# @wild_history_uk on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DZuVfOZo-Wp
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66798229-wild-history-uk-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a84d4a66f2.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-18T10:34:35.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Wild History Shocking Stories From the Past (@wild_history_uk) — https://gondola.cc/wild_history_uk

## Caption

A crack you could slip a penknife into. Hours later it killed 240 people in their sleep.

In 1864 the brand-new Dale Dyke Dam stood full for the first time above the Loxley Valley near Sheffield. A workman spotted a crack in the embankment and reported it; the chief engineer rode eight miles to inspect it — by then wide enough for a hand — and judged the dam would hold.

Just before midnight it gave way. 650 million gallons swept down the valley. In one cottage a labourer got his wife and six children onto the roof; the water took all eight.

The inquiry blamed a landslip. No one was punished. The warning had been seen in time.

#BritishHistory #ForgottenHistory #Sheffield

## Stats

- **Views:** 2,489
- **Likes:** 200
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 6

## Tags

forgottenhistory, britishhistory, sheffield

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