Healing Water Tower

     Water towers are structures designed for the purpose of pumping drinking water to the surrounding community. They work by simply transporting the water to an elevated position, which is at a sufficient height to pressurise the contents, and, thus, distribute it through pipes to the home. During the early 20th century, Healing had an example of its own.
     With the population of Healing expanding at a huge rate, the need for a constant and reliable source of water was needed. In 1910, bore holes were sunk by the Great Grimsby Water Company in many locations around the village, including one near the train line. This was to provide and be the site of the Healing water tower.

Above: 1938 Grimsby and Louth Popular map, 4th edition. Note the water tower just below the word 'London'.

     The tower was formerly a revolving observation tower, sited near Wonderland, in Cleethorpes, for people to view the surrounding countryside. It was 150 feet high and could accommodate up to 200 people at one time. This tower was built in 1902. With some modifications, the tower could now hold water instead of tourists.

     The images above were kindly supplied by Kathleen Robinson, who has been researching the area of Killingholme. The first image shows the water tower with the water tank on, and Webster's garage in the foreground. The second shows the same scene, however, the storage tank has been removed (for maintenance?) The water tower also features on one of our postcards from a previous article, seen below:

On this image, we can fully see the top of the tower.

     The water was pumped into the tower by a gas engine. Water from the tower supplied the watercress beds.

     On 21st/22nd August 1951, pumping tests were carried out on the bore hole which was filling up the water tower. It was found that the maximum yield of water was 100,700 gallons per hour, or 2.4 million gallons per day. To add to that astonishing fact, the bore hole was still overflowing at the end of the 24-hour test.

     However, just one year later, a new purpose-built pumping station was built, which had high-tech electric pumps and six new bore holes. The iconic water tower was then dismantled.

Regards,

James

For more information regarding the tower whilst it was in Cleethorpes, please see this post by Rod Collins here.