Newton Water Tower

[DaveT]

That was a really great account, really interesting. It's great to hear peoples actual experiences of these things!

You could post any photos you have within the forum too

[She]

Wow- so impressive. My Dad has accounts of the Water Tower. I will show him these messages and ask him if he can add anything more.

[DH]

Thanks for your nice comments folks, I'm glad you enjoyed the meander down Memory Lane with me. I'll certainly have a look for the photo's as soon as I can - hope you have an idiot's guide for how to put them on here Dave!

[DH]

Hello again
As you can see below I have found my photo's and press cuttings from the mid 70's, these particular pictures were taken in 1979 and show how close the tower was to the houses and what it was like underneath it. There is also a photo showing the partially drained reservoir looking pretty awful just before the demolition began and someone still trying to catch some of the fish before it was too late

[DaveT]

Wow, great post!!! i've been waiting for pictures like that for years! lol Thanks!

A sad end to a great building!!!

[siobhan]

Thanks, i dont recall seeing the reservoir at all, the tower was close to the houses, could you hear anything from the pumps or the tower at all? Thank you very much for the pictures.
Truly a walk down memory lane.

[DH]

I'm delighted to share the photo's with you all, for one thing the number of people who saw the underside of the tower like you can see on that particular photo must be few and far between as it was a bit isolated and not many people got to see the tower and other buildings up close like I did and it would be a shame if the photo's were never seen so I think it is great to be able to put them on here and let other's see them.
You could not hear any noise from the pumps at all Siobhan as they were housed in the building beyond the tower.
Can any of you guys tell me how much land the tower and the buildings, the reservoir and the outdoor baths took up - it seemed a lot of land to me at the time but I wasn't that old and memories play tricks. As well as all the things I've described there were 4 allotments, 3 behind the baths and one larger one at the side and there was also a fair sized patch of land between the tower and the Mr Boydell's field. This last piece of ground was always covered in brambles when I was growing up but there were two curved concrete "tables" built on the land which were probably intended as some sort of protection for the underground piping and tanks if the tower had ever fallen over (presumably if it had been bombed).
Here are a few more even older pictures. This first one gives a bit of an indication what the reservoir was like when it was thriving and when some of the locals held fishing competitions there on Sunday mornings.

This next picture was taken on top of the tower and shows my brother stepping off one of the tank covers mentioned previously. I'll see if I can find a photo which shows the area in better detail

This next picture shows the tower and its outbuildings,when the M6 was being built, from the direction of Castle Hill area - starting on the far left is the building I described as being Dickensian with the garage behind it, then next is the back entrance to the workshops and finally on the far right as you look at the picture is the pump house

This picture is of the foundations to the M6 and was taken from the direction of where the garden centre is now and shows the tower in the distance - an indication of how deep the excavation was is when you see my Dad in the bottom right of the picture leaning on an upright piece of ironwork.


Incidentally while I have been browsing through the press cuttings of the time there was a debate going on as to where St Helens Borough Council was going to put the weather vane from the top of the tower - I kind of get the impression they weren't very interested really - the article also says a commemorative plaque would be laid where the tower stood and to the best of my knowledge that never happened. Does anyone know what happened to the weather vane?

[DaveT]

...where St Helens Borough Council was going to put the weather vane from the top of the tower - I kind of get the impression they weren't very interested really

Funny how St Helens Council's apathy of Newton has always existed... Hopefully somebody can shed light on the wherabouts of this weather vane.

These pictures are amazing, we have a great account of the tower now...from all angles, thanks for sharing !

[DH]

These pictures are amazing, we have a great account of the tower now...from all angles, thanks for sharing !

You're very welcome - glad to have been able to contribute something

[David]

I'm stuck for words! What can you say "unbelievable picys" lovin it.

[bwtas]

I read this thread with great interest. What fantastic photos. Since March 2006 there has been a British Water Tower Appreciation Society. It has over 80 members now. Many are professional water engineers and others who are artists, architecture students, academics and just people who love water towers.

Our next event is on Friday 26th Jan 2007 in Leiston, Suffolk, at the Long Shop Museum at 7PM where Dr. Barry Barton Ph.d will give a lecture on the history of British water towers based on his work and that of the Panel For Historical Engineering of the Institution of Civil Engineers over the last eight years. We have held other events; the first ever water tower art show was a tremendous success and will be repeated in August 2007.

Barry Barton's book 'Water Towers of Britain' Newcomen Press is the first book for about 50 years on water tower history and engineering and it goes into great detail on the Newton le Willows tower. The tower was also photographed by the great industrial photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher in their seminal book 'Wasserturm'. It's a great pity this masterpiece was lost.

I have written a free guide/map to 33 towers in East Anglia which is now in short supply but might still be found at some TICs in Suffolk and Norfolk. Around me there are at least 300 water towers to discover for yourself. In a nutshell, the entire history of architecture and modern civil engineering techniques can be summarised in the development of water towers and so they are worthy of study, let alone their social impact. It's a long story why so little is known about them.

Membership in BWTAS is only £5 for life (for now). Please visit the website www.watertowerproject.org.uk for details on joining. I'm sorry the website is out of date. We would love a volunteer to set us up something - like this forum - to talk about water towers. We started in Suffolk but we hope others will join and take up the cause in their own regions.

PS you can buy BWTAS merchandise at cafepress.

Nat Bocking
Gen. Sec.
BWTAS

[Steven Dowd]

Hi

The book you mention 'Wassertum' seems to have been reprinted recently

Click here

If this is the correct book, there seems to be a few on the abebook website


email me steven.dowd@newton-le-willows.com if you need help setting up a forum

Steven Dowd

[siobhan]

Nat /BWTAS, thank you for adding the website address. I hope the information we have unearthed with this discussion on Newton's Water tower has proved useful to you also.

I found this book by Barry Barton - Water Towers of Britain, chronicling the use and decline of Water towers around Britain. As mentioned above.

http://www.newcomen.com/books.htm#watertowers

Welcome to the site, you will find us a friendly bunch!

[steveperks]

Fantastic info DH.

I remember the tower well as a kid.
What year was it pulled down?

[bwtas]

Hi All,

According to Barry Barton's book, Newton le Willows was the second Hennebique water tower in the UK. The first was in Meyrick Park in Dorset built 1900 but when N le W was built in 1904/5, it became the world's largest water tower at 117 feet high and 300,000 gallons. "It was a whole order of magnitude greater than Meyrick Park" says Barton. The tower was built by the firm Cubitts and had a lot of trouble with leaks, unlike Meyrick Park, and it was declared redundant in 1966 and demolished in 1979. But if you know better, tell the water subcommittee of PHEW at the Institute of Civil Engineers. You can find photos by Bernd and Hilla Becher of N le W water tower on the web but they are copyrighted and I don't think they'll give permisson to post them here as their prints sell for £££ and they're professors at MIT now.