Water Tower, Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital, 1 Donaghanie Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT79 0NS, ** See General Comments **

Water Tower, Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital

A freestanding water tower built in 1936, located to the south side of Cranny Road within the grounds of Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital in Omagh. The tower is constructed of in-situ cast reinforced concrete and consists of a circular plinth surmounted by an openwork reinforced concrete frame supporting an octagonal concrete water tank. The circular plinth is formed of in-situ cast board-marked concrete and is terminated at door height by stepped concrete coping. Access to the plinth is via double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors positioned to the west, set within a projecting square-headed rebated concrete surround. The openwork frame supporting the tank is of smooth concrete with concrete platforms at each level internally, accessible via steel ladder. The tank itself rests on an octagonal base of board-marked concrete with vertical concrete ribs and is topped by an octagonal concrete cover.

The tower was erected in response to the growing water supply needs of the hospital complex. It had a capacity of 350,000 gallons and was built on a loan of £3,600. Once completed, its large capacity and height allowed water to reach the upper storeys of the hospital for the first time, addressing long-standing water supply problems that had plagued the institution. As recently as 1929, despite monthly fire drills being carried out, there was no water available in the event of an actual fire. The hospital had relied variously on well water (with a deep well recorded in 1885 sunk to 64 feet, supplemented by additional pumps installed in 1906 and an air compressor installed in 1912), town supplies, and the River Camowen as its principal source, though from 1907 drinking water from the Camowen required purification due to sewage being discharged directly into the river following completion of the sewage system in 1899. A new sewage works was completed by 1914. The first reinforced concrete structure on the hospital grounds had been a landing stage built in 1914 for a chain-ferry used to transport patients and staff across the river, which had become redundant by 1936.

The water tower is set within the hospital grounds, to the south of the main hospital building. The immediate context contains various nineteenth-century buildings and twentieth-century outbuildings and shelters, with a Roman Catholic chapel located to the west. Although a prominent structure on the site, the tower is of late construction and pedestrian design.