Survey Data
Reg No
15402910
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Social, Technical
Original Use
Water pump
In Use As
Water pump
Date
1870 - 1900
Coordinates
210838, 240513
Date Recorded
10/10/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding cast-iron water pump, erected c.1885, comprising banded cylindrical shaft with fluted head having fluted spout, ‘cow tail’ curvilinear handle, and fluted ogee-dome cap with finial. Located to the east of Athlone and surrounded on three sides by a rubble limestone boundary wall (open to road).
Appraisal
A typical late nineteenth-century water pump, of a standard design encountered throughout rural Westmeath. Water pumps played an important social role in the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries by providing a communal water source before the development of mains water supply. This particular example is in excellent condition and is surrounded by an attractive rubble limestone wall. This cast-iron pump now serves as an attractive piece of street furniture, aesthetically enhancing the rural landscape to the east of Athlone.