IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
London Road, BIGGLESWADE, SG18 9TH

By the A1 south of Biggleswade.

A shot which also shows details of the stonework. I'm reminded somewhat of the Scottish Baronial style. Can anyone identify the stone?

It would be so easy to dismiss this building as just a shabby old waterworks. I have no idea who the architect was, but he (surely it couldn't have been a she?) has put a great deal of thought into the design, no doubt in the hope that his talent would be recognised and that he'd be given the chance to work on something grander - perhaps a country house (like Castle Drogo) or a museum. In the detail seen here, the architect has shown independence of mind by doing something pretty outrageous (in 1906!) - using a single Tuscan column where a symmetrical layout would be expected. And look at the meticulous patterning of the masonry - which looks as if it must all have been specified on the drawing-board. The building isn't 'listed', and doesn't figure in my copy of Pevsner for this area (dated 1968). I'm curious to know who designed it, and wonder what they got up to in the years that followed.

This building stands close to the north-bound carriageway of the A1 - so close that from a passing vehicle you get no more than a fleeting glimpse. The building has an oddly threatening look to it - largely due to the dark stone (Northamptonshire ironstone?) of which it is built - but is of considerable architectural interest. A stone over the main entrance gives the date of construction as 1906, accompanied by the letters 'BWB' - which, at a guess, must stand for Bedfordshire Water Board. At the time of this visit the building did not appear to be in day-to-day use.

There is something forbidding and prison-like about this building - not entirely due to the choice of building material (a puzzling choice, here in the Home Counties). A stone over the main entrance dates the building to 1906, and carries the initials 'BWB' - which I assume stand for 'Bedfordshire Water Board'. The building may lack charm - but is interesting architecturally, having something in common with, for instance, Mary Ward House (in Bloomsbury): http://thecabbiescapital.co.uk/2009/03/27/building-of-the-week-6-mary-ward-house-5-7-tavistock-place-wc1/ At the time of my visit the waterworks no longer seemed to be in operation.

There is something forbidding and dungeon-like about this building. At first glance the design might seem functional, but look more closely at the stonework of the fence-pillar in the foreground - there is nothing haphazard about the detail, it's quite stylishly done, and the style belongs to the early 1900's. Has this place ever been used as a film location? Remove the water company signs and the aerials, and it's got loads of potential . . . For wider views of the building see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2994270 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2994458

Another view of the main entrance. Pretty forbidding, despite the modest scale.

To be found beside the A1, south of Biggleswade. An inscription - up in the gable - reads 'B.W.B 1906'. I haven't seen the latest edition of 'The Buildings of England' for this area, but old Prof. Pevsner didn't seem to know of this building - it's not included in his 1968 volume. I feel sure he'd have had plenty to say about it - though he might well have complained that it gave him bad dreams. I've already had my say - at the time of my brief visit in 2012: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2998399

By the side of the A1