Water pump, Between 17 and 19 Churchfield Road, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim

Water Pump, Churchfield Road, Ballycastle

A disused roadside cow-tailed water pump erected around 1939 by Ballycastle Rural District Council to serve adjacent labourers' houses. The pump is mounted on a low concrete plinth atop a concrete-capped well on the south side of a minor road at the western end of a terrace of semi-detached and detached two-storey houses.

The pump is constructed of cast iron with a spiral-fluted column and a vertically-fluted bulbous top with two bands encircling it. A wrought-iron cow-tail handle is positioned at one side, and a quarter-turn spout with a lug for a bucket handle is at the front. The cap and internal mechanism are now missing. The pump is enclosed to the south and west by a painted cement-rendered wall.

This is a typical manually-operated water pump of utilitarian function, though a considerable proportion of its surface is embellished with decorative fluting. The diagonal fluting around the column is said to mimic the sackcloth insulation wrapped around it in winter to minimise freezing. Its relationship with the well underneath, from which it drew water, remains clearly evident, and its close proximity to the adjoining houses explains why the pump was erected at this location.

The houses and pump do not appear on the 1922 Ordnance Survey map. The houses first appear in the 1939 Valuation Revision book, noted as seven houses leased by Ballycastle Rural District Council and erected under the provisions of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts 1883–1911. The pump was almost certainly erected at the same time to provide a potable water supply. It is not shown on the 1972 Ordnance Survey map, probably because it was defunct by then, having been superseded in the 1960s by mains water supply.

Although the missing cap and internal mechanism detract from its completeness, the pump is otherwise authentic. It is of local significance, having served the community for many years before mains water arrived. Roadside pumps such as this were once fairly common but are now quite rare, particularly in Moyle, making it of industrial archaeological interest.