Tadworth Water Tower
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Tadworth Water Tower |
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The Tower House in Tower Road, (formerly Middle Road) Tadworth is now a distinctive residence. It started life as a water tower for the Sutton District Water Company who built it in a Victorian Romanesque style in 1898. Although the Tower was essentially an industrial building, it was also a prominent tourist landmark on the edge of Walton Heath. Walkers were attracted to Tadworth by the healthy scent from the pine trees that grew in profusion together with the bracing air of the North Downs. |
| The district was sparsely populated and the Tower, as a landmark, was featured extensively on post cards of the era. The Tower comprised a riveted steel tank on a brickwork supporting structure. It was supplied by water pumped from the SDWC works in Carshalton Road, Sutton. This necessitated raising the water approximately 500 ft to achieve a top water level in the Tower 641 ft above sea level. The tower was originally about 50 ft high including the tank, which was 11 ft in depth, and with a diameter of about 24 ft. In 1910 the SDWC acquired the Kingswood and District Water Co and in order to meet the demands of the new area, a second tower was built at Colley Hill in 1911. This tower, standing in Margery Wood, is still in use today, and is now adjacent to the M25 motorway where it can be seen on the south side. The capacity of the Tadworth tower was 20,000 galls (90,922 litres weighing 91 tonnes). It is known that by 1925, the SDWC had decided to decommission the Tadworth Tower and the tank was removed to SDWC Woodmanstern depot where it was used for oil storage. The tank was eventually scrapped in 1938. The Sutton District Water Company had decided to dispose of the site and following removal of the tank, the land reverted back to the Tattenham Park Land Co under the terms of the original purchase agreement. By 1926 the Land Co. had disposed of the Water Tower plot to William Adams, landlord of the Dukes Head on Tadworth Green. In 1926/7, the adjoining domestic buildings to the Tower were erected and the whole assumed a residential role. A flat roof with castellated parapet replaced the tank and William Adams was the first occupier. | |
| Today the Tower has a new role, appropriately still associated with water. It is the home of The Spa Gazer Directory of World Spas and Health Resorts. Spas have a history as old as civilisation itself and healing by natural waters has been key to their perpetuation over the centuries. Now the water tower continues to host water with: | |
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