The Victorians who built this reservoir lived in an age of upheaval and transformation. Rapid industrialisation, scientific discovery, and new engineering marvels changed not only how people lived but how they imagined the world. It was an era that prized spectacle: panoramas, magic lantern shows, and early cinema offered mass audiences vivid experiences that went far beyond the printed page or spoken word. For the first time, storytelling escaped its traditional formats and became a mediated, technological spectacle — a foreshadowing of the immersive media we experiment with today.

Alongside their enthusiasm for innovation, Victorians were fascinated by the supernatural. In a society increasingly sceptical of organised religion, ghost stories, séances, and Gothic literature filled the void, reflecting both fear and excitement at the unknown. That tension — between rational science and irrational belief — gave rise to a culture that thrilled in narratives of spirits, monsters, and mysterious forces.