Waterworks at Blagdon: former meter house

The former meter house at Blagdon is a small Gothic-style building, now serving as a bat sanctuary. It was constructed as part of the waterworks at Blagdon between 1898 and 1905, designed by Charles Hawksley.

The building is made of coarsed rusticated stone with stone ashlar dressings and quoins, set on a deep, slightly projecting rock-faced plinth. It features a pitched tiled roof with timber barge boards at the gable ends, although these are now hidden behind modern timber replacements.

The meter house has a single-storey, single-cell rectangular plan. The north front includes a three-point arched opening with a timber plank door, located beneath a bracketed porch that has a louvered ventilation lancet above. The south-west side elevation has two blind, three-point arched windows, while the side facing the reservoir features two transom and mullioned three-point arched windows. The rear of the building has one three-light transom and mullioned window. As of 2014, the windows on the rear and the side facing the reservoir have been boarded up to prevent light from entering, in line with its use as a bat sanctuary.

The former meter house is situated in its own grounds on the landscaped shore of Blagdon Lake, which was previously known as the Yeo Reservoir, approximately 430 meters southeast of the Blagdon pumping station.