first stone was laid on 14th July 1881 and the village of Llanwddyn was demolished in the followingg years. In 1892, the first water flowed to the City of Liverpool. This watercolour, along with five other watercolours and an oil painting (also in the Walker Art Gallery collection), were commissioned around 1885 to commemorate the event. They were exhibited at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition in 1885 and purchased by the Walker Art Gallery in the same year. This watercolour is very similar in composition to the oil painting 'Quiet Evening - Vyrnwy Valley', also by Ghent.