Water fountain and walling

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Freestanding cast-iron water hydrant installed c. 1930, comprising moulded pedestal supporting, fluted shaft stamped with maker’s mark, banded neck and spout, surmounted by a fluted cap with acorn finial. It retains its bucket stand and pull handle.

The water fountain is located alongside Annaghmare Road close to the junction with Kiltybane Road and nearby the former Annaghmare school. It is mounted on a tarmacadam bay within the verge, sideways on to the road, facing NW, and is part enclosed to the rear by a low, semi-circular, rubblestone-wall topped by a hip-ended saddle coping.

Historical information

The water fountain in Annaghmare Road dates from c1930 and is first shown on the fourth edition OS map of 1956 (denoted by P for pump). The fountain is not shown on the previous edition of 1906-7.

Although water fountains are commonly referred to as pumps, they do not in fact use a pumping mechanism for their operation but instead depend on pressurised mains water, the pressure enabling the water to rise up to the spout unaided. The fountain at Annaghmare could only have been fitted after the installation of the mains water supply and can therefore most likely be dated to the period after 1920 (Hamond). Most known water fountains in Northern Ireland are in urban or village areas, and the rural fountain at Annaghmare is relatively rare in its location. The fountain was installed on the roadside for public access but may have been positioned to allow the nearby Annaghmare school to take advantage of it. It is also possible that the fountain was installed on the site of an earlier pump (although this is not recorded on historic maps, there is evidence on the first edition OS map (1835) of a former well and ‘pipes’ fed by Annaghmore Lough in the close vicinity of the location of the fountain).

The water fountain at Annaghmare is of a standard design produced by the Kilmarnock company Glenfield & Kennedy (name embossed on pillar of fountain). The patented ‘self-closing’ design of the company ensured that once the knob at the side of the fountain was released the flow of water would stop. The knob is connected to an internal counterweighted bevel gear mechanism which turns the water on and off (Hamond). The metal bracket at the base of the fountain enables buckets to be filled free-handed.
Glenfield & Kennedy was almost exclusively the manufacturer for water fountains that were installed in the north of Ireland, some designs featuring a spout in the shape of a lion’s head (see for example, pumps in Beragh (HB11/07/033-037) and Sixmilecross (HB11/20/013-016)). The Annaghmare fountain is almost identical to designs featured in the company’s 1935 catalogue of water works fittings (the only apparent difference being the positioning of the company name) and is similar to fountains also made by the same company in Larne (HB06/03/032-34), Ballygawley (HB13/09/017), Killylea (HB15/11/088), Strangford (HB18/08/140), Ballygalley (HB06/03/035 – Glenfield Ltd), Newtownhamilton (HB16/18/016 – Kennedy Ltd) and Groomsport (HB23/01/030A-D) which were installed at a broadly similar date.

The manufacturer, Glenfield & Kennedy, was formed from the merger of two Kilmarnock-based companies. The Kennedy Patent Water Meter Co Ltd was formed in 1863 to market Thomas Kennedy’s innovatory water meter and was located on a site in Kilmarnock that was later shared with the Glenfield Co Ltd who supplied castings and undertook foundry work. The two companies collaborated closely and in 1899 merged to form Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd. The company became an important hydraulic engineering concern in Britain and a major exporter to the rest of the world. Various models of the Glenfield & Kennedy self-closing drinking fountain were supplied in large numbers from at least the 1880s to the 1940s to the colonies (especially India where the company had offices in Bombay and Calcutta), to Europe and to domestic customers in Britain and Ireland.

References:

Primary Sources:

1. The Sanitary World, 13th September 1884
2. PRONI OS/6/2/27/3 Third Edition Six Inch OS map (1906-7)
3. PRONI OS/6/2/27/4 Fourth Edition Six Inch OS map (1956)
4. Found Objects: Glenfield and Kennedy Ltd, Catalogue of Water Works Fittings (1935) - Found Objects: Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd. - Water Works Fittings Catalogue 1935 (f0und0bjects.blogspot.com)

Secondary Sources:

5. Hamond, Fred (1997) Water Pumps in Northern Ireland: A Preliminary Survey (unpublished report commissioned by DoENI)
6. Historic Environment Division (undated) A thematic survey of historic water pumps

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
E. Spatial Organisation

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An attractive roadside feature of a type which is becoming increasingly rare within the Northern Irish landscape. Likely located to be close to the road junction and Annaghmare school, the hydrant is a fine example of a mass-produced cast-iron item which incorporates simple artistic details.

Although we usually refer simply to ‘water pumps’ there are two distinct types – pumps and fountains. Pumps raise water from an underground well by a suction action and fountains issue water under pressure from a pressurised water system by turning a knob. This is a good example within a rural context of the later innovation, when fountains were connected to public pressurised water mains. The water supply was controlled by a valve operated by a small rotating knob.
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This pump is of particular importance as a reminder of the mechanisms installed for the provision of clean drinking water in the relatively short period when mains water supply was replacing well supply but had not become available to every household
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The makers stamp shows this example was manufactured by the Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd., Hydraulic Engineers in Kilmarnock, Scotland, a company that was formed out of merger of two companies in 1899 and specialised in the production of waterworks fittings.