Everton Water Tower
A magnificent Grade II listed Victorian water tower in Everton, Liverpool, on a site which also includes the former Aubrey Street Pumping Station and 6.5 million gallon reservoir.
See here for a c.1900 map which can be overlaid with a modern map and satellite image. The site, which included the water tower, pumping station and covered reservoir, was bounded by Aubrey Street, Sarah Street, Hodson Place and Margaret Street.
1856 'The New Reservoir at Everton.— The capacious reservoir and noble water tower erected by the Corporation of Liverpool, on land adjoining Audley-street, Everton, are now nearly completed, This is one of three town reservoirs in connection with the works at Rivington, there being one in Toxteth-park and a second at Kensington. The water tower at Everton is 150 feet in height and 257 feet in circumference, and the arches are 38 feet. At the top of the tower is an iron tank, which will contain 230,000 gallons of water, and the reservoir will hold 6,500,000 gallons. It is built of Everton stone, taken from a neighbouring quarry, strongly cemented together, and well laid with asphalte or gastar in the lower courses. The floor is bricked and cemented; the roof up held by iron columns. On the outside is a grassplot, which will, when finished, form a public promenade. These erections have been two years in progress, and will cost about £26,000. The engine house projects from the tank tower. The smoke and escape of steam will be carried up an elegant campanile, which reaches high above the tank tower. The water will be pumped up from the reservoir into the tank by an engine of 28-horse power, having a 3 foot cylinder, and 6-4 stroke. From this elevation the Everton district will be supplied. The contractors for the ironwork are the Haigh Foundry Company, at Wigan; the contractors for the masonry are Messrs. A. and G. Holme, of Liverpool; the water engineer of the Corporation, Mr. Duncan, is the engineer who has designed these noble buildings; the clerk of the works is Mr. Stubbs. A very good engraved view of the Everton reservoir and water tower appears in the last number of the Illustrated Times.— Liverpool Mercury.'
Photograph taken in 1856 during construction here
The height of the campanile was reduced at some point by removing a 'stage'.
The retaining wall of the adjacent covered reservoir is Grade II listed. Built in 1854, it runs for approx. 95 metres along Hodson Place, with a round turret at the east end and an octagonal turret at the west end. It then runs south for 53.5 metres. [1]
Aubrey Street Pumping Station
LIVERPOOL'S WATER SUPPLY. AN INTERESTING INSPECTION.
Fifty years ago the Water Committee of the Liverpool Corporation purchased the undertakings of the private companies who had hitherto furnished the water supply for the city, .... members of the Water Committee, who were engaged in their annual inspection of the pumping stations at Aubrey-street, Green-lane, Prescot, and Dudlow-lane (Wavertree). .... The Aubrey-strert pumping station was the first place visited. It was constructed in 1857 for the purpose of supplying Rivington water to districts that could not be supplied by gravitation from the reservoir at Prescot, and to give a high-pressure supply for the extinction of fires. There is a tank which holds 250,000 gallons, and is supported on strong masonry columns and arches, forming a familiar and striking architectural feature in Everton. On the suggestion of the water engineer and in order to cope with the distribution of Vyrnwy water, a new pumping engine was ordered from Hathorn, Davey and Co, of Leeds. It is a triple expansion vertical rotating-engine, with cylinders of the following dimensions:- 15 inches high pressure, 23 inches intermediate, and low pressure, 38 inches diameter, and 3ft. stroke. It can be driven at various rates of speed to suit the varying demands for water, and there is also an arrangement by which it oan be controlled by the rise and fall of the water in the high-level tank. The expenditure has been £5640, which sum included all the alterations and the removal of the old engine. After the works had been inspected, the party assembled in the new engine room. ....
.... A visit was next paid to the Green-lane Station, which is in good order, and contains what may be considered a "Diamond Jubilee" engine. This was originally erected at the Bootle works, in 1837 and was removed to the Green-lane establishment in 1856. ....'[2]
The original pumping engine was made by George Forrester and Co[3]
The 1896 Hathorn Davey pumping machinery and its performance were described in 'The Engineer' in 1897 [4]. See photos below.
George Watkins photographed the 1896 vertical triple expansion engine in 1955. He recorded that it developed 179 HP at 34 rpm with steam at 140psi. The crankshaft, above the engine, was fitted with two flywheels. The 22" diameter pump rams were below the engine cylinders and worked by the piston tail rods[5]