Municipal Water Tower (Jumbo)

The Municipal Water Tower, commonly known as 'Jumbo', is a water tower built in 1882 and opened in 1883. It was designed by Charles Clegg, the Borough Surveyor and Engineer. The tower is constructed of red brick and features an iron water tank, standing approximately 110 feet high in a Romanesque Revival 'Campanile' style.

The structure has a square plan with four corner piers that have flared coursed bases and corner pilasters topped with coved capitals. Each pier is supported by flying buttresses and has pipes leading to the inside. Connecting the piers are tall rounded arches, about 70 feet high, adorned with moulded architraves. Above these arches, a course of brackets links the capitals of the pilasters, and a second course of brackets supports the cast iron water tank above. The tower is topped with a copper pyramid roof, which is capped by a lantern and a weather vane. Inside, there is a decorative cast iron spiral staircase leading to the roof.

The central service pier also has a flared coursed base, and the arched entrance to the service tower features a deep moulded terra cotta surround. Above the entrance, there is a terra cotta plaque that reads 'WATER TOWER 1882'. Each storey of the core tower has small arched openings, which are blind on the north and south sides but open on the east and west. A stone dedication plaque states, 'BALKAN WATER TOWER This edifice was dedicated to the public use on the 27th date of September 1883'.

Historically, the Balkerne Water Tower was built adjacent to an early 19th-century reservoir. In 1882, the town's waterworks were taken over by the Corporation, which led to the construction of this water tower, completed in 1883. The project required 1.25 million bricks and 142 tons of iron to support a tank capable of holding 230,000 gallons of water. The tower was decommissioned in the 1980s, and a residential conversion scheme was proposed during a reassessment in 2003.