Drinking Fountain Outside Underground Station

The drinking fountain outside the Underground Station is a late 19th-century structure that was cleaned and restored around 1989. It was provided by the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. The fountain is made of grey granite and features a circular pedestal with a moulded base and top. It has two projecting D-shaped basins, which are topped by a central bronze urn with spouts above the basins. The pedestal is flanked by rectangular granite standing blocks for children. This design is considered unusual for the Association. Founded in 1859, the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association, which added cattle troughs in 1867, aimed to provide free fresh water at a time when it was often easier to obtain ale and spirits than clean water, which was frequently contaminated. The association's connection of water with purity of spirit led many evangelical Victorians to support it, although some wealthy patrons commissioned their own designs from a catalogue of functional options provided by the Association.