Ashton Gardens Water Fountain

Ashton Gardens, just north of St Annes Square's most notable feature is the fine War Memorial, photographed but not yet published. However north of the war memorial is a rose garden and at the south end is a renovated water fountain. I think I have some older shots of this fountain and will be published in due course, but at the moment I will publish those taken this weekend.

Part of me thinks this is wanton vandalism by the council and the other part is at least they have kept it. All functionality has gone. Even small children are pretending to use the remains of the fountain as a toilet!

THESE GARDENS
WERE PRESENTED BY
THE RIGHT HON LORD ASHTON
TO THE INHABITANTS OF
ST. ANNES-ON-THE-SEA
1914

Lord Ashton's coat of arms
MURUS AENEUS CONSCIENTIA SANA
"A Sound Conscience is a Wall of Brass"
Ironically it is the same motto as Skegness local authority.

Nicely painted though!

Traces of pipework, but the bowl has just been filled in with concrete.
Its not going anywhere

View of the rose garden from the left of the water fountain.

I hope the lady pours water from her spout.
Makes up for the vandalism of the water fountain

The view from the north side.
I like this view!

On balance even though it has been abused. Its OK - left something for future generations and commemorated Lord Ashton's generosity. A lot of effort has been put in over the years and the gardens are very much appreciated. Considering it was the coldest day of the year - January it was busy!

St Annes-on-Sea Water Fountains

Back to the pretty stuff! There are two water Fountains on St Annes seafront, Both are pretty old - I will do research later. There is a small one at the entrance to the, now open swimming pool, which is the most southern one. Further up the promenade and close to the Mexico monument is a far larger and still working fountain. It is very large, quite magnificent and constantly being repainted by the council. No sophisticated colours here! For the first time I have added a video to an item on any of my blogs. It is here

Early Sunday morning before the car-park gets busy.
This is set back about 5 yards from the footpath next to the main prom road.
The reopened swimming pool is in the background.
The boating pool is to the right of this and the new lifeboat house is there too.

Closer still! About 7 feet in all. About half the size of the next one. This is right on the thoroughfare. Have to walk round it to get to the swimming pool.

It does have the exterior equipment to work - but I have seen it working!

4 sides, each one has an aquatic theme.
Beautifully rendered casting. Can only be done in iron

A pipe on the other side too. This is facing the road.

Facing South.

Close up of the base. The design is so similar to the other fountain.

Not quite a circular surround but definitely rounded bays

This is the drinking trough for dogs. This is probably rain water

View from the base

 The images below are the larger water fountain. It is about 400 yards north of the first one. The "Mexico" monument is nearby as is the bandstand.

From the promenade - the main prom route is just in front of the hotels

Looking North - but still prom side

Roadside but looking North

Looking due South - the new cafe is just by the edge of the prom
and juts out over the boating pool

Detail of the caste base. This is cast iron and it's high quality

Closer still It is possible to see the join between castings.
Every casting is identical in the base

Still working - Obviously an aquatic theme to the whole fountain.

The water is about 10 to 12 inches deep
One or two of the shells are broken.
Overall there is very little damage to the whole fountain

One of the damaged shells to the right

Pretty impressive casting
Supporting the cherub at the top

Pan/Cherub in all about 15 feet high!

Embedded the other video here!

Penzance Water Fountain

Hannah Bennett's Drinking Fountain

This is situated on the Chynadour Cliff road about one mile from the town centre. The road is quite busy. The water fountain is in quite a poor state of repair. The right hand column is missing - as is the actual tap or dispenser on the top section. There is a large crack on the left and the main bowl has a large chip out of it. The front is a a marble face about an inch thick. This is neither clean or in a good state.

The Water fountain is between the two cars. The wall has been set back and the fountain is in its own bay. This photograph has been taken from a milestone set in the wall on the righthand side of the road. This looks over the harbour to the town of Penzance proper. Behind the fountain the wall drops 50 feet to the railway below.

With St Michael's Mount in the background

 The inscription reads

I MEMORY 

OF

HANNAH BENNETT

ERECTED BY

HER CHILDREN

1886

The Lower inscription reads:

"HE PRAYEST BEST WHO LOVETH BEST,

ALL THINGS GOTH GREAT AND SMALL

FOR THE DEAR GOD, WHO LOVETH US,

HE MADE AND LOVETH ALL"

Quite an odd inscription

View from the left. This is the end of the line!

If you look at the bottom of the fountain, just above the bottom bowl is the name of the stone mason who made the fountain.


 A search of Angwin Stonemason reveals quite a few entries, but the excerpt below from Joan Taber seems to be the most comprehensive. Angwin does seem to be a Cornish name.


 This is a list of entries from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stonemen/. This has a phenomenal amount of information, much of which is of concern to me. The list is compiled by Joan Taber - I will be contacting her for permission to use the extract on her site. It is difficult work out which Angwin may have built the water fountain. Possibly more than one.

"ANGWIN, Richard, b.1837 St.Buryan-Con, Sculptor, Stone & Marble Mason, address 1864: 53 Causewayhead, Penzance-Con, 1871: Falmouth-Con, 1881: 57 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con, 1883: 62 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con, 1891: 57 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con, 1893: 62 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con, 1910: 62 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con.

ANGWIN, Richard, b.1822 St.Just inPenwith-Con, Mason, address 1861: North Row, St.Just inPenwith-Con.

ANGWIN, Richard, b.1856 St.Buryan-Con, Stone Mason, address 1871: St.Buryan-Con, 1881: Church Town, St.Buryan-Con.

ANGWIN, Richard Joseph, b.1871 Falmouth-Con, Apprentice Marble Mason, address 1881: 57 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con, 1891: 57 Causeway Head, Penzance-Con.

ANGWIN, William, b.1851 St.Buryan-Con, Granite Quarrier, address 1881: Church Town, St.Buryan-Con. ANGWIN, William, b.1851-1853 Paul-Con, Mason, address 1887: Trewithel, Paul-Con, 1891: Jamaica Place, Madron-Con."

Hopefully this is listed - It needs to be if it is going to survive - clearly this water fountain may not survive much longer without remedial care.Opposite to the water fountain is a Milestone or Boundary stone. This is shown at this link.

Blackpool Horse Troughs

Love them or hate them, Blackpool still has horse driven Landaus. There are two horse troughs on the promenade and they are used by the landau owners.

Chapel Street facing South

They date back to the 1890's and early 20th. century. Having worked in Blackpool for many years, I am convinced that they have moved around over the years. The first trough is at the junction of Chapel Street and the Promenade. This is directly opposite Central pier. Although the landaus do go all the way up the prom, it's rare they travel past Gynn Square.

This horse trough has the following inscription "BE MERCIFUL TO ALL GOD'S CREATURES"

"THE GIFT OF MRS BRAYBROOKE 1809" and "CATTLE TROUGH ASSOCIATION, VICTORIA STREET, SW"
Research shows that Mrs Braybrooke was an anti-vivisectionist. There is more information here.

Simpson Street looking south

The second horse trough in Blackpool is at the southern end of the promenade, almost opposite the Sandcastle but set one road back on Simpson Street. I am almost sure this Horse trough has been moved in the past. This is approximately 2 miles from the other. Again the landaus do not tend to go much further than the pleasure beach. It is also opposite the new Travel Lodge hotel, which is on the site of the Balmoral hotel. This trough is older than the other. The inscription reads "BE KIND AND MERCIFUL TO ALL GOD'S CREATURES"     "METROPOLITAN DRINKING FOUNTAIN AND CATTLE TROUGH ASSOCIATION"   "THE GIFT OF A. LLOYD 1893" (I believe this to be the date. I can not find any references to A Lloyd anywhere. This is the location of the trough.

Both Troughs appear to be of granite, there is a catchment area underneath which also has water in in. Both horse troughs are in working order and are well used during the summer by horses. They are a sense of endless amusement to holidaymakers who do all sorts of unspeakable things to them too.
There is a link to the Water Fountain Association here. There is also an extended collection of photos of the Blackpool troughs here. Its hard to think that both these troughs have been in Blackpool for over 100 years.