Hythe Town Reservoir

Hythe Town Reservoir is a covered reservoir built in 1868, designed in a classical style. The structure features a covering made of ashlar ragstone with red brick dressings, and its roof is currently covered in corrugated tin. The building has a T-shape and is oriented roughly east-west.

The long walls are constructed of dressed ragstone, complete with a plinth, brick margins, and pilasters, while the inner walls consist of a mix of brick and rubble stone. The roof is barrel-vaulted, although the wall-head has been altered when the roof was replaced, suggesting it may have originally been pitched.

At the eastern end, there is a small porch primarily made of brick, with dressed ragstone ashlar used for the side walls. This porch features a stone pediment, pilasters, and recessed panels alternating between brick and stone, along with a central entrance that has a flat arch, voussoirs, and a plank door.

Inside, the entire area is occupied by the reservoir tank, which is approximately three metres deep. The walls of the reservoir are built of brick and rendered. The interior of the main range is divided by two cross walls that have large segmental arch spans at the center, creating one large tank space. Similar cross walls separate the short wings at the western end from the main range. Water enters the tank directly from springs through two or three pipes at the eastern end and exits through a single pipe located at the bottom of the southwestern wing. These fittings are reported to still be present but appear to be of a more modern date.

Historically, this reservoir was built on the site of an old Tan Pit, with water sourced from a spring on land owned by Henry Bean Mackeson, a maltster who claimed rights to the water. An agreement reached in 1868 allowed the Hythe Corporation to access half of the water yield, while the landowner retained the other half for use in his brewery. This arrangement continued until the brewery closed.