Survey Data
Reg No
11902307
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Water tower
In Use As
Water tower
Date
1855 - 1860
Coordinates
278435, 211394
Date Recorded
22/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding single-bay four-stage red brick water tower, built 1856, on a square-plan. Concave pyramidal roof with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Ball finial to apex with iron weather vane. Red brick walls. Moulded cut-stone stringcourses to each stage. Clock to upper stage with yellow brick surrounds. Round-headed openings (paired to third stage). Stone sills. Yellow brick dressings. Louvered timber panelled fittings. Sited within Curragh Camp set back from road in own grounds.
Appraisal
This water tower is a fine, elegant red brick structure that retains much of its original character. The water tower is of social and historic interest, representing a component of the development of the military camp in the mid nineteenth century. Although a functional piece, it has been conceived as an aesthetic object also and employs a variety of decoration to each level. Features of note are the early red brick work, the yellow brick dressings (producing a polychromatic effect) and the early clock to the upper face that is apparently still in working order. The role of the water tower is of technical and engineering interest and additional features such as the gangways to some levels attest to its subsequent use as a look out tower when the surrounding grounds were in use as an internment camp. The tower is attractively sited in the centre of the Curragh Camp complex and, together with the towers of the fire station and church, forms and imposing feature on the skyline.