Wivenhoe Water Tower is a Grade II listed building in the Colchester local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 August 1996. Water tower. 4 related planning applications.
Wivenhoe Water Tower
- WRENN ID
- sombre-string-elder
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Colchester
- Constituency
- Harwich and North Essex MP: Sir Bernard Jenkin (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 19 August 1996
- Type
- Water tower
- Address
- Wivenhoe Water Tower, Tower Road
- OS grid reference
- TM 039 227
- Coordinates
- 51.86612, 0.96082
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Wivenhoe Water Tower is a town water tower built in 1902. It is constructed of red brick and features three stages, with a painted metal water tank on top. The tank has bracketed eaves and a pyramidal roof, which is topped by a wooden pyramidal louvre and a metal weathervane. The tower has a square plan and is battered at the base, with three bays on each face.
The main structure includes machicolated eaves, a stone string course above the ground floor, and a plinth made of black bricks. The second and third stages are adorned with giant pilasters that have impost blocks and blank arcading with keystones. There are round-headed lancet windows fitted with metal casements. The central entrance features a round-headed doorcase with a stone surround, colonnettes, a round-headed fanlight, and a double door with six panels.
The water tower stands 77 feet high and contains 143,000 bricks, with the tank at the top capable of holding 50,000 gallons. During the Second World War, the Home Guard stored its rifles in the building, and it is said that the rifle racks remain.
Local climate
Wivenhoe Water Tower sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 64% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 86% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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