Norton Water Tower | |
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Location | Norton, Runcorn, Cheshire, England |
Coordinates | 53°19′46″N 2°40′17″W / 53.3295°N 2.6714°W |
OS grid reference | SJ 553 816 |
Built | 1892 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Designated | 31 October 1983 |
Reference no. | 1335884 |
Norton Water Tower is a water tower in Norton, Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. [1]
It was built between 1888 and 1892 on the water pipeline between Lake Vyrnwy in North Wales and Liverpool to act as a balancing reservoir in the process of supplying water to Runcorn and Liverpool. Water is carried to Liverpool through a tunnel 10 feet (3 m) wide under the River Mersey. [2] It is the largest UK tromboned pressure relief device currently in operation.[ citation needed] The tower was designed by George F. Deacon, the Chief Engineer of the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks Department. [3]
It is built in red sandstone in the shape of a cylinder 99 feet (30 m) high with a diameter of 82 feet (25 m). On its top is a cast iron tank with a capacity of 650,000 gallons. [3] Ten pilasters rise from a rock-faced base and between them are round-headed arches. Above these is a frieze with a Latin inscription and over this is a cornice. On the top is the iron tank with a decorated exterior. [1] Translated, the inscription on the frieze reads:
This water, derived from the sources of the Severn, is brought to the City of Liverpool, a distance of eighty miles, through the mountains and over the plains of Wales and the intervening country, at the cost of the municipality, in the year of Our Lord 1892. [2]