Description and History of Site:-
Rectangular water tank formed of bolted cast iron panels supported by a coursed stone, somewhat decorated, base of two by one bays. The line on which it stands is now operated by the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, which operates heritage passenger services on the line to Oxenhope.

Probably contemporary with the construction of the station in 1883.

Information panel:

THE WATER TANK HOUSE WELL AND PUMPING ENGINE

When this water tank house was built it wasn't connected to the town water supply, but fed via a pumping engine situated above a 20ft deep well. The hole you are standing above is that well. Not much is known about the original pump or well as no plans or records have been found. We do though have plans of the original Keighley Water Tank House which was built near to the original 1840s Keighley railway station in the 1860s and as these buildings were a fairly standard design it's safe to say that there are similarities between them.

You may notice that the well here is no longer 20ft deep. Over the years as many a plan was decided for this building it was decided to fill the well in and cap it off. The well was partially filled in and steel beams were added to create a new floor level with the original.

This never happened and for years it was covered over with railway sleepers to stop anyone falling down the partially filled hole. Now we have finally been able to implement our plans for the building, the brick line of the well has been raised to this floor height, a new base added and a glass floor placed above it to show you this piece of history.

You also notice the two square cast iron holes in the wall beneath this information board. These, along may with the stone block you can see in the picture to the right of the well are the mountings for the original pumping engine.

We don't have any record of this engine but speculate that this was a locally built steam pump that pumped water from the base of the well (which was fed from the River Worth, situated just over 100ft away towards Oxenhope) to the tank above the building. As the building originally fed over eight water columns and cranes, the pump would have been required to keep a constant water flow to the tank which accounts for its huge capacity of 30,000 imperial gallons.

Pumping engines in Midland Railway Water Tank houses seemed to be rare, with other examples (such as the one at Settle Railway station) being fed via local reservoirs based on higher ground. This is most likely why there does not seem to have been a standard pumping engine used in these buildings (The Midland Railway liked standardisation).

It is not known when the pumping engine was removed and the tank connected to the town supply, but we think it was probably in the early 20th century; aerial photographs of the station, dated 1928, show no chimney. The chimney would have been connected to the boiler feeding steam to the pumping engine and carried to carry away the steam and coal smoke from the boiler and pump. You can just see the start of the chimney on the wall to your far left, where a course of U shaped stones are in the wall. There was then a short external flue to its site, which is where the heat pump building now stands on the Haworth side of this building.

Further Reading and References:-
https://kwvr.co.uk/keighley-water-tower/

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Key Words :- water tower railway

Viewing the Site :- From Low Mill Lane

Address :- Low Mill Lane, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD21 4PD
Grid Ref :- SE 06633 41212
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.867080 , Long -1.900617
Local Authority :- City of Bradford
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II
Historic England List No - 1313908,
Site Condition :- Operational site, in use for original purpose
Site Dates :- 1883 -
Record Date :- 28 December 2022

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Nick Nelson