History in Structure

Pavilion at Hewlett's Reservoir

A Grade II Listed Building in Battledown, Gloucestershire

We don't have any photos of this building yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.8991 / 51°53'56"N

Longitude: -2.0402 / 2°2'24"W

OS Eastings: 397330

OS Northings: 222287

OS Grid: SO973222

Mapcode National: GBR 2M6.T5V

Mapcode Global: VHB1Q.LJ9H

Plus Code: 9C3VVXX5+JW

Entry Name: Pavilion at Hewlett's Reservoir

Listing Date: 14 December 1983

Last Amended: 2 April 2015

Grade: II

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1104324

English Heritage Legacy ID: 474691

ID on this website: 101104324

Location: Battledown, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52

County: Gloucestershire

District: Cheltenham

Electoral Ward/Division: Battledown

Parish: Charlton Kings

Built-Up Area: Cheltenham

Traditional County: Gloucestershire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Gloucestershire

Church of England Parish: Charlton Kings St Mary

Church of England Diocese: Gloucester

Tagged with: Building

Find accommodation in
Cheltenham

Summary


A pavilion, possibly originally a valve house, constructed around the 1870s, as part of the Hewlett’s Reservoir complex.

Description


A pavilion, possibly originally a valve house, constructed around the 1870s, as part of the Hewlett’s Reservoir complex.

MATERIALS
Red brick with vermiculated stone quoins and plinth, fishscale slate roof and iron verandah.

PLAN
Octagonal on plan, single cell.

EXTERIOR
The single-storey, octagonal building has a doorway to one wall and pointed windows (replaced in uPVC) to each of the other walls. The pointed-arched door is ledged and braced, with decorative strap hinges. The roof extends on all sides as a verandah, supported on colonnettes, with ornamental decoration to the eaves. The apex carries a cast-iron weathervane.

INTERIOR
The building is a single cell, with plastered walls, moulded cornice and timber floorboards. The ceiling is clad in timber.

History


Cheltenham, and its suburb Charlton Kings, were expanding rapidly in the early years of the C19, and by the 1820s, the water supply was becoming inadequate. The response was the setting up of the Cheltenham Water Works Company, by Act of Parliament, in 1824. The company purchased a five-acre site set high on a hillside in Charlton Kings, off Hewlett’s Road (now Harp Hill), on which to build its new works. The site, which would collect water from the Northfield Springs on the surrounding hillsides, was selected as it was sufficiently high to allow the water supply to be fed to the town by gravity, rather than requiring pumping. The first underground reservoir on the site, with a capacity of 413,000 gallons, built in stone and designed by James Walker of Limehouse, was built in 1824, along with a custodian’s house, and supplied with a showy entrance with gates and gatepiers incorporating the Company’s crest. Water was carried through two miles of cast-iron pipes from the reservoir to the High Street in Cheltenham. The site was enlarged following a further Act of Parliament, and a second underground reservoir was added in 1839, also designed by James Walker; this brick-built reservoir was much larger than the first, with a capacity of 2 million gallons. Despite this, issues continued with the inconsistency of supply during the summer months, and in 1847, Henry Dangerfield, the County Surveyor, designed a new, open brick reservoir which covered three acres at Hewlett’s, holding 9 million gallons, which were drawn from more reliable springs further afield. Expansion of the complex, which was provided with a consistent boundary wall enclosing the entire site, was completed in 1857, with a still larger, fourth, open reservoir, this one with lobed brick walls.

The pavilion was added to the site in the mid-C19, probably as a valve-house, though it no longer contains any plant. It provided one of the principal decorative elements of the reservoir complex.

The Hewlett’s Reservoir site remains in use, now storing water extracted from the River Severn at the Mythe Pumping Station at Tewkesbury though No.1 reservoir is now redundant. A concrete cover on piers was added to No.3 reservoir in 1966, after it was found that the pre-treated water it held was deteriorating in the open. No.4 reservoir was abandoned in 1965, and demolished in the 1990s. The custodian’s house was altered and extended in the later C20.

Reasons for Listing


The pavilion at Hewlett’s Reservoir, a probable former valve house dating from circa 1870, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the building is an ornamental pavilion with picturesque detailing, which belies its functional purpose and instead gives the appearance of a country house garden building;
* Group value: the pavilion forms part of a good group of buildings at this, the earliest surviving complex of covered reservoirs, which includes Reservoirs 1 and 2, and the gates, piers and boundary walls, all listed at Grade II.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

Other nearby listed buildings

BritishListedBuildings.co.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact BritishListedBuildings.co.uk for any queries related to any individual listed building, planning permission related to listed buildings or the listing process itself.

British Listed Buildings is a Good Stuff website.