Monument record 15870 - Good Moors Water Works

<1> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 257/2, undated (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map depicts a sub-rectangular pond recorded as plot 564 which is described in the award as freshwater ponds. A small plot (563a) to the immediate south-east has a building on the north-eastern side. The award describes this plot as engine house etc., and it is labelled Water Works on the map.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4947, 1875 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts a sub-rectangular pond with a linear earthwork, presumably a dam, on the south-eastern side. A building is located here. Labelled Water Works. The pond is fed by a channel on the north-western side which initially feeds into a smaller pond.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4947, 1898 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

As previously depicted except the smaller pond has silted up and these features are no longer labelled Water Works.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4947, 1911 (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

As previously depicted.

<5> Malpas Online, 2005-2023, Malpas Online, Water Supply for Malpas (Web Site). SCH9435.

In 1832 the rate payers of Malpas approached the two major landowners, Lord Cholmondeley and Squire Drake, to improve the access to water in the village. They financed the building in 1835 of a waterworks on the Good Moors to the south-east of the town. The water was pumped from the waterworks by an overshot water wheel, through a culvert to a reservoir constructed within the castle mound. From there the water was piped around the town.

After the construction of a sewage works nearby, the filtered wastewater was used to drive the water wheel, which caused contamination of the drinking water. The town took on the waterworks at a rent of £1 per annum. The water wheel was replaced by a steam engine.

From 1892 the town began to receive water from the Severn Vyrnwy aqueduct, which passed near the town, and the water works went out of use.

<6> Cheshire County Council, 2002, Cheshire Historic Towns Survey: Chester District Part 1: Archaeological Assessments, Malpas p.8 (Report). SCH6979.

In 1835, the Marquis of Cholmondeley and Thomas Tyrwhitt-Drake, the two principal land-owners in the area, constructed a waterworks to the south-east of the town. From here, water was forced by a steam engine into a reservoir, which was constructed inside the Castle Hill or motte. This reservoir was subsequently enlarged in 1885.

<7> Next Perspectives, 2019-2021, Aerial Photography for Great Britain, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery (2019-2021), SJ4946 & SJ4947, 10/04/2020 (Aerial Photograph). SCH9405.

The main pond or reservoir is still extant.

<8> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, LIDAR Composite Last Return DSM 1m 2022 (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

The smaller pond and a number of other possibly associated earthworks survive in this area.

<9> ARUP (Leeds), 2023, Malpas Wastewater Treatment Works: Cultural Heritage Desk Based Assessment, R4757 (Client Report). SCH9591.

A desk-based cultural heritage assessment was produced in 2023 to inform a proposed upgrade and extension of the existing Malpas Wastewater Treatment Works on land to the south-east of Malpas. There are 18th century documentary references to a town well in 1735 and a village pump in 1765. The pump stood over the town well, located at the end of Well Street, and supplied water for the town. In 1832 the rate payers of Malpas, concerned by the distances of their houses from the town well, approached the two major landowners, the Marquess of Cholmondeley and Squire Drake, to improve the access to water in the town. In 1835, the landowners built a waterworks on the Good Moors to the south-east of the town, an area which formed a natural water catchment, and which was fed by a number of springs. The water works was known as the 'Good Moors Water Works'. It used an overshot water wheel to power a pump, to carry water from a pond located at the water works, through a culvert to a reservoir built within the castle motte, from where it was distributed by pipes across the town. The reservoir had a capacity of 8,000 gallons. The larger pond is still extant and is located adjacent to the north of the proposed development site, while the engine house was located within the site boundary.