Water Tower On Tower Hill

The water tower on Tower Hill in Ormskirk was built between 1853 and 1854 for the Ormskirk Local Board of Health and is now derelict. It is constructed from coursed squared sandstone and features a dilapidated slate roof. The tower has a square plan and is designed in the Romanesque style. It is a tall structure with two narrow full-height Romanesque arches on each side, all featuring stepped surrounds and arch-bands, linked by an impost band that runs around the tower. The plain frieze includes carved grotesques at the corners, and there is prominent corbelling in a machicolated form. At the top, the tower is surmounted by a large tank enclosed by what appears to be ashlar walling, and it has a pyramidal roof that is now missing most of its slates. This water tower is an unusual survival of an early Local Board waterworks structure and serves as a conspicuous landmark on the east side of the town.