[4] The construction of the reservoir flooded the village of West End,[5] which was already largely derelict following the decline of the flax industry.

[6] The remains of a flax mill can be seen at the edge of the reservoir, and more of the village has been revealed at times of drought, such as the summers of 1989 and 1990.

[7] The work to build the reservoir included clearing trees, removing sacred items from the church, and exhuming bodies from the graveyard.

[8][9] The reservoir is the property of Yorkshire Water, which manages it for the benefit of walkers, anglers and wildlife.

[10] In the novel In a Dry Season by the English-born, Canadian-based crime writer Peter Robinson, the fictional village of Hobb's End, flooded by the creation of the Thornfield Reservoir, is exposed during a drought, leading to the discovery of a body.