Water Tower

We were delivering flowers today for an event at "Stephens House" in Finchley, a location we had previously not come across.  The name "Stephens House and Gardens" has been given to Avenue House and its associated extensive gardens.  The house and grounds were once owned by Henry "Inky" Stephens (1841-1918) - who made Stephens Ink.

The ink business was clearly profitable, because the house is large (and he renovated it and enlarged it further) and he also purchased a large estate in Cholderton, Wiltshire.  Among his many interests, he was concerned about the quality of water supplies and so built this water tower (the earliest reinforced concrete water tower in the world, it is claimed), part of a water purification system to supply the house.  He also established the Cholderton and District Water Company, which still supplies his estate there.

The two arches beside the tower are the remains of a laundry which used to be supplied with water from the tower.

This country is full of surprising treasures like this.