Gothic Drinking Fountain On North West Corner

CAMDEN

TQ3081SE LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS 798-1/106/1065 (North West side) 01/07/98 Gothic drinking fountain on north-west corner

GV II

Drinking fountain. 1861, restored c1992. Stone. Rectangular gabled 2-stage slab with semicircular basin on a half pedestal flanked by block steps to plinth. 2nd stage with spout has carved Celtic crosses set in rectangular patterning to all sides. Gables with ball-flower cornices and central, cusped gable inscribed "The Fear of the Lord is a Fountain of Life". Restored stone finial being a pierced roundel with 3 swirling mouchettes. HISTORICAL NOTE: the name of the donor is unknown but a letter read out to an 1860 meeting of the District Board of Works states that "A lady residing in the neighbourhood of London is anxious to be permitted to put up a Drinking Fountain at her own expense in this Parish and prefers to place it in Lincoln's Inn Fields". This is an early public drinking fountain erected at the time when the St Giles's parish wells were polluted with sewage and the Board of Works were realising the need to provide pure public water: Lincoln's Inn Fields was being restored and renovated at the time.

Listing NGR: TQ3066881409