Water Fountain

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Cast iron water fountain, built c.1870 to designs by engineering firm, Glenfield Company Limited, set on the outer edge of the pavement and located on the south side of Lower Captain Street, Coleraine.

Square pillar formed entirely in cast iron, identical on all four sides with the exception of the east face that has spout, lion-head, engraving and button. Greek key engraving to plinth, filleted to narrower base with fluted moulding in framed panel, tapered in to support the main shaft, also panelled with raised cable moulding topped by beaded and curved cornice. A smaller shallow chamfered square cap with chevron-indented edging sits atop the cornice, crowned by a circular plate that rises to form an elliptical finial and culminates in a rounded point.

Water issues from lion-head spout on the east face, bolted within cable-moulded panel mounted to body, spilling into square rough concrete block basin beneath; floriate medallion above has button to operate fountain but water running constantly at present; ‘GLENFIELD Co LIMITED KILMARNOCK’ makers name below spout.

Materials:
Cast iron

Setting:
Situated on edge of the footpath, in front of modernised warehouse building that is adjacent to a row of terraced houses, on a street that inclines steeply within the Coleraine Town Centre Area of Townscape Character, on the West side of Bann River.

Historical information

A fountain, depicted as rectangular in plan and indicated by the letter ‘P’ (for pump), is shown on this site on the 1882 OS town plan of Coleraine. Whether this is the same apparatus we see today is not certain, but on the balance of evidence it appears likely that it was in place at this date.

The fountain’s cast iron casing is stamped ‘Glenfield Co. Limited Kilmarnock’. This firm was established in 1865. Its principal founder was Thomas Kennedy Snr., who in 1852 patented a design for a water meter, setting up a private venture - ‘The Kennedy Patent Water Meter Co.’ - in 1863 to facilitate its production. Glenfield’s role was to make castings for the meter, but within a few years it had expanded into the manufacture of hydraulic pumps, sluice valves, cranes and fittings for waterworks and docks, many of its pumps sporting a distinctive lion’s head spout. In 1897 the two firms merged, becoming Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd. by 1899, the largest business of its type in the then British Empire.

Going by this information it would seem probable, therefore, that this fountain dates from sometime after the later 1860s, (when the Glenfield Company expanded its lines of manufacture), but before 1897 - and judging from the evidence of the aforementioned map - probably before 1882. An October 2015 article in the Coleraine Times states that ‘a bore hole was sunk in Captain Street in 1870 and spring water was found at 80 feet’, suggesting that the machinery was installed either in the same year or shortly afterwards.
On the 1904, 1922 and 1949 OS maps the fountain is not shown as such, its position simply marked ‘WT’ (presumably ‘water trough’). It is noted as a ‘pump’ on the 1973 map and its successors.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI OS8/6/1 (1882)
2 PRONI OS8/6/2 (1904)
3 OSNI Sheet 13-13 (2 editions - 1973, 1994)

Secondary sources - websites
1 http://www.colerainetimes.co.uk/news/your-community/old-fountain-could-be-listed-by-the-doe-1-7055957 [accessed 11.11.2015 – paper copy on file HB03. ]
2 http://www.glenfield.co.uk/history/ [accessed 11.11.2015]
3 http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/collections/life-work/key-industries/engineering-firms/glenfield-kennedy.aspx [accessed 11.11.2015]
4 https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/TourismAndVisitorAttractions/LocalHistoryAndHeritage/Famouspeople/ThomasKennedy.aspx [accessed 11.11.2015]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Cast iron water fountain, built c.1870 and located at the pavement’s edge on the south side of Lower Captain Street, Coleraine. Designed by engineering firm Glenfield Company Limited, it is a rare surviving example of its type within the context of Northern Ireland. Square on plan with Classical proportions to main shaft; the distinctive lion-head surround to the water spout is typical of that used on water fountains at this time. The ornate decoration and elliptical ball finial is indicative of the attention to detail given to street furniture in the late Victorian era. Of historical interest as it predates mains water installation; it is thought that a bore hole drew spring water from 80ft below. Significant also from a social perspective as a supply fresh water to local residents, many of whom would not have this facility within their own homes; as such it became an informal gathering point.