John Rowland wrote:
There's a water tower in Dressington Avenue. If you go up Eastern
Rd, 600 metres further north, you are higher than the top of the
water tower, so if they'd put the water tower in Eastern Road they
wouldn't have had to build a tower, they could just sit the tank on
the ground or under the ground. Does anyone know why they might
have built a water tower at the foot of a hill?

See http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lewish.../workhouse.htm
and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.h.../StOlave.shtml

It appears that the water tower was built as part of the Bermondsey
Union's workhouse/hospital on a large site at Ladywell at the end of the
19th century, rather than as part of the local water company's general
supply to the area. The Metropolitan Water Board wasn't established
until 1903, and maybe the local supply would have been inadequate for
such a large institution.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)