Water Tower, Schoolbrae, Garmouth is a Grade B listed building in the Moray local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 20 August 1981. Water tower.

Water Tower, Schoolbrae, Garmouth

WRENN ID
ghost-render-nightshade
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
Moray
Constituency
Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey MP: Graham Leadbitter (SNP)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
20 August 1981
Type
Water tower
OS grid reference
NJ 338 646
Coordinates
57.6672, -3.10998
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Water Tower at Schoolbrae in Garmouth is an exceptional circular two-stage structure built between 1898 and 1901 by consulting engineers Jenkins and Marr. It features a slated conical roof and is notable for being one of Scotland's earliest reinforced concrete buildings. The tower was designed to supply gravity-fed water from a reservoir on the Fochabers Burn to the villages of Garmouth and Kingston, utilizing an unusual tandem chamber arrangement within the tower.

The tower is prominently located on high ground above Garmouth village. It has two doorways on the south side; the lower entrance, which was at semi-basement level, has been sealed since 1990, while the upper chamber rises through the wallhead within a piended dormer. Access to the interior was not possible in 2008 due to the sealing of the lower entrance. Further details about the upper section can be found in a 2006 report by Linn and Archibald. The tower was decommissioned in 1988.

Local climate

Water Tower, Schoolbrae, Garmouth sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 980 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 67% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 94% of listed buildings. Of these, 5 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. 1 Spey Street, Garmouth Grade C 197 m
  2. 2 Spey Street, Garmouth Grade C 199 m
  3. Laburnum, High Street, Garmouth Grade B 206 m
  4. Brae House, The Brae, Garmouth Grade C 206 m
  5. The Poplars, High Street, Garmouth Grade C 217 m
  6. 'The Brae', The Brae, Garmouth Grade C 222 m
  7. The Shop, High Street, Garmouth Grade B 223 m
  8. Mary Cottage, High Street, Garmouth Grade C 224 m
  9. Craigisla, High Street, Garmouth Grade C 238 m
  10. The Cross, Spey Street, Garmouth Grade B 239 m