Inherited bath with house, replacing taps and giving it a clean as it’s in a bit of a state and suddenly realised there’s no overflow:

Bit of googling (well 20 minutes) and I found a similar style bath with the plug and overflow combined and inside the bath rather than a separate overflow outlet at the top. I think this is what would originally have been fitted with the control poking up through the small hole in the plate between the tap holes. What’s the overflow/plug control/pipey bit to the plug hole called and where do I get one?

Good luck in finding that.
They both look like very old baths. Reclamation yards?
Maybe email these below and ask if they have ever seen one?

Cast iron bath co.

That’s a new one on me.

I’d either fit new taps and live without an overflow or change the bath.

Do you really need an overflow?

I believe they are called tower drains or standing drains. I’ve seen them a fair few times outside of the bath, but never inside.

Is it this? https://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/formoso-sprung-plug-bath-waste-and-overflow

*IANAP*

Is it this?

I don’t think so. That one looks like it fits externally to the bath and drains into pipework under the floor.

I think they are also called [cast iron] plunger baths.

eg https://www.salvoweb.com/8158-reclaimed-cast-iron-plunger-bath

I’d be surprised if you got one to match the bath though.

The bath in our old house had one. Worked well.

That is a quality tub!

if you wanted alternate protection against flooding you could probably attach a battery powered overlow alarm to the bottom of that shelfy thing..?

Plunger Waste! We’re making progress 🙂

Just need an internal one.

https://www.architonic.com/en/product/drummonds-plunger-overflow-and-waste-unit/1195329

Be nice to reinstate it if we can but not the end of the world if not.

https://drummonds-uk.com/product/plunger-overflow-waste-unit/ ???

I think I’d just get a new bath.

Maybe sell that old one to a reclaimation yard if you can get it out in once piece…

I believe they are called tower drains or standing drains. I’ve seen them a fair few times outside of the bath, but never inside.

I have in old hospital baths. It was basically just a tube that was a push fit in the plughole

That first photo could work in the Arghh my eye! thread.

Like this?

It was basically just a tube that was a push fit in the plughole

This – you don’t need something fancy, just a pipe with a flange/stopper/thingy at the bottom.
Get a piece of pipe with a smaller diameter than the hole and make a plug around the end with Sugru, cut a hole in a normal plug and fit the pipe, something like that.
It doesn’t have to look like a bodge job, get something iron or brass, put a cap on it like your first pic, whatever, something to make it look nicer.

Edit: Maybe the top could poke through that small hole, that way you could lift it and fasten somehow to open the plug without removing it entirely. It would need a hole in the side of the pipe for the overflow at the right height.
Wish I had a bath like that now lol

Cool bath. Quite a few modern freestanding baths don’t have overflows either.