In the heart of Colchester stands the Jumbo Water Tower, considered a striking architectural wonder. The tower reaches 131 feet high and is made up of 1.2 million red bricks. It takes over 150 steps to reach the cupola at the top, which is crowned with an elephant weathervane. The structure earned the nickname “Jumbo,” after an elephant at the London Zoo. In 1883, surveyor and engineer Charles Clegg built the water tower in a Romanesque Revival campanile style. At the time, it was England’s second-largest water tower, with its…
