Drinking Fountain in Highgate Wood

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MUSWELL HILL ROAD Drinking Fountain in Highgate Wood

03-MAR-03

II Public drinking fountain in Highgate Woods. 1888. Pink Peterhead granite obelisk with chamfered angles, over a broad basin, carried on a square plinth standing on an octagonal base; the lower elements are of grey granite. Within the plinth is a narrow dog trough. The west side of the obelisk sports a bronze plaque with the inscription 'The Gift of a few Friends. Erected 1888'. Below, on the same side, is a second plaque bearing an inscription from Coleridge: "Drink, Pilgrim, here! Here rest! And if thy heart / Be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh / Thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound / Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees!"

HISTORY: a picturesquely sited example of a public drinking fountain, erected shortly after the opening of Highgate Woods as a public open space in 1886. Coleridge had strong connections with Highgate, living there from 1816 until his death in 1834; there he was buried as well.