The Amersham, Beaconsfleld and District Waterworks was a private company registered in 1895. The promoters intended to sink a well 260 feet below the surface of the Misbourne valley at Amersham and to pump the water up to a reservoir 500 feet above sea level near the site of the present water tower. They were to supply water to the parishes of Amersham, Beaconsfield, Chalfont St. Giles, Chenies, Chesham Bois, Coleshill, Gerrards Cross, Penn, Seer Green, and part of High Wycombe. The rapid development of all these districts, particularly of Amersham on the Hill, Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross, could not have taken place without the vital water supply provided by this Company. The engineer to the company was A.E. Sandford Fawcett, whose father, Edmund Alderson Fawcett, had lived at Coleshill House and whose sisters still lived at The Rosary.
It soon became apparent that the expansion of the area would necessitate raising the pressure of the water in the pipes. The Amersham, Beaconsfleld and District Water Order of 1914 gave the Company power to build the present water tower next to the Coleshill reservoir, by which means the water level was raised a further 100 feet above the surrounding countryside. There is a strong local tradition that German prisoners of war were used in the construction of the water tower although this has been disputed.
In 1995, the water tower at Coleshill was no longer needed and was advertised for sale as a private dwelling. The building of the unusual home has seen the conversion of the tower into five bedrooms and the construction of an adjoining single-storey living area. The project featured on the Channel Four programme 'Grand Designs' in 1999, and a follow up programme was filmed in 2009.