The water tower, at the front of the farmyard, next to the well, at Station Farm, Stanhoe.

Chris Branch says in 2011:
"The water tower was erected by Harry Calver in 1950 to store well water to service the stand-pipe in the farmyard (by the Turnip house) and to supply the cattle troughs via underground galvanized steel water-pipes. Dick Calver laid the water supply pipes in the early 1950's. I can recall Harry had to go down the well and was lowered on a "Bosun's chair".

No provison was made to supply piped water to the original farmhouse, athough had they chosen to do so, it could have been achieved with an extra 30 feet of underground pipe.

Power and water was connected to the new farmhouse which was started in about 1952, but by 1954 although almost complete, the delivery of the oak staircase was delayed and the builder went broke, or so we understood. So the new Farmhouse could not be occupied.

The old farmhouse had: no running water; no bathroom at all; there was a long zink bath suspended from a nail on the house-wall (next to the door leading to the stairs); and it had just one outside (dry) lavatory, some 30 yards down the garden path. Drinking water always had to be collected in pails and carried from the well until 1950 but latterly from a stand-pipe in the yard. Washing water was collected from either a water butt in the yard or from another by the house,( located in front of the Kitchen)." Empty pails would be left by the stand-pipe and then filled some hours later and brought back up to the house on a return journey. This was usually around 11am when Harry returned to the old farmhouse to grab a beer that he called "Pigeon milk". When we were there, he would order in for me, a crate of bottled lemonade.

Created on

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Posted on

Sunday 3 July 2011

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Stanhoe_001586.jpg

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2000s, farming, loaned Chris Branch, Station Farm

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