Folly Pier Waterworks

[1] Construction of the breakwaters of Portland Harbour commenced in 1849, along with the various fortifications including the Verne Citadel.

HM Prison Portland was established in 1848 to provide convict labour for these works.

[2] As the island's traditional water supply, using springs an wells, was not sufficient for the government works, the Admiralty tasked Chief Engineer John Coode to build Folly Pier Waterworks and its large reservoir, along with a pumping station on the clifftop at Cheyne.

[3][4] The waterworks supplied the prison above and acted as an intermediary by receiving and managing water from the pumping station.

[1] After the prison was converted into a Borstal in 1921, the remaining reservoir tanks of the then-demolished waterworks was used as swimming pools from the late 1920s.