Jubilee Fountain at Buckley Wells, Bury

These photos were taken at the end of the "Peelers" hike in March 2012. I knew the fountain existed but at the time I was more interested in the other monuments close by. I passed this fountain on the way to school for five years. Always seemed out of place then. It still seems so. This drinking fountain is placed at the join of Manchester New Road and Manchester Old Road to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It seemed the fountain was boarded up until the summer of 1899. A railway tunnel was constructed underneath. The architect was Thomas Rodgers Kitsell. The Fountain is built of Portland stone and also Granite. There is plenty of weathering at the top of the fountain as well as vandalism over the years too. There were apparently gargoyles of lions heads that filled the lower troughs, there was also a bronze statue of a small boy on top of the granite stand. This has now gone and replaced by a basket for flowers.

The weather vain is still intact,
although a close inspection reveals very extensive wear on the Portland stone.
The ornaments that stick out actually carry the water from the roof away from the body of the fountain.
This face has the head of a man on it. The other a horse.

The inscription around the cornice reads :
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS
 IF ANY MAN THIRST
LET HIM COME UNTO ME AND DRINK
VIC. REG. 1897 60 YEARS
This is looking down towards Manchester from the Clock Tower

The drinking troughs can be seen. Left is Manchester and right is Bury Town Centre
To the right is a tiny grassed area which is related to the monument

The centre of the monument under the canopy.
A  bronze statue once stood on top of the turned granite column

Primulas. There is some bronze work behind the flowers. Quality casting too.

Close up of the base, Quite a lot of wear.
One of the round base stones is missing too. I never spotted that!

Close up of the opposite side. The other side has the man's head
The ears have completely disappeared with the weather

Small park in the background.
The fountain was donated by a Miss Eliza Anne Openshaw,
 which was made anonymously by a local vet ,
William Noar who actually was the brother in law of the architect.
The Openshaws were a well known local family.

Eliza Anne Openshaw was born about 1831. She was the daughter of Oliver Ormerod Openshaw and Dorothy Greenhow. The censuses showed she lived in Bury all her life. The 1871 census names 64 Tenterdon street as her address which will have been approximately 600 yards or so from the fountain.

She died at the age of 76 in March 1907. It seems she had five brothers whom she outlived. There is also an Openshaw Park at Pimhole in Bury. I suspect thast this is also connected with same family. Thomas Horrocks Openshaw attained a degree of notoriety when he was connected with the "Jack the Ripper" case.