Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Three small ‘high-level’ water tanks are located on the surface, one by the Pump House and two on the terreplein above the West Postern Gate. Tanks at this level would be required to maintain an adequate head of water to supply surface buildings. The completion of the Citadel during the 1850s and 1860s explains the earliest high-level tank, dated 1861. Others followed in 1891 and 1901, also periods of rapid expansion of surface facilities. All the tanks are constructed from cast-iron flanged panels bolted together.(location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WATER TANK (Disused, Post Medieval to Modern - 1861 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

Three small ‘high-level’ water tanks are located on the surface, one by the Pump House and two on the terreplein above the West Postern Gate. Tanks at this level would be required to maintain an adequate head of water to supply surface buildings. The completion of the Citadel during the 1850s and 1860s explains the earliest high-level tank, dated 1861. Others followed in 1891 and 1901, also periods of rapid expansion of surface facilities. All the tanks are constructed from cast-iron flanged panels bolted together.

The 1861 tank is the more northerly of the two above the West Postern Gate. It is hexagonal and sits on a brick base in English bond and currently has a shallow pitched wood and felt roof. The adjacent tank is of similar construction but has a maker’s plate dated 1901. Each had a capacity of 9,392 gallons. The water tank beside the Pump House is slightly larger than the other two tanks, with a
capacity of 9,568 gallons. It has a more elaborate hexagonal base of hard red brick laid in English bond on a stepped plinth, with darker red brick forming the angles. The openings have basket arches in gauged brick, linked by a continuous roll moulding, and the windows have sills formed from two courses of bull-nosed blue brick. (1)

<1> English Heritage, 2004, The Western Heights, Dover, Kent: Report No. 2: The Citadel (Unpublished document). SKE17690.

Sources and further reading

Related records