Jellicoe watercourse, including associated retaining wall, viewing platforms, railings and planters at former Cadbury factory

Cascade water feature with an associated retaining wall, viewing platforms, railings and planters, 1952, by Geoffrey Jellicoe.

MATERIALS: concrete, brick, and wrought iron.

PLAN: the watercourse is located on the western edge of the former Cadbury's factory site alongside a spur of Pasture Road accessing Moreton railway station. It has a linear plan aligned north-west to south-east and is approximately 190m in total length, including a short north-east arm at the north end. It consists of a series of ten pools stepping down from the railway station at the south-east end to the site entrance at the north-west end.

EXTERIOR: the watercourse consists of a series of ten pools linked by low concrete weirs that originally formed a cascade by the roadway (water used to be circulated by a pump in the gatehouse, but at the time of inspection in 2019 this was no longer in use and the lower pools clogged with bulrushes and reeds). The pools are constructed of concrete laid over puddled clay and each one has an angled eastern side that tapers towards the south, which tricks the eye by creating an increased sense of distance when the watercourse is viewed from each end. All but the northernmost pool adjacent to the gatehouse incorporate a square concrete planter to their north corners. Each pool, which originally had a water depth of around two feet, has its own standpipe that lies adjacent to each weir, and each weir has wave-shaped (cyma) moulding on the north-west side intended to create the illusion of a greater water flow as water passed over the low-lying feature. On the west side of the watercourse is a brick retaining wall that rises above the Pasture Road spur as a parapet with large concrete copings angled downward towards the road that are topped by a wrought-iron handrail. The wall, which steps down in places, incorporates four concrete viewing platforms that project out into the pools with angled sides that mirror those of the pools. The platforms have concrete pavers and wrought-iron balustrades; the balustrade to the southernmost platform had been removed at the time of inspection in 2019 for repairs and the platform protected by steel palisade fencing. At the southern end the watercourse and retaining wall curve around the eastern side of a turning circle by the railway station's Liverpool platform entrance. At the northern end the watercourse turns north-eastwards for approximately 13m towards the site's gatehouse. The brick retaining wall at this end has flat copings and incorporates a taller section immediately adjacent to the site entrance that acts as a wind break, and then a low section shaped to resemble rectangular bastions that connects to a gatehouse. The gatehouse is not of special interest and is not included within the listing.