1700s

In the early 1760s the Pipe Water Company was established to provide a water supply to the city of Cork. The architect/engineer David Ducart designed the Waterworks which were completed by 1768. The site included a pumping house and open storage reservoirs or "basins" which were constructed on the hillside to the north of the river at the same location as the present Waterworks buildings. In fact, the Waterworks scheme seen today was actually built on the site of the lower water basin.

Untreated water from the river Lee was pumped up to the basins and then fed through wooden pipes to cisterns and public fountains in the city centre. The preferred varieties of wood used for the water mains were elm, larch and fir becase of their resistance to rot. The water was not pumped or pressurised but fed by gravity alone so that only locations below the level of the water basins at the Waterworks could receive the water. Upstairs plumbing in an 18th century house in Cork was not an option!

Apart from the terraces on the hillside where the two water basins were once situated, none of the 18th century Wateroworks buildings survives today. However, the original date plaque was saved and reused in the 19th century turbine house which is located at the river's edge.