Rudyard Lake is a reservoir located in the lakeside village of Rudyard, to the northwest of the market town of Leek in Staffordshire County in England. The Lake was built in 1797-98 by the Scottish civil engineer John Rennie, as a feeder reservoir to provide water for the Caldon Canal. The Rudyard Lake is considered the largest straight-stretch of water outside the Lake District in England.
Geography

Attractions

Brief History
The construction of the Rudyard Lake/reservoir began in 1797 when an Act of Parliament authorized the construction of a 3.2km long reservoir, just to the north of the Leek Town in the Moorlands of Staffordshire County. The main purpose of the reservoir was to provide water for the growing system of canals that formed the vital routes for the Industrial Revolution in the Midlands. Rudyard Lake Railway On June 26, 1846, the British Railway Company – the North Staffordshire Railway, took over the Trent and Mersey Canal Company as well as the lake and began the construction of the North Staffordshire Railway. The Railway Company laid a track on one side of the lake as a part of the route for the Churnet Valley Line that ran between Macclesfield and Uttoxeter. A station was built at each end of the lake, one at the Rudyard village and the other one at the lake’s northern end named Rudyard Lake. The station at Rudyard village was named Rudyard Lake and the Rudyard Lake Station was renamed as Cliffe Park. During the 19th century, the Rudyard Lake became a popular tourist destination attracting several tourists and day-trippers, who easily accessed the lake using the newly built North Staffordshire Railway.
According to a legend, the Rudyard village was named in the honor of Ralph Rudyard who is believed to have killed Richard III, the King of England at the Battle of Bosworth. The banks of the Rudyard Lake served as the meeting place of the couple John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald. It is believed that the couple loved the scenic lake and named their first-born son ‘Rudyard’ after the lake. Their son Rudyard Kipling eventually went on to become one of the greatest English writers. The lake also served as the place where Matthew Webb, who was the first person to swim across the English Channel, came to demonstrate his swimming skills in the lake; and also, the famous “African Blondin” who entertained the crowds by walking over a tightrope across the lake. This extremely popular tourist destination was also referred to as the “Blackpool of the Potteries”.