 Deep Hayes Reservoir was built in 1848 by the Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks Company.The company in 1847 built works to take water from a spring at Wall Grange, up to 1.5 million gallons a day, to supply water to the Potteries; the reservoir compensated for the loss of this water which served mills downstream along the River Churnet.In 1979 problems were found with the structure of the dam, and the Severn Trent Water Authority decided to abandon the reservoir, a new borehole providing the compensating water.