MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO)

MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO), BALKERNE PASSAGE

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Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1123669
Date first listed:: 02-Dec-1971
List Entry Name:: MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO)
Statutory Address:: MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO), BALKERNE PASSAGE

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Date:: 2004-07-27
Reference:: IOE01/12934/24
Rights:: © Mr Brian Martin. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1123669
Date first listed:: 02-Dec-1971
List Entry Name:: MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO)
Statutory Address 1:: MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO), BALKERNE PASSAGE

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: MUNICIPAL WATER TOWER (JUMBO), BALKERNE PASSAGE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Essex
District:: Colchester (District Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TL 99321 25182

Details

584/4/424 BALKERNE PASSAGE 02-DEC-1971 Municipal Water Tower (Jumbo)

II*

Water Tower. Dated 1882 and opened 1883. Charles Clegg C.E. Borough Surveyor and Engineer. Red Brick with iron water tank. Approx. 110 feet high in Romanesque Revival 'Campanile' style. Square plan. 4 corner piers with flared coursed bases and corner pilasters with coved capitals. Piers have flying buttresses and pipes to the inside. Connecting each pier is a tall rounded arch (approx. 70 feet high) with moulded architrave. Above these, a course of brackets link the pilaster capitals, above which a second course of brackets are directly below the cast iron water tank. Copper pyramid roof capped by lantern and weather vane. Decorative cast iron spiral stair in roof. Central service pier with flared coursed base. Arched entrance to service tower with deep moulded terra cotta surround. Above this, a terra cotta plaque that reads 'WATER TOWER 1882'. Small arched openings to each storey of core tower, blind to north and south and open to east and west. Stone dedication plaque reads 'BALKAN WATER TOWER This edifice was dedicated to the public use on the 27th date of September 1883'. HISTORY: The Balkerne Water Tower, commonly known as 'Jumbo,' was built on a site adjacent to the early-C19 reservoir. In 1882 the town waterworks were taken over by the Corporation who built the Water Tower that was opened in 1883. Construction required 1.25 million bricks and 142 tons of iron to support he tank that can hold 230,000 gallons of water. It was decommissioned in the 1980s and permission had been granted for a residential conversion scheme at the time of reassessment (2003). SOURCES: Crosby, Tony. The Public Water Supply in Essex 1850-1939. Essex County Council, 1999.

A monumental water tower of 1883 in a Romanesque Revival style that references the Grade I Roman ruins at its feet.

Listing NGR: TL9932125182

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 116859
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.