Water pump in Streamstown

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. Located adjacent to Steamstown Crossroads to the west of Castletown Geoghegan.

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 pump is located adjacent to a rural crossroad junction, a common site for artefacts of this nature. This cast-iron pump now serves as an attractive piece of street furniture, aesthetically enhancing the rural landscape to west of Castletown Geoghegan.