Static water tanks

The static tank can be seen on the corner of MPS where the Godiva (the Dive) pub was built.

Heathite, That looks to me like a derelict building, with a little water and a lot of garbage in the bottom. To me there were never any static water tanks in the city streets, before the war, during or after the war. What use would they be? Not enough water for the city brigade, a danger to the public and that one completely away from any top building (I stand to be corrected). As far as I remember the static water tanks were in factory premises which had their own brigade and smaller pumps. Sand was the best for incendiaries and most houses had buckets of sand outside the front door, not water. It's ironic that the first and only one I saw was when I pulled someone out of the said tank. I was a works fireman at the time, the metal tank stood about ten feet tall, about twenty foot long and about twelve feet across (guesswork) and moveable wooden steps. The city brigade could not interfere unless asked.

Hi Kaga. Maybe it wasn't being used then (at the time of the photograph), but its use is discussed on the 'Memories and Nostalgia' thread. See the posts around number 69, or search for 'static tank' in the posts. I knew it was the site of the 'Dive' but I did not know it was used as a static tank until being educated here.

Heathite, have just gone through ten pages of nostalgia, found nothing on water tanks, but thanks anyway. Hope someone will advise me on where static water tanks came from.

How about this page, Kaga?

Heathite, bombed buildings were not static water tanks, to me they were just the reverse. If a basement was flooded the fire brigade would pump it out down the street, someone on this forum I believe made a wrong guess and everyone else followed it. I believe if someone can prove me wrong then so be it. To me it seems what is implied is the tanks were put there for a purpose, I disagree. What use would a water tank be? Look, that is at street level, a huge danger to the public, that's why the fence is there, in fact when the building on the other corner was about to be used I believe there was a small pump used to pump out the water in the basement before they could start to rebuild. I see it as no use to the fire brigade. Example - there was a huge warehouse fire in Foleshill Road, the canal was on the opposite side, but the brigade ignored the canal water. We have ex-firemen on this forum, did they ever use a static water tank? The photo says 1953, well we had a monsoon over Europe in 53, over 3,000 thousand lives lost in the UK because of the weather, basements got flooded, the fire brigade pumped them out.

There are many articles in the Coventry newspaper regarding N F S water tanks during the war, about erecting them and eventually demolishing or selling them. Also people drowning in them! Buildings were also used for the purpose as shown by these interesting pictures from the newspaper archive site. This picture shows Miss Wilkinson, Parliamentary Secretary, inspecting a static water tank under construction in Jordan Well September 1941.

I would think that the first image (crypt) is St Michael's (Hay Lane) Baptist Church

Midland Red. Okay, you proved me wrong, I apologize to all, no excuses.

Kaga, If I don't learn something new each and every day then I consider those days wasted.

Kaga - credit is due to another member for locating the article showing that there was a static water tank in Jordan Well It wasn't a case of "proving you wrong", more of establishing the correctness of what others had thought And there's certainly no need at all to apologise to anyone on this forum, where we have spent many hours fascinated by your wonderful memories of Coventry and its surrounding area from years long ago - from before many of us were even born Sometimes our memories do let us down - it happens to us all I'm sure all will agree with me when I say - keep the stories and your recollections coming, Kaga - this forum needs them

Sorry Kaga if you felt I was correcting you. I can't resist doing a bit of research into some of the subjects on here and in the process learning about things that went on in the city. I am amazed at some of the things you can discover from the newspaper archive site. Please continue to post your memories, I enjoy reading them. They need to be preserved somewhere, perhaps you should write a book!

I second all of that from MR, my eyebrows always do a Roger Moore when I see a post from Kaga. ?

I remember the water tank in Jordan Well. It was surrounded by a white round topped wall about eight feet high. After the Saturday morning film show at the Gaumont the more daring of the lads would be given a 'bunk up' so as to walk along the top. With the height of the wall and the depth of the water it was probably about sixteen feet deep. Rumour had it that one poor unfortunate fell in and was drowned (any press reports about that?). Also, after the films we would cross over to the bombsites in Jordan Well and have a great time playing amongst the rubble and in the cellars, all highly illegal and dangerous of course but no 'health and safety' then, just brilliant fun for young lads. I also remember collecting incendiary bomb cases, highly prized for swops.

Hi jonboy. Now there's a new topic for all of us - 'SWAPS or SWOPS'!!! OK, now back to the static water tanks.