Bailey Hill Water Tower

The Bailey Hill Water Tower, built in 1901, is a Grade II listed structure designed in a bold Arts and Crafts style, comparable to the work of Townsend, with design consultation by Henry T Hare. The tower is constructed from Luton grey bricks with stone dressings and features a square plan set on a splayed plinth with stone mouldings. Each corner has a rounded demi tower, with the north-west corner serving as a stair tower that includes narrow slit casement windows.

The north face of the tower has a low, broad, round-arched entrance at the ground floor, which is deeply recessed and made of stone. On the other three faces, at first-floor level, there is a single round-headed window that is mullioned and transomed, featuring iron glazing bars, quoining, and a splayed cill. At the upper level, all four faces have pairs of two-light mullioned windows with iron glazing bars. Above these windows, each face displays a heavy rectangular stone balcony supported by three pairs of brackets, with a projecting spout at each end.

A broad round-headed arch rises from the demi towers to create a recess above the balcony, which contains a central door topped by a tripartite keystone. This door is flanked by four casement windows with iron glazing bars on either side. The upper section of the tower is decorated with stone bands of varying widths. The roof is pyramidal, covered with stone slates and features deeply projecting eaves, with a winged figure acting as a corbel or bracket support at each corner. Each face of the roof includes a small hipped dormer. The tower was built to supply water to Stopsley following the drought of 1898.