YORK PLAQUES

Lendal Tower

Location of plaque: Lendal Bridge

Lendal Tower is thought to have been built in the early 1300s as part of the city defences. It was originally circular, like its twin tower on the opposite bank of the Ouse, North Street Postern. A chain was stretched across the river between the towers to control the passage of boats; it could be raised during peacetime or lowered if the city was under attack. In 1569, during the Revolt of the Northern Earls, the two towers were strengthened with the addition of defensive walls or bulwarks.

In the 16th century, discussions began about whether Lendal Tower could be used as part of the infrastructure needed to supply the city with water from the River Ouse. Work began on constructing wooden water pipes in 1616: but the project seems to have failed, and by 1636 the ‘Old Waterhouse’, as the tower was known, was described as ‘much ruinated’.

In 1674, however, the scheme was revived and, in 1677, Henry Whistler of London was granted a 500 year lease at a peppercorn rent. The terms of the lease allowed for the laying of ‘Pipes, Wheeles and other Engines and things necessary’ into the river and for digging up the pavements and road surfaces for pipes. To accommodate a lead water storage tank, the tower was enlarged and raised in height. At first, water was pumped up to the tank by a waterwheel in the Ouse, then by a ‘wheel wrought with Horses, within the Tower’. Water was supplied through wooden pipes for two hours on alternate days, except Sundays.

The water supply company appears to have been a success. In 1756, a mortgage of £1,400 was taken out to buy a Newcomen ‘atmospheric’ steam engine able to pump water 72 feet from the Ouse up to the storage tank. Baths supplied with hot and cold water were installed in a building next to the tower, the present Lendal Hill House.

In 1779, the waterworks was sold for £7,000 to Jerome Dring, who formed a new company, the York Waterworks Company, with several other investors, including engineer John Smeaton, designer of the Eddystone Lighthouse. The Newcomen steam engine was rebuilt in 1781-4 to increase its efficiently: the two pumps it powered were able to pump 10,500 gallons an hour.

In 1846 the York New Waterworks Company was formed and bought the old shares for £20,000. The waterworks were moved to Acomb Landing and the network of pipes was extended to serve the entire city. Once the water storage tank had been removed, the tower itself was lowered by 10 feet and remodelled by architect G.T. Andrews, who added crenellations to make it look more Gothic. The tower was restored as offices for the waterworks company in 1932. More recently, the tower was restored again and converted into one of York’s more unusual holiday properties.

Stephen Lewis

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