Water pump in Ballycomoyle

Freestanding cast-iron, water pump, erected c.1885. Banded cylindrical shaft with fluted neck and flat plate top with 'cow-tail' handle. Cap now missing. Set on cement base and surrounded by concrete wall, open to front (south). Located to the north of Castlepollard, adjacent to rural road junction.

A typical late nineteenth-century water pump, of a standard design that is encountered throughout rural Westmeath. Water pumps played an important social role in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries by providing a communal water source before the development of mains water supply. Frequently, as in this case, water pumps were located at or near road junctions. This cast-iron pump now serves as an attractive piece of street furniture, aesthetically enhancing the rural landscape to the north of Castlepollard.