Water Tower, Cardiff Central Station

Water Tower with Millennium Stadium to rear

The Water Tower at Cardiff Central Station, Cardiff, Wales is a Grade II listed building, previously used to supply water to steam locomotives on the Great Western Railway. It is currently located next to the western end of Platform 0, overlooking the River Taff.

History and description

The Water Tower has a large circular tank supported on six concrete ribs around the base. The panels of the tower (between the ribs) are infilled with brick. It has an access door on the southeast side.[1] The tower was built at the same time as the new railway station, to serve the station's fish platform.[1] At 15 m (50 ft) in height, it was completed in 1932 and painted in brown and beige, the livery colours of the Great Western Railway.[2]

The tower subsequently became obsolete, but remained in situ and in 1984 was decorated with a mural of large daffodils, by a team of young boys from Cardiff led by Dennis Bridge.[3] In 2011 a new abstract and colourful design was put forward by local artist, Dan Llewellyn-Hall, but was rejected by Cardiff Council planning committee.[4] In 2012, with the landmark daffodils faded, the tower was returned to the Great Western Railway colours of brown and beige by its current owners, Network Rail.[2] In 2014 a proposal was put forward to paint the tower for the Cardiff Contemporary Visual Arts Festival with colourful depictions of characters from the Mabinogion,[5] but this also failed to catch on.

The tower became Grade II listed in 1998.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Water Tower at Cardiff Central Station, Butetown". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Cardiff Central's landmark water tower renovation starts – without a daffodil in sight". Wales Online. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Cardiff Central station water tower decoration plans slammed by painter". Wales Online. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Cardiff rail water tower mural plan sidelined". BBC News. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Day, Liz (18 September 2014). "How's that for a makeover? Famous artist wants to paint Cardiff station's historic water tower with depictions of the Mabinogion". Wales Online. Retrieved 5 January 2014.

Coordinates: 51°28′33″N 3°10′54″W / 51.47593°N 3.18170°W / 51.47593; -3.18170

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