Jumbo’s History

In 1808 surveyor Ralph Dodd obtained an Act of Parliament granting powers to a new private Colchester Water Works Company. His intention was to supply the town using both water from Chiswell Meadow and the Balkerne Spring by collecting it into two large reservoirs at the foot of Balkerne Hill. Here, he built a pumping house to raise the water by steam engine to another reservoir, this time inside the Balkerne Gate.

Years later, with Colchester’s population, including the garrison, growing, there was an increasing need for a reliable supply of clean water. The Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875 were a turning point. Councils were made directly responsible for public health matters, including water supply.

A major fire in 1873 was followed by a succession of serious outbreaks. As the town was divided into zones, with each taking turns to receive a few hours’ supply each day, a blaze in a non-supplied zone meant a waterworks’ employee had to be summoned to open the turncocks to redirect supply to the affected area before the fire could be tackled.

Following the disastrous fires and concern for public health, in 1880 the council, who had recently bought the former waterworks company resolved: in the opinion of the meeting, the requirements of the town in the matter of water supply can only be met by a Water Tower and Tank of sufficient capacity to ensure, by means of the existing wells and pumps, a constant supply to consumers and provision of adequate storage for extinction of fire.

Jumbo expert and author Brian Light notes that in practice this couldn’t happen effectively for years as the artesian well and steam pump used to raise water from the bottom of Balkerne Hill were inadequate. It was not until a new pump house was built in 1894 and the artesian well extended, that Jumbo was able to operate as intended.

Designed by Charles Clegg, Borough engineer, Jumbo was built by Everett & Sons builders of Hythe Hill, Colchester and cost a huge £11,138. The tank was supplied by AG Mumford, which had an iron foundry in Culver Street, Colchester. The water tower is 131ft 5ins (40.05m) tall and was constructed using 1,200,000 locally produced bricks. The tank could hold 230,000 gallons, which weighed 1,000 tons. The opening ceremony took place on September 27, 1883 amid political rows about the costs of building Jumbo. The structure was operational the following year.

At the time it was built, Jumbo needed a huge public investment in the supply of clean water to the community. Incidents of cholera and other water-borne diseases soon became a thing of the past.

The tower was turning heads even before it was built, with political in-fighting and residents complaining about the scale, initial inefficiency, and the cost. One of the strongest opponents of the tower was the Rural Dean of St Mary-at-the-Walls, who didn’t want the tower built near his garden. It is he who named the structure ‘Jumbo’, after London Zoo’s huge famous elephant, which later became part of P T Barnum’s American circus, the “Greatest Show on Earth”. Rev John Irvine wrote to the local newspaper complaining about such a huge building on his doorstep.

Then, just a year after the opening ceremony, The Great English Earthquake of 1884 struck on April 22, with its epicentre in Colchester. There was only minor damage to Jumbo, but elsewhere in the town there was destruction to buildings. It is now thought the cracks in Jumbo, which can still be seen, appeared because the structure was new and hadn’t settled.

The earthquake added to concern about Jumbo, but local affection for the landmark has only grown in intervening years and the building is now an icon for the city, appearing on everything from artworks to adverts for the beer festival!

Jumbo remained in operation until the early 1980s when it was decommissioned by Anglian Water and it fell into private hands.

A modern milestone in Jumbo’s history came in 2006 when Brian Light and others established The Balkerne Tower Trust to fight for public access to Jumbo. The Balkerne Tower Trust made a successful application to upgrade Jumbo to a Grade II* listing, laying the foundation for North Essex Heritage’s work to save the building. You can buy Brian’s book Jumbo: The Water Tower, which is the definitive source on this fascinating building, from Red Lion Books in Colchester.