Page 13 - COBH EDITION 20th DECEMBER DIGITAIL VERSION

Mr. Kirby estimated that the cost to produce 18 gallons of water per head of con-
sumers, purchase the land,and install the piping would be approximately £7,900.
Initially, this reservoir was supplied by a local stream but as demand increased a
further 5 miles of piping was installed to tap into the Owenacurra River near Bal-
lyedmund Bridge, north of Midleton.
Between 1890 and 1900 an impoundment was constructed at Tibbotstown to firstly
supply the British Military at Haulbowline and Spike Island and also the town of
Cobh. Interestingly the engineer in charge of the construction of the reservoir was
none other than the Clerk of Works overseeing the construction of St Coleman’s
Cathedral, Charles Guilfoyle Doran, who was also a leading figure in the Irish Repub-
lican Brotherhood and a member of the Fenian movement. The builders were E. &
R. Lester of Plymouth England and the project cost £23,000. The water engineer,
who had come to Cobh from Cornwall originally as an employee of the Queenstown
Waterworks but whose service was retained by the Town Commissioners was Mr.
Charles E. Amphlett. He oversaw much of the work in the laying of pipes, situation
of valves into Cobh and other ancillary work. His son Derry was to follow in his foot-
steps as water curator in Cobh for many years.

The water at Tibbotstown is confined by an imposing dam over 80 meters long and
11 meters high. Constructed over a series of arches of concrete and steel, stone
for the dam which is limestone was quarried in nearby Carrigtwohill. The catch-
ment area encompasses 475 acres and can retain over 28,000,000 gallons of water.
Initially the water, having being sand filtered was pumped through a 9 inch pipe to
the reservoir at Carrignafoy, where two tanks with a capacity of 199,000 and 33,000
gallons supplied the town and the islands. At Tibbotstown the raw water is presently
also treated with alum, fluoride and chlorine to remove any impurities.

This system continued until the 1950s when increased development in Cobh neces-
sitated the upgrading of the scheme. This upgrade entailed the construction of an
80,000 gallon capacity water tower at Carrignafoy in 1956 and a pump house to
pump the water to the top of the tower. A new 8 inch main from Tibbotstown to
Cobh was also installed as part of this upgrade. Likewise at the time a new reservoir
with a capacity of 99,000 gallons was constructed in the grounds of St. Joseph’s
National School in Cobh. The mains from Tibbotstown were again upgraded in the
1970s when a new 12/15 inch main was installed from Tibbotstown to Cobh. In
1999 work commenced on the construction of the new water tower at Carrignafoy
which has a capacity of 2,000 cubic meters. Work on the new tower was completed
within 12 months. Over 1,100 meters of concrete and 288 tons of reinforced steel
were used in the construction of the champagne glass shaped, 36 meter high tower.
Cobh now has a total storage capacity of over 1.5 million. gallons.

Presently as we are all only too familiar with, the mains are once again being up-
graded with work proceeding from Belvelly to Ticknock and the instillation of a new
125mm. barrier pipe. This barrier piping is a huge progressive step away from the
troublesome old cast iron piping of the past. Hopefully this upgrade will suffice well
into the future.

References:
Irish Newspaper Archives Online.
https://archives.parliament.uk/