Publication Account

Date 2007

Event ID 962861

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/962861

Meadow Well, Thurso

(Institute Civil Engineers Historic Engineering Works no. HEW 1504)

This well is a good example of small town water supply in Scotland and was the main water supply to Thurso for centuries. In 1818 its cistern was enlarged and the present building was completed in 1823 according to the date ona finial. The hand-operated pump, which is visible within, was installed about 1850. The use of the well for drinking water declined after the town obtained an improved supply of potable water from Loch Calder in ca.1876. It continued in use until the 1920s for filling water carts used to dampen down street dust.

An unusual feature of water supply to dwellings and farms in Caithness was the use of tanks with sides made of local flagstones jointed with lead.

R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.