The demolition of Harpenden's last Water Tower

27 January to 3 March 2016

The sturdy steel reinforced concrete water tower had been a feature of the skyline from Harpenden Common since it was built in the 1930s. It was the third tower to be built by the Harpenden Water Company and its successive owners. By 2016 Affinity Water were no longer using the tower for storage or pumping - there is a large underground reservoir on the site - and once a slender 20m galvanised steel tower had been erected for the mobile phone antennae, demolition began on 27 January 2016.

Many local residents posted photos on the Old Harpenden, Years Gone By closed Facebook page, and Local History Society member Trevor Miller took many photos and short video sequences until the site was completely cleared by 3 March 2016. Some of Trevor's photos are shown below. We hope to be able to upload some of his video-clips shortly, but meanwhile they can be seen on our Facebook page - see link on our Home page.

Photo:A reminder of what the tower looked like from Rothamsted Park - 3 August 2014

Photo:The start of the demolition on 27 January on behalf of Affinity Water, who had requested copies of old photos of the three towers

Photo:The first alert on Facebook - 27 January

Photo:Old Harpenden, Years Gone By Facebook members saw what was happening - 27 January

Photo:29 January - the top layer being stripped back

Photo:From 29 January to the final clearing up, Trevor Miller recorded many stages

Photo:Viewed from the Common on 1 February

Photo:The two demolition machines - 3 February

Photo:3 February, viewed from Shakespeare Road entrance

Photo:4 February, staff checking progress

Photo:The cleared and empty yard, 3 March

This gallery was added by Rosemary Ross on 15/03/2016.

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