We used to climb to the roof of the old one in cuddington as kids until Gary Barlow put a stop to it because you could see into his garden from it. Bell end.
That is presumably why there is barbed wire at every vantage point when I tried to get photos from the public road. I had to poke my camera carefully between two strings of it.
Ollie, you're probably the only person that could make a video on "Water Towers" that I would enjoy. I feel it was a good thing that they all look different, they each have their own character. Now days everything is "cookie cutter" like McDonalds. Thanks for your time and hard work.
Another fab video. Always been fascinated by these too, the Gorsehill one is an absolute beauty 👌🏻 I find leaving Liverpool really hard too. Truly feels like I'm home whenever I'm back there, an overwhelming sense of belonging. Hoping one day to move there before it's too late.
Visited Norton many times. When the terror alert was at its highest a few years back we had to patrol it as it’s one of the only places in the NW where chlorine (from ICI locally) is added into the water.
There was a boring cast iron one in the next road to me, growing up in Flixton. A simple affair, probably from the 50s, on steel legs. It supplied water the adjacent boiler house that fed the 3 storey flats along that road. Have a look at the locks along the ship canal, they are also water towers under pressure by enormous weights to give hydraulic power for the lock gates
The civil value provided by water towers is often overlook, but they are an extremely valuable type of infrastructure in modern society. A healthy amount of architectural design results in this landmarks becoming symbols of its communities! And the age of the examples you showed is a testament on the value of investing on architecture.
wow, Ollie. You really worked hard to travel around and show us all these amazing towers, thank you so much for making it possible for us to enjoy this fabulous North West architecture. S & J
Absolutely agree. I love how much detail and overengineering, pride and architectural flourish we used to put into even mundane or utilitarian projects. Value of architectural tradition and civic pride just isn’t the same as what is was. Like you though, I’ve always enjoyed old railway bridges, viaducts, water towers, even elementary schools, prisons old cemetery gates had so much amazing detail.
Excellent video, my partner used to own a house on Eldon Road, Wallasey, which was the actual farm house of the farm, called Model Farm, that was there. One end of the house is visible, the white one on the left in the video of Wallasey water tower at 6.28, There were always lots of seagulls on top of the tower, In the autumn of 2019 I was staying in her house and i was outside, there were bird screams coming from the top and then I seen a peregrine falcon flying away quickly followed by another one, later i seen one return, using binoculars i could see they had started nesting in one of the open arches at the top of the tower ( the one top right), not surprisingly I never seen many seagulls around the tower after that.
Great video. There is an old water tower at High Leigh near Warrington that has been converted to a house and was featured on the program “Grand Designs”
What a BRILLIANT intro. Ive got this paused now until bedtime, Where i'll hopefuly have no interruptions and can view this properly. Along with tge latest Wicked Acorn video
Nice! The white one in the intro looks like one that was near us when we lived in Congleton. There's one at High Legh near Knutsford that's lived in, and one close to my heart is the one on the Jaguar factory at Speke. When I was flying our Chipmunk out of Liverpool John Lennon that distinctive shape could be seen from many miles away from the north or west and was an excellent pointer if cleared by Air Traffic Control direct to the airport!
I like this video - as I live down south since 81 - only manage to see / visit the Water tower near Runcorn, hope to visit most of the others when I visit N/w on holiday; love these structures.
Brilliant, simply briliant. I am totally with you - I see the complete beauty in these structures and LOVE them. We have a great deal to thank the Victorian engineers for. Please freel free to make more videos on such structures. If you are ever in the south - London - you must check out Abbey Mills Pumpinig Station and Crossness Pumping Station - they are even more spectacular. Many thanks for such an excellent presentation. I love your work.
I love those magnificent old buildings. Great video. There are still plenty of nicely built water towers in Germany, just search for "Wassterturm". They tend to be more standardized (yes, I know) and look more like medieval towers, but there are a few which look as if they were built for kings and match the Victorian grandeur of their UK counterparts.
Enjoyed this, There were some on here I didn't know about. I never realised the one in Wallasey (5:50) was actually a water tower, thought it was a church! Interesting story about the Ormskirk one as well, didn't know its history.
i hope we will eventually design necessities with architectural flare once again- it is important that our towns and cities and villages are beautiful places in which we want to live, and these water towers are a memorial to when we once did that, before the coming of buildings that were just boxes. Im not saying that those times were better, of course they weren't, im saying that they were better at designing buildings that people love. architects should realise that function follows form before form follows function
There is one near me in Westhoughton that is now lived in. It’s had the tank removed and a pitched roof fitted. Like you said, they are landmarks and everyone locally knows that locality as The Water Tower.
Very important structures for more than just water storage. Here in Burton on Trent, when you approach the town from the south or from the north, you can always spot the tall water tower above the suburb village of Winshill (actually looks quite similar to the Wallasey tower just with a bunch of antennas) and if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s always a sure fire way to know you’re almost home. Wasn’t always the water tower in that role, about 20 or 30 years ago, that role was filled by the monolithic cooling towers of the coal fired Drakelow Power Station but they demolished the stations between 1993 and 2006 so the water tower now solely guides travellers into the town.
There is one in Westhoughton near Bolton which you can see when driving past on the M61 on top of a hill. Last I checked its been refurbished into a private residency but the outside has remained intact.
Great film Ollie - really interesting and something I wasn't aware of. You have convinced me ! Lookin' forward to your next vid - you never disappoint!
I have always been fascinated by water towers. Please explore some more! There is one very similar to High Legh completely away from anywhere in the middle of fields near Chelford. You can get close on a public footpath - if you can find somewhere to park!
I've always had admiration for water towers, Ollie. I didn't know that there are so many around Merseyside. I know of the one not far from Chester railway station, and the one at Norton near Runcorn, but didn't know of those others that you've shown us. There is another space age UFO looking tower at the car factory at Halewood, I wonder if that's a water one. Anyhow they all look remarkable and of lovely architecture. Many thanks for this presentation.
Fantastic topic, worth travelling further afield for more of these. Good to see so many still in use and those that are not, left alone still standing . Hope the one for sale is preserved and not ruined. Would have thought it'd be listed anyway?
Slightly off topic you missed the windmill just down the road from Scarthe Hill, Used to love driving up past the "UFO" as a kid on the way to Southport from Wigan
Absolutely love the video mate. I too love the architecture and engineering achievement of these structures too. I remember driving around Everton in my cab years ago and had to stop and marvel at it. Btw. Would you do a video of the old Cheshire lines from halewood through west derby and Norris green to Aintree. It’s a fantastic route with plenty to see.
Not trying to teach sucking of eggs but have you asked UU if you can get a tour and to film in those places? They might say yes. Some of the press agent lot are OK.
You can get a lot closer to the Norton water tower, there’s a public road with houses that are right next to the base of the tower Edit: also it hurts that you’ve called Runcorn Merseyside 😂
We used to climb to the roof of the old one in cuddington as kids until Gary Barlow put a stop to it because you could see into his garden from it. Bell end.
What bad Tory tax dodging behaviour
That is presumably why there is barbed wire at every vantage point when I tried to get photos from the public road. I had to poke my camera carefully between two strings of it.
🤣
Water in Scarth Hill weighs about 2000 tons. Amazing.
Ollie, you're probably the only person that could make a video on "Water Towers" that I would enjoy. I feel it was a good thing that they all look different, they each have their own character. Now days everything is "cookie cutter" like McDonalds. Thanks for your time and hard work.
Water towers are a perfect example of history right under your nose - I love that.
Another fab video. Always been fascinated by these too, the Gorsehill one is an absolute beauty 👌🏻 I find leaving Liverpool really hard too. Truly feels like I'm home whenever I'm back there, an overwhelming sense of belonging. Hoping one day to move there before it's too late.
You've got a gift for making these. Always enjoyable, entertaining, informational... ...just a pleasure to watch! Thank you!
What a wonderful topic! A niche with nice structures, well done Ollie!
Slightly off topic, but there are some great water pumping stations about looking like beautiful Victorian cathedrals.
Excellent! Can't beat a good water tower. TFP
yeah good one
That was my thought exactly on the “UFO” tower, old Soviet “Brutalist” design.
Visited Norton many times. When the terror alert was at its highest a few years back we had to patrol it as it’s one of the only places in the NW where chlorine (from ICI locally) is added into the water.
There was a boring cast iron one in the next road to me, growing up in Flixton. A simple affair, probably from the 50s, on steel legs. It supplied water the adjacent boiler house that fed the 3 storey flats along that road. Have a look at the locks along the ship canal, they are also water towers under pressure by enormous weights to give hydraulic power for the lock gates
The civil value provided by water towers is often overlook, but they are an extremely valuable type of infrastructure in modern society. A healthy amount of architectural design results in this landmarks becoming symbols of its communities! And the age of the examples you showed is a testament on the value of investing on architecture.
wow, Ollie. You really worked hard to travel around and show us all these amazing towers, thank you so much for making it possible for us to enjoy this fabulous North West architecture. S & J
Flushed with success
Absolutely agree. I love how much detail and overengineering, pride and architectural flourish we used to put into even mundane or utilitarian projects. Value of architectural tradition and civic pride just isn’t the same as what is was. Like you though, I’ve always enjoyed old railway bridges, viaducts, water towers, even elementary schools, prisons old cemetery gates had so much amazing detail.
Look up the "Dame Mary Bolles Water Tower" - That was built in the 1600's, and is still standing (Though I don't think it's still in use ;) )
Excellent video, my partner used to own a house on Eldon Road, Wallasey, which was the actual farm house of the farm, called Model Farm, that was there. One end of the house is visible, the white one on the left in the video of Wallasey water tower at 6.28, There were always lots of seagulls on top of the tower, In the autumn of 2019 I was staying in her house and i was outside, there were bird screams coming from the top and then I seen a peregrine falcon flying away quickly followed by another one, later i seen one return, using binoculars i could see they had started nesting in one of the open arches at the top of the tower ( the one top right), not surprisingly I never seen many seagulls around the tower after that.
Great video. There is an old water tower at High Leigh near Warrington that has been converted to a house and was featured on the program “Grand Designs”
What a BRILLIANT intro.
Ive got this paused now until bedtime,
Where i'll hopefuly have no interruptions and can view this properly.
Along with tge latest Wicked Acorn video
Nice! The white one in the intro looks like one that was near us when we lived in Congleton. There's one at High Legh near Knutsford that's lived in, and one close to my heart is the one on the Jaguar factory at Speke. When I was flying our Chipmunk out of Liverpool John Lennon that distinctive shape could be seen from many miles away from the north or west and was an excellent pointer if cleared by Air Traffic Control direct to the airport!
The water tower at the Ford/Jaguar Halewood plant really looks like a UFO.
And you can get close to it on the service rd it was public
I like this video - as I live down south since 81 - only manage to see / visit the Water tower near Runcorn, hope to visit most of the others when I visit N/w on holiday; love these structures.
Brilliant, simply briliant. I am totally with you - I see the complete beauty in these structures and LOVE them. We have a great deal to thank the Victorian engineers for. Please freel free to make more videos on such structures. If you are ever in the south - London - you must check out Abbey Mills Pumpinig Station and Crossness Pumping Station - they are even more spectacular. Many thanks for such an excellent presentation. I love your work.
I think the architects did us all a favour knowing that we'd be looking at them for the next 150/200 years 👍
oOo there's one of those near me, I always wondered what it was..
Great video! Must be possible to visit one? Here in the Netherlands several have been repurposed as a home or even hotel
Yes quite a lot in England have been converted too. Still so many are in use though
I love those magnificent old buildings. Great video. There are still plenty of nicely built water towers in Germany, just search for "Wassterturm". They tend to be more standardized (yes, I know) and look more like medieval towers, but there are a few which look as if they were built for kings and match the Victorian grandeur of their UK counterparts.
Great thank you. Yes I've seen some fantastic European water towers online
Jaguar Landrovers factory in Halewood Liverpool has it's own water tower
Commonly known as The Mushroom.
Great video. I loved looking at these amazing structures.
Another great video Ollie. There is a water tower in Cheshire thats an airb&b 😎
You now have a good answer when someone asks "What does British mean?"
Top video, top guy. Always interesting and well presented 👍👍
Thank you ☺️
A brilliant subject choice... yes, they are interesting. I bet you put together a sequel in the not too distant future.
Enjoyed this, There were some on here I didn't know about. I never realised the one in Wallasey (5:50) was actually a water tower, thought it was a church! Interesting story about the Ormskirk one as well, didn't know its history.
FANTASTIC, thanks for your work :)
i hope we will eventually design necessities with architectural flare once again- it is important that our towns and cities and villages are beautiful places in which we want to live, and these water towers are a memorial to when we once did that, before the coming of buildings that were just boxes. Im not saying that those times were better, of course they weren't, im saying that they were better at designing buildings that people love. architects should realise that function follows form before form follows function
There is one near me in Westhoughton that is now lived in. It’s had the tank removed and a pitched roof fitted. Like you said, they are landmarks and everyone locally knows that locality as The Water Tower.
Many of those design features, still show up in more, modern water towers.
brilliant video mate
Loved this!
Interesting looking water tower. A masterpiece of British architecture.
They built them like that because they took pride in what they did back then. Nowdays they'd do it as cheap as they could.
A whole new vista of nerd-ism opens up before me! Brilliant, thanks Ollie.
Very important structures for more than just water storage.
Here in Burton on Trent, when you approach the town from the south or from the north, you can always spot the tall water tower above the suburb village of Winshill (actually looks quite similar to the Wallasey tower just with a bunch of antennas) and if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s always a sure fire way to know you’re almost home.
Wasn’t always the water tower in that role, about 20 or 30 years ago, that role was filled by the monolithic cooling towers of the coal fired Drakelow Power Station but they demolished the stations between 1993 and 2006 so the water tower now solely guides travellers into the town.
Great vid Mr Bee, Ormskirk part of my old stomping ground. Remember all the old towers when they were intact...
Nice video, they're awesome, they built them like that cos they could, have a look at this one where we lived in Poland called bromberg water tower
Nice little video thank you they are very ornate and interesting a lot of the Victorian structures they seem to have real pride in building them
A change in suject for you Ollie. They are wonderful buildings long may they survive. Keep the videos coming.
There is an old water tower on Helsby Hill that is visible from the Helsby Quarry Car Park its covered by Overgrowth.
There is one in Westhoughton near Bolton which you can see when driving past on the M61 on top of a hill. Last I checked its been refurbished into a private residency but the outside has remained intact.
Check out the "salt and pepper pot" in Goole and the Grimsby Dock water tower.
Great film Ollie - really interesting and something I wasn't aware of. You have convinced me ! Lookin' forward to your next vid - you never disappoint!
Amazing as always. We live by Norton Tower and love how it's connected beneath our feet to lake vyrnwy
It must look spooky when its foggy never seen any pictures of it in the fog.
There’s lots of water towers located anywhere in the UK and most of them do look ugly but others do look absolutely stunning and beautiful.
I have always been fascinated by water towers. Please explore some more! There is one very similar to High Legh completely away from anywhere in the middle of fields near Chelford. You can get close on a public footpath - if you can find somewhere to park!
110% geekery... brilliant!
Nice one Ollie,I know the UFO very well and have driven past it many times. Cracking vlog 👍
Maybe I'm a bit weird, but I've always liked infrastructure buildings!
Great video Ollie keep them coming. It would be great to see inside them.
Fantastic video ollie..could feel your passion in this video...has to be one of my favourites well done
Brilliant video, what fantastic structures, didn't realise there were so many in the area. Keep up the great work 👍🙂
lovely video! I hope they're all listed and protected.
Loved that they are wonderful structures 🎉
I've always had admiration for water towers, Ollie. I didn't know that there are so many around Merseyside. I know of the one not far from Chester railway station, and the one at Norton near Runcorn, but didn't know of those others that you've shown us. There is another space age UFO looking tower at the car factory at Halewood, I wonder if that's a water one. Anyhow they all look remarkable and of lovely architecture. Many thanks for this presentation.
Great to see another video from you Ollie. Thanks for all the interesting shows this year. Happy Christmas.
Thanks! Happy Christmas!
Be careful around there 😱
You seem to have many more older water towers in the North West than I do here in Suffolk where it seems they all date from the 50s-70s
Fantastic topic, worth travelling further afield for more of these. Good to see so many still in use and those that are not, left alone still standing . Hope the one for sale is preserved and not ruined. Would have thought it'd be listed anyway?
Yes it's listed but is always earmarked for renovation into posh flats
Slightly off topic you missed the windmill just down the road from Scarthe Hill, Used to love driving up past the "UFO" as a kid on the way to Southport from Wigan
NICE ONE, Ollie. Great vid. 👌
brill that
nice vid mate the ufo one is similar to the one in jaguar in halewood dont know if you seen it on your travels
Hi mate, yes I was going to film that one too but didn't have time so skipped over it.
There are some great water towers around aren’t there. Warley in bham has a fab one.
Absolutely love the video mate. I too love the architecture and engineering achievement of these structures too. I remember driving around Everton in my cab years ago and had to stop and marvel at it.
Btw. Would you do a video of the old Cheshire lines from halewood through west derby and Norris green to Aintree. It’s a fantastic route with plenty to see.
Not trying to teach sucking of eggs but have you asked UU if you can get a tour and to film in those places?
They might say yes. Some of the press agent lot are OK.
Brilliant videos Ollie, obviously. But is that a camper van you've got? I'm between vans and very sad without one.
Yes it was, but I've just got rid of it ☹️
@@BeeHereNowuk 😒
Jaguar motors has a flying saucer water tower speke
Yeah I thought I didn't have time to visit that one so I gave it a miss. Regret that now
You can get a lot closer to the Norton water tower, there’s a public road with houses that are right next to the base of the tower
Edit: also it hurts that you’ve called Runcorn Merseyside 😂
It's Cheshire, no?
@@fromthefountofyouth yes, Cheshire. Historically the river Mersey was the boundary with Cheshire to the south and Lancashire to the north.
shh don't tell Jason Aldean. lol j/k
Great upload, F**k United Utilities, get in there, what's the worst that could happen, trespass is a civil offence.
Are you on Instagram? Love the videos 👍🏼
Great video mate