IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Pontefract Road, PONTEFRACT, WF7 7ET

Milestone marker, Castle Syke Hill, Ackworth.

This is the view of the public footpath from Purston as it approaches Castle Syke Hill, Ackworth.

As the village of Ackworth grew significantly in the 1970s with several large new housing developments, water pressure became a problem. The solution was to give Ackworth a water tower of its own. Previously the water tower at Pontefract had provided the pressure regulating facility, but Pontefract too had seen significant housing development and some parts of Ackworth were literally on the end of the line, about 5 miles from the Pontefract tower. Ackworth Water Tower is located at the top of Castle Syke Hill, just off the A628 Pontefract Road. The immediate effect of the pressure improvement was a series of mains bursts over many months all the way down the water main under the A628 as it ran through Ackworth. The water main had obviously deteriorated over time but the low pressure had concealed the problem. Any repair cascaded the problem to the next weakest point. Eventually a full water main renewal, at considerable disruption to local traffic, was the solution.

And behind it Ackworth Water Tower. The Plague Stone allegedly dates back to the local plague of 1645. It is said that alms in the form of coins were placed in the hollow basin at the top to be disinfected in vinegar.

This is the highest point in Ackworth, traditionally where water towers are situated.

This is the view from Castle Syke Hill, Ackworth, the base of the Water Tower, looking over Pontefract to Ferrybridge Power station on the horizon.

Ackworth Plague Stone is associated with the outbreak of plague that affected Ackworth in 1645. The hollow on top that now fills with rain water was filled with vinegar at the time as a disinfectant for coins left in it as payment for goods brought to the village boundary from the local market town of Pontefract.