Bainbridge Memorial Fountain

The Bainbridge Memorial Fountain is a cast iron fountain located in Horse Market, Middleton in Teesdale, and was created around 1877 by Geo. Smith Foundry in Glasgow. It was commissioned by R.W. Bainbridge of Middleton House, who was an agent for the London Lead Company, to commemorate a memorial presented to him and his wife by the company’s employees and friends.

The fountain features four shafts that support a domed canopy topped with a finial, over a draped figure of a child holding an upturned urn, which is set in a wide basin on a fluted pedestal. Each side of the canopy has raised pediments above arches, which contain identical commemorative panels and inscriptions. The design is richly decorated with leafy motifs, and the interior of the dome displays crocodiles descending towards the shafts.

A 20th-century tap has been fitted to the urn, and there is a small basin at ground level attached to the rear of the pedestal.