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Norton Water Tower is a water tower in Norton, Runcorn,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.


History

It was built between 1888 and 1892 on the water pipeline between Lake Vyrnwy in North Wales and Liverpool to act as a balancing reservoir in the process of supplying water to Runcorn and Liverpool. Water is carried to Liverpool through a tunnel wide under the River Mersey. It is the largest UK tromboned pressure relief device currently in operation. The tower was designed by George F. Deacon, the Chief Engineer of the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks Department.


Description

It is built in red sandstone in the shape of a cylinder high with a diameter of . On its top is a cast iron tank with a capacity of 650,000 gallons. Ten pilasters rise from a rock-faced base and between them are round-headed arches. Above these is a frieze with a Latin inscription and over this is a
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
. On the top is the iron tank with a decorated exterior. Translated, the inscription on the frieze reads:
This water, derived from the sources of the Severn, is brought to the City of Liverpool, a distance of eighty miles, through the mountains and over the plains of Wales and the intervening country, at the cost of the municipality, in the year of Our Lord 1892.


See also

* Listed buildings in Runcorn (urban area)


References

{{Reflist Towers completed in 1892 Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Water towers in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Runcorn Infrastructure completed in 1892 Towers in Cheshire