Pump next to St Joseph's RC Church, Downpatrick Street, Crossgar, Co Down

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Cast iron water pump of perhaps c.1880, set on the pavement on the E side of Downpatrick Street, close to St Joseph’s RC church.

The pump has a splayed fluted base and a fluted domed cap with pointed finial. The pump was worked by wheels to either side (N and S) and to the front (W) is a short spout.

The pump sits in front of an arched recess, with the recess filled with fieldstone rubble and the arch formed in granite. Above the arch the wall rises to a point. This arch looks as though it used to be an entrance to the church grounds beyond it.

Historical information

Judging from its design this pump looks as though it were installed in the latter decades of the 19th century. The arch in the wall behind the pump looks as though it was once an entrance to the grounds of St Joseph’s church beyond. If this entrance was formed when the present church was opened in 1876, this could suggest that the pump (sitting as it does awkwardly in front of the ‘entrance’) is later.

The pump originally had a handle on each wheel, but these were removed some time prior to 1974.

References- Secondary sources
1 ‘Down Recorder’ 18th Oct 1974, “The chapel pump” [Short article concerning the pump.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Good example of a Rotary type cast iron water pump in a prominent position and with group value with the adjacent listed church.