A black informational plaque on a stone wall reads: "LENDAL TOWER Dating from about 1300, it was originally part of the City's defences, with a defensive chain stretching from here to the Tower on the opposite bank. In 1677 it was leased to the predecessors of The York Waterworks Plc for five hundred years as an annual rent water tower. During the 18th century it housed a steam pumping engine modified to the design of John Sm Eaton FRS. It ceased to be used for those purposes in 1882. Now houses the Company's Board Rooms."