Water Tower

The water tower, built in the late 19th century for the Dorset Water Board, is a Grade II listed structure located on Mansfield Road in Upper Parkstone, Poole. It features a square plan and is constructed from red brick with white brick, limestone, and terracotta dressings. The tower is designed in three stages with two-bay sides, topped by a cast-iron tank.

The base of the tower has a battered plinth made of red brick in English bond, accented with two recessed bands of paler red brick and a limestone roll moulding at the top. A round-headed doorway is located at the rear, which is considered the front elevation. The sides are divided into two bays by giant white brick pilaster strips at the corners and center of each side. These pilaster strips feature tall, thin sunk panels of red brick with round-arched heads, and red brick bands above that define "capitals."

Round arches made of white brick connect the pilaster strips and frame three tiers of tall iron-framed windows with round-arched heads, except for the rear side, which is windowless. There are dentilled brick string courses at each stage level within the giant arches. Large terracotta paterae are found in the spandrels of the arches that connect the pilaster strips and a round-arched corbel frieze. Cast-iron brackets between the arches of the corbel frieze support an iron railing and a timber deck walkway that encircles the base of the tank, just below the corbel frieze.

The tank itself is adorned with a pattern of seven square panels arranged in three tiers, framing a circle connected to the courses by diagonal lines. The central circle on the street side features a medallion inscribed with "JOHN ABBOT & CO GREENHEAD-ON-TYNE" around the rim and "LIMITED 1884" in the center. The interior of the tower has not been inspected.