Survey Data
Reg No
15401720
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Social, Technical
Original Use
Water pump
In Use As
Water pump
Date
1865 - 1885
Coordinates
226340, 251589
Date Recorded
23/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding cast-iron water pump, erected c.1875, comprising banded cylindrical shaft with fluted head having fluted spout, ‘cow tail’ curvilinear handle, and shallow domed cap over. Now out of use. Located adjacent to road and surrounded on three sides by rendered concrete boundary wall. Drain to east.
Appraisal
A typical late nineteenth-century water pump, of a simpler design than is more commonly encountered in rural Westmeath. Water pumps played an important social role in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries by providing a communal water source before the development of mains water supply. This cast-iron pump now serves as an attractive piece of street furniture, aesthetically enhancing the rural landscape.