Water Tower

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding concrete water tower, built 1936, located to the south side of Cranny Road. Tower consists of circular plinth surmounted by openwork reinforced concrete frame supporting octagonal concrete water tank.

Circular plinth is in-situ cast board-marked concrete; double-leaf vertically sheeted timber access doors to west in projecting square-headed rebated concrete surround; plinth terminated at door height by stepped concrete coping. Smooth concrete openwork frame supporting tank; concrete platforms at each level internally; access via steel ladder; surmounted by octagonal base to board-marked tank with vertical concrete ribs; octagonal concrete cover.

Setting:-
The water tower is set within the grounds of Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital, to the south of the main hospital building (HB11/15/004A); immediate context contains various nineteenth century buildings and twentieth century outbuildings and shelters; Roman Catholic chapel (HB11/15/004C) to west.

Roof Concrete
Walling Reinforced concrete
Windows N/A
RWG uPVC

Historical information

The water tower in the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital complex was built in 1936 (McKinley, p.78). At the time, the complex was 246 acres and contained several farms. Building had begun with the construction of the main building in 1848 to 1853. The complex was extended in the 1860s, 1890s and 1970s. The tower first appears circular-on-plan on a 1940 estate map, captioned “TYRONE & FERMANAGH MENTAL HOSPITAL.”

The water tower had a capacity of 350,000 gallons and was built on a loan of £3,600. Once completed, the tower’s large capacity and height allowed water to get to the upper storeys of the hospital for the first time. (McKinley)

The hospital had long had water supply problems and as recently as 1929 when fire drills were reported to be carried out monthly, there was no water in the event of an actual fire. The first record of a well occurs in 1885, which “was sunk to 64 feet and standby pumps installed;” additional pumps were installed in 1906 and six years later an air compressor was installed to pump the water from the 187-foot-deep wells but these proved inadequate by 1924 even with the augmentation from town supplies. Apart from well water, and on occasion the availability from town supplies, the River Camowen was the principal supply However, in 1907 because sewage from the sewage system, completed in 1899, was piped directly into the Camowen River, drinking water had to be purified. A new sewage works had been completed by 1914. (McKinley, p.63, 70,71, 73, 74-5).

The first concrete structure on the hospital grounds was recorded in 1914 when a “concrete landing stage was built for the ferry boat which was pulled back and forth using a chain to facilitate patients and staff to cross the river as required;” this “ferry had become redundant” by 1936. (McKinley, p.71).

References:

Secondary Sources

1. McKinley, Robert. “Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital: A Chronological History” in Haldane Mitchell, ed. Images of Omagh and District. Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999, pp64-83.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A freestanding water tower, built 1936, located to the south side of Cranny Road within the grounds of Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital. The tower is a large structure with a prominent presence within the hospital site and made a vital contribution to the running of the hospital, erected in response to the growing needs of the complex. The tower is constructed of in-situ cast reinforced concrete. Although a prominent structure on the site, it is late and of pedestrian design and does not meet the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group - previously HB11/15/016