Cow Tail Pump, 120A Glen Road, Maghera, BT46 5JG

Cow-tail water pump, cast iron, dating to approximately 1923–4, located off a laneway a short distance from Maghera town centre.

The pump is a tall, slender structure comprising a three-stage tubular shaft in cast iron, below a wider fluted top section. The middle section of the shaft is embossed with a flag symbol and the numerals '3m'. A plain cow-tail handle with a small bulbous end is attached to a curved corbel bracket, secured by a bolt at one side and a metal pin at the other. The curved spout incorporates a cast bucket bracket. The pump is topped with a domed, fluted cap complete with finial, all bolted to the section below.

The design, with its slim shaft and fluted cap with finial, was widely used throughout Britain and Ireland during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. This particular example, identifiable by its embossed flag symbol, was manufactured by Lee, Howl & Co., a firm founded in 1887 at Tipton, Staffordshire. This type of pump is less common in Northern Ireland and is therefore considered a rare example.

The pump's installation may be connected with the building of the nearby dwellings at nos. 118–126 Glen Road, which were constructed around 1924. Local residents have stated that these houses were built 'for sailors', and valuation records indicate they were leased by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Northern Ireland), suggesting they were constructed for ex-servicemen. The pump would have served a social function as a gathering place in what was then a semi-rural community.

The pump is approached via four concrete steps leading to a small landing, now bounded by metal railings installed approximately thirty years ago. These railings replaced an original brick boundary wall, the loss of which has detracted from the structure's historic character. While the pump retains much of its original setting, increased housing density in the area has compromised its semi-rural context.