Offley Well Head

SJ 74 SE 5/54

MADELEY C.P. MANOR ROAD (off west side) Offley Well Head

17/11/66

II

Fountain head, basin, platform and wrought iron gates. 1850 (see partly illegible inscription panel on east side). Yellow and grey limestone ashlar. In a Jacobean style inspired perhaps by late-antique funerary monuments in the Middle East.

Fountain head: octagonal in section on plinth with lead spouts (two now missing) and carved shell-like basins on north, south and east sides; higher door on west gives access to inside. Panels with strapwork motifs on each of the eight sides; moulded cornice with ornamental crested parapet above; on top, a square panelled head with broken segmental pediments and sundial on north-east side.

The fountain stands in a tile-floored basin with red brick walls and stone capping, from which are moulded triangular projections. This in turn stands on a platform with an open strapwork balustrade on three sides and a higher quadrant sandstone wall to rear (west); access to the platform is by way of short flights of steps (with slate benches on either side) on the north and south sides, at the bottom of which are wrought iron gates.

The fountain was erected by Annabel Hungerford in memory of her aunt in 1850, at which time the allotments (which still surround it) were created and given to the poor of the parish. The structure is overgrown and in poor condition owing to neglect at the time of re-survey (1984).

Listing NGR: SJ7717843933