Footit Peek, Guernsey (1890s)

© Photograph Copyright Dr Carmen Wheatley

Located at N 49.479359° W 2.528773°, in the top corner of the St Clair vinery¹ meadows, on Delancey Hill. This is the only decorated Victorian water tower in Guernsey! Built by Gervase Footit Peek, founder of the Guernsey Press (builder of most of the 19th century vineries in the North part of the island) it is believed that the water tower was built in the 1890s.

The tower was intended to supply the vinery, but it may well also have been used for various households nearby. However, there are an abundance of private wells in the area, as there once were in the nearby Park.

The tower is in a field adjoining Dr Wheatley’s garden — once the home of Footit Peek — and part of the property. With guidance from Guernsey architectural historian, John McCormack, an expert in Channel Islands walls and houses, Dr Wheatley has had the south and east sides restored. The obscuring lime render on the East side has been chiselled away to reveal alternating bands of Cobo Bay pink granite and grey Guernsey granite. The cast iron tank was sandblasted clean and painted in various shades of historic Farrow and Ball off white paints.

© Photograph Copyright Dr Carmen Wheatley

The water source for this tower is not directly beneath it, but from a water reservoir far down the steep hill, below an escarpment, at a place called Waters Rocque, which is at a considerable distance from the vinery. Thus the Tower and area must contain a veritable underground marvel of Victorian hydraulic engineering!!

The Delancey Conservation Committee would like to have this unique water tower registered by Guernsey planners, as a local industrial architectural Monument — there is nothing else like this on Guernsey in this genre. The St Clair Vinery is a Conservation Area — it is an ecological, green and productive space.

---

^{1. The term vinery has been used to describe Guernsey's many acres of glasshouses, since the growing industry began in the latter half of the 19th century with production of grapes, melons, figs, peaches and other exotic fruit for the Victorian dinner table.↩}

Information kindly supplied by:

Dr Carmen Wheatley
Delancey Conservation Committee

Lathockar Water Tower Restored !

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

BWTAS was recently contacted by Martin Tomlinson, who kindly provided information and images of the Lathockar water tower — a tower until then, unknown to BWTAS. Martin had supplied St Andrews in focus magazine, with an article back in July 2013, when the tower was surrounded by trees. An extract that is reproduced here:

The water tower was built over 100 years ago and was erected to provide water to the Lathockar Estate when the manor house existed. The water was provided by a hydraulic ram from Cameron Burn behind Cameron Village Hall, which is still there. Prior to the water tower being built, water was taken manually from Cameron Burn to the manor house. The lady, named Christy Scott, who provided the water lived in a now derelict cottage named Hazelden Cotton in the woods behind Cameron Village Hall.

The water tower and the manor house can clearly be seen on a map from 1894. During WWII a Prisoner of War camp was constructed to the south of the tower, the buildings are still there. The article continues:

After the war, one of the ex prisoners, of the prisoner of war camp behind the tower, from eastern Europe returned to Fife and searched for the tower. Johnny Paul saw this man twice on the roads at Dunino and at Balone. The man also spoke to the foresters wife at Cameron and asked for directions to the tower. A forester used to check the water level periodically in the water tower and on the same day went into the tower and noticed a man there. He spoke to the man who didn’t answer. The forester noticed that the man’s feet were not on the floor. The man had committed suicide by hanging himself in the tower. Apparently the man had travelled from eastern Europe for this sole purpose.

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

Now the tower is a marvellous feature on the skyline, restored to its original glory by Nivens — the developer who is building 13 houses on the site. "Well done" we say, for understanding the heritage of the tower. Prior to this intervention, the tower was in very poor shape with trees encroaching, some fallen on to it and threatened with demolition! This is despite the water tower being registered as an Ancient and Historical Monument — see here.

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

Click on pictures for a larger image… The tower is located at NO 48927 10889.

Ferrers

Water tower plans lead to Poole hot water

From the Bournemouth Echo:

Ashley Road traders' anger over car park plans leads to further scrutiny

12:00pm Monday 7th October 2013 in News By Diana Henderson

Richard Wilson, far left, with other traders

RESIDENTS and traders’ fears that they may lose a crucial car park in Poole will be scrutinised by a council committee.

A massive petition signed by 1,136 people was presented by Richard Wilson, chairman of Ashley Road Traders Association, to Borough of Poole, opposing proposals by Wessex Water over the Mansfield Road car park.

The water company owns the decommissioned Grade II listed Victorian water tower and car park and is working on plans to convert the tower into two flats and build eight new homes with parking on the surrounding car park.

Under the lease Borough of Poole would be given 12 months notice to vacate the site and this has not been served – however the nearby surgery, whose patients use the car park, and residents are fearful for the future.

“It will also have a severe effect on the traders who rely on the car park – if you start taking that away you start to lose trade,” said Mr Wilson.

“It’s totally unacceptable they want to take it away after it’s been there so many years.”

The car park has 52 spaces and in a report Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services, said existing budgets would not enable the council to buy the site.

Cllr Brian Clements, chairman of the economy overview and scrutiny committee put forward an amendment which was agreed, for his committee to look at the potential impact of any closure and to consider any possible mitigation.

He said the work the traders association was doing to support and regenerate the area was very important and he understood their dismay. They are also objecting to the possible loss of parking spaces outside shops in Ashley Road.

“The western section of the shopping area is more reliant on passing trade from motorists than other areas and there is great concern amongst traders and their customers alike as evidenced by the extraordinary level of support for the petition,” he said.

A spokesman for Wessex Water has said they are in the early stages of investigating how to restore and re-use the water tower. “We will be listening to the views of local people and discussing any concerns about local parking provision with the council.

--

A flickr collection of images can be found here
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/alwyn_ladell/sets/72157632971924113/

--

The 1995 Grade II listing says:

"Water tower. Late C19. For Dorset Water Board. Red brick with white brick dressings, some limestone and terracotta dressings, with cast-iron tank and other ironwork. Square plan. 3-stage tower with 2-bay sides, carrying a cast-iron tank. Tower has battered plinth of red brick in English bond with 2 recessed bands of paler red brick and limestone roll moulding to top of plinth; broken by round-headed doorway to rear (regarding street elevation as front). Sides are divided into 2 bays by giant white brick pilaster strips to angles and centre of each side. Pilaster strips have tall, thin sunk panels of red brick with round-arched heads, and bands of red brick above, defining "capitals". Round arches of white brick join pilaster strips and frame 3 tiers of tall iron-framed windows with round-arched heads of white brick, except to rear which is windowless; dentilled brick string courses at stage levels within giant arches. Large terracotta paterae to spandrels of arches joining pilaster strips and round-arched corbel frieze. Cast-iron brackets between arches of corbel frieze support iron railing and timber deck of walkway round base of tank, directly below corbel frieze. Tank has pattern of 7 square panels in 3 tiers, framing circle joined to courses by diagonals. Central circle to street side frames medallion lettered round rim JOHN ABBOT & CO GREENHEAD-ON-TYNE and in centre LIMITED 1884. INTERIOR not inspected."

An article about the near-identical twin Broadstone Water Tower at http://www.broadstone.net/archive/resassoc2002summer/12.htm says:

"In 1859, Board of Trade records show approval of a scheme to satisfy the immediate needs of Poole and Parkstone. Poole Water Co. were granted permission to construct a scheme which collected surface water from gathering grounds in the Lilliput area, lifting the water to a new water tower in Mansfield Road, Parkstone, via a steam pumping plant. Today Parkstone Water Tower is not used as part of the modem distribution infrastructure but is preserved as a Grade II listed building. Poole's demands were further supplemented by similar gathering grounds to the south west of the Shah of Persia public house, with the water distributed via mains laid in Longfleet Road and North Road, linking with the gathering grounds established at Alderney Brickworks via Old Wareham Road. ... 

Consisting of a mass concrete foundation, mass brickwork base and column surmounted by a cast iron sectional tank, the tower stands 50 ft tall from ground level to the base of the cast iron tank and typifies Victorian engineering - functional, efficient and decorative. ... Although no records of the tower's construction have been found to date by this author, a conservative calculation estimates the number of bricks in the structure to be around 400,000, most probably of local manufacture. The tower is served by an internal timber stairway giving access to an external gantry at tank level with all rising and falling mains contained within a central structural shaft. The cast iron storage tank has a capacity of 270,000 litres or 60,000 gallons, sufficient for the average daily supply of approximately 2,000 people at present day consumption rates. At the time of their construction both the tank and ground level reservoir were open topped, a feature which inevitably degraded water quality and necessitated frequent skimming and cleaning to remove debris."

Nigel Martin, Distribution Manager, Wessex Water.

Eins, Zwei, Dry...

Kerry and Chris Hones are a British couple who possess a trio of extraordinary water towers situated in Nennig on the border of Luxembourg and Germany built around 1870. They found them as a complete ruin and have spent many years renovating them, keeping as many original features as possible, including a shaft into something that looked like a strong room which has become the cat flap. They admit they are nowhere near finished with the project but do what they can when they can.


Nennig sits right in the corner of Luxembourg, Germany and France and the Moselle area is stunning. BWTAS members visiting Luxembourg are invited to come and take a look. Kerry says the wine tasting is to be recommended!

They tell us they have had their share of successes and mistakes along the way but "it is such an individual project we have had to learn as we go." By contacting BWTAS they hope someone will come up with some interesting information about the tower as all the local archives were destroyed in 1945 during WWII. One of the towers looks very similar to the Settle renovation tower though theirs have been added to  over the years and one is now three stories high. Kerry says with justified satisfaction; "It has been a labour of love, immensely hard work and has involved doing many kinds of work I would never of dreamed I could do. He reflects that "too much Kevin McCloud can get you into all sorts of unexpected projects. We have become known locally as the Mad English Couple!"


If you can help, please get in touch with them at khones@pt.lu

Tiger Hunt in Harrogate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/muddy-landrover/5248501927/ 

Tiger Aspect, producers of Channel 4 television's Restoration Man are looking into the historic background of the water tower on Drury Lane in Pannal, North Yorkshire and are not having much luck with finding out its history.

Their interest is piqued by a planning application to convert the tower to a dwelling, providing 4 bedrooms over 3 floors and a ground floor mezzanine with windows inserted in existing recesses in the south elevation and a ground floor window to the west elevation.

Any knowledge from BWTAS members or readers would be gratefully received by researcher Dionne Farley. Please contact her at:
Tiger Aspect Productions Limited
4th Floor, Shepherds Building Central, London W14 0EE 
0207 529 9496

Park Road, Aldeburgh, Suffolk: Planning applications update

Built for a speculative land development that never happened and not as many presume for the Aldeburgh Hospital, Priors Hill Water Tower in Park Road has been disused since the 1980's. Northumbrian Water sold the tower at auction in 2007 for £407,000.

It's a great example, probably the finest locally, of an estate tower. Few 'public' water towers of this era anywhere else can match it for the quality of detailing and its aesthetic appeal.

Now in the possession of a Hertfordshire pharmacist, two planning applications have been made recently for conversion of the Grade II listed structure into a pair of flats. Naturally neighbours that were unconcerned about an uninhabited structure overlooking their property are now anxious about privacy and light pollution from the apetures cut into the facade and the additional cupola spoiling their vistas and so are mustering support for objections which have to be made by April 8th, 2011.

Further details see the original BWTAS blog post.

Endemol TV appeal for derelict historic homes

Endemol, the makers of the original BBC series ‘Restoration’ are in production for a new BBC Two series ‘Restoration Home’ and have asked BWTAS for help in locating perhaps a water tower to feature in this new series. They told BWTAS:

‘Restoration’ concentrated on some of our most wonderful, publicly-owned, built heritage, which was at risk of being lost to us forever unless something was done. Now the BBC has asked us to once again explore our nation’s wonderful built heritage, in the new series ‘Restoration Home’, which will feature historically and architecturally important buildings being lovingly restored by their private owners.

Each show will chart the restoration process by the owners of one house, as they restore their home to its former glory. Much as the original series, we’ll bring the property to life, setting it in its cultural and historic context. This is a major aspect of each show and will be interwoven with the restoration.  At the same time, we’ll be looking at the different stages of its architectural styles. The house may have different additions over time, and each one of these will reveal important social and historical developments. The restoration process will bring to light the difficult decisions about what ought to be saved and what can be sacrificed to make way for a 21^st century home.

Following is the press release:

REMARKABLE TELEVISION ARE PRODUCING A NEW SERIES FOR BBC2

ARE YOU SAVING OUR BUILT HERITAGE?

All over the country, there are spectacular historic properties that are at risk of being lost forever.  These buildings are part of our identity; they are the portals of our history, the keepers of our past. Without our protection we’ll not only be losing bricks and mortar, but their histories as well.

We would like to find owners of derelict, historic homes for a new BBC television series, and follow them as they save these architectural gems from ruin and restore them into wonderful 21^st century homes, whilst turning detective to unravel the properties’ extraordinary lives.

What secrets do these houses hold? What events happened?  Who lived there over generations?  How was the property used?

The restoration process will bring to light the difficult decisions about what ought to be saved and what can be sacrificed to make way for a 21^st century home.  How tough is it to balance sympathy for the past with the needs of modern day living?

At the end of it all, we’ll see an important historical property saved from dereliction and brought back to life to become a wonderful home once more.

If you are renovating a property, are interested in being part of the series and want to discover more about its structural and social history, please call 03335 777 740 or e-mail homes@endemoluk.com with your name and a few details of your property. (Calls from landlines are charged at your service providers national or local rate and mobile costs may vary)