B.W.T.A.S. @ Chelmsford Waterworks

Essex Industrial Heritage Fair: Saturday, October 5^th 2019

Chelmsford Corporation Water Works, now Sandford Mill

Chelmsford Corporation purchased the Sandford Mill site (a water powered corn mill) in 1923 for their new waterworks. Water was taken from both the River Chelmer and a borehole, then treated before being pumped to Galleywood reservoir, where it was available to the city's inhabitants. The capacity of the waterworks was expanded in the 1950s with the construction of a new dedicated filter house and various pumping houses and storage tanks. Two million gallons of water a day could be treated at Sandford Mill when it was at it's peak. But by the 1980s, the waterworks at Sandford Mill had become redundant, replaced by the new larger waterworks nearby, that was able to pump more water.^‡

This is the venue for the Essex Industrial Heritage Fair on Saturday, October 5^th 2019, and the British Water Tower Appreciation Society will be there!   BWTAS has again teamed up with the local Balkerne Tower Trust in order to have a stand at this event. Entry and parking are both Free!!! The programme for the event includes five talks and there will be around 20 societies with display stands. Directions to Sandford Mill may be found here. The event runs from 10:00am – 4:00 pm.

The BWTAS stand will have our new display boards and our new A3 information leaflets available… We will also have copies of “Water Towers of Britain”, by Society President, Dr. Barry Barton, for sale at £7·50.  Also, Brian Light from Balkerne Tower Trust will have copies of his recently released book on Jumbo — Colchester's iconic water tower, for sale. “It is an excellent publication – a cleverly balanced combination of the academic and the popular.” Dr. D M J Barton.

Pop along to say “Hi” and pick up a copy of our new leaflet and perhaps buy a book or two and solve those Christmas present problems… I'll be there to try to answer any water tower questions that you may have… and judging by the Basildon Fair in 2017 it'll be an informative and enjoyable day.

Looking forward to seeing you there,
Ferrers

^{‡ Extract from Chelmsford City Museum Sandford Mill: The History} ↩