The Wraysbury Reservoir is a water supply reservoir for London lying just west of the M25 near the village of Wraysbury. The reservoir was begun in 1967 and completed by W. & C. French in 1970 with a capacity of 34,000 million litres.

The reservoir is owned and operated by Thames Water and 400 million litres of water are pumped daily from an inlet at Datchet on the River Thames. A neighbouring reservoir is the King George VI Reservoir, opened in 1947, which is supplied from Hythe End. To keep grass on the reservoir short and make inspections easier, Thames Water maintains a flock of sheep on the earthen banks.

Wraysbury Reservoir, excluding its embankment, 2.05 square kilometres (0.79 sq mi) has been designated since 1999 as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Its citation reads:

The SSSI is close to another in Berkshire resultant from gravel extractions at Wraysbury.

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Coordinates: 51°27′29″N 0°33′07″W / 51.458°N 0.552°W / 51.458; -0.552

Wraysbury is a village and civil parish on the east (left) bank of the River Thames, about midway between Windsor and Staines, and 18 miles (29 km) west by south-west of London. Until 1974 it was in the county of Buckinghamshire. It was administered by Berkshire County Council between 1974 and 1998, and now by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead; however the Wraysbury Reservoir is in the Spelthorne district of Surrey.

History

Investigation by Windsor and Wraysbury Archaeological Society of a field in the centre of Wraysbury to the east of St Andrew's Church revealed evidence of human activity in Neolithic times. Many hundreds of flint artefacts were found and are now in the care of the Windsor Museum collection.

The village name was traditionally spelt Wyrardisbury; it is Anglo Saxon in origin and means 'Wïgrǣd's fort'. Its name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wirecesberie and as Wiredesbur in 1195. The name is seen again as Wyrardesbury in 1422.