Roadside Horse Trough And Drinking Fountain

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (west side), OLD GROOMBRIDGE 16/517 Roadside horse trough and drinking fountain

GV II

Horse trough and drinking fountain. Dated 1894 and erected in memory of William Coston Oswell who built the Norman Shaw house, Hillside (q.v.) further up the hill. Polished grey limestone with some glazed red brick. Both are set into a coursed sandstone wall revetting the hillside. They are set alongside the road up Groombridge Hill facing south. The trough is supported on 2 piers of glazed brick. It is set in front of a back piece built of brick up as high as the rim and is surmounted by a large limestone panel with curvilinear shaped head. In the centre a vesica-shaped panel is scribed with the date 1894 above an inscription in capital letters commemorating William Coston Oswell. There are stone shelves each side of the trough. Nearby, to right, is the drinking fountain which is built in the style of an ecclesiastical piscina with a trefoil-headed niche and projecting bowl on moulded base.

This horse trough and drinking fountain form part of the important group of listed buildings in the vicinity of Groombridge Place (q.v.) and Old Groombridge village.

Listing NGR: TQ5327237944