Milton Ernest Water Tower, Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire UK - Relocated Structures on Waymarking.com

The water tower is clearly visible right next to the perimeter fence and you can easily snap a photograph of it. The Wind Tunnels on the site are now used by a Formula One Racing Team for testing their cars. A mile up the road is the old Thurleigh Airfield which is now a business and technology park and houses the Jonathan Palmer racing school and circuit.
In 1952 the complete water tower was moved to accommodate a new wind tunnel. Originally the tower was going to be demolished and a new one erected costing £30,000. To save money J.L. Kier and Company (London) Ltd stated that they could move the tower at half the cost. The 1,800 ton, 79 feet tall and 53 feet wide concrete tower was moved accordingly.

A new tower at Turvey (our Pictshill tower waymark) had to be built so that the water supply was uninterrupted, as the tower held 150,000 gallons of water. Milton Ernest water tower was then emptied, separated from its foundations with a blast and slid along some purpose built narrow roadways with channels resembling railway lines. Inside the channels were ball bearings to roll the tower along into its new position. The tower was towed along these roadways for 810 feet by a tractor at a rate of 50 feet per day.

The process of moving the tower was the first time this system had been used in Britain. This information is available in more detail in 'The Importance of Milton Ernest' book by David Newman. A unique local history book which was self published.

Original Location: N 52° 11.854 W 000° 29.613 How it was moved: Other Type of move: Inside City Building Status: Private Related Website: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/01/2010 Dragontree wrote comment for it