Water pump in Christianstown

Freestanding cast-iron water pump, erected c.1885, comprising banded cylindrical shaft with fluted head having fluted spout, ‘cow tail’ curvilinear handle, and fluted ogee-dome cap with finial. Associated water trough, on rectilinear plan, to front (south) and enclosed by rendered wall on three sides, open to the south. Located to the north of Drumcree.

A typical late nineteenth-century water pump, of a standard design encountered throughout rural Westmeath. Water pumps played an important social role in the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries by providing a communal water source before the development of mains water supply. This cast-iron pump now serves as an attractive piece of street furniture, aesthetically enhancing the rural landscape to the north of Drumcree/Collinstown.