CH Water Tower

[J.R.]

Concerning this painting, does anyone know the name of the artist and whether there is a picture of it on the Web anywhere?

Possibly commisioned by The Royal School For The Blind', Highlands Road, Leatherhead ???

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

A horse ? a Chimp ?---- a very talented Spider ?
Any of whom could never have visited the School !

[wurzel]

In the summer of 1960 (I think), we had no hot water for a fortnight. I don't know the cause, but a provisional remedy was found which involved the water tower being draped with hoses (at least on the east side).

That would tie in with the fact that when we switched to mains water in the mid 80's it was via a large valve under a manhole by Mr Sillett's house (LHB masters house) which is the east end of the school and I remember them saying it was the first time it had been used since the 60's.

we were switched over after a long run of finding small red swimming things in the water in dining hall and i dont think they ever switched back. I would suspect that also charges for abstraction licences + upkeep of infrastructure/regular quality testing compared with the cost of mains water had a bearing on the decision

[Great Plum]

I believe that the water tower is 6 ft lower than the reservoir on Sharpenhurst to balance the water...

This is academic of course as the water tower had its lead water tanks removed a few years ago...

[michael scuffil]

So it's no longer a water-tower?

Is it used for anything else? Storage, a prison... ?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

THATS why it was not included in the picture ------- it doesn't exixt !!

[Great Plum]

So it's no longer a water-tower?

Is it used for anything else? Storage, a prison... ?

Just a landmark now I guess... I believe when they took the old tanks out, they strenghened it internally with steels...