Water Fountain, Captain Street, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 3HP

Cast iron water fountain built around 1870, designed by the engineering firm Glenfield Company Limited of Kilmarnock, and located at the pavement edge on the south side of Lower Captain Street, Coleraine.

The fountain is constructed entirely from cast iron, formed as a square pillar with Classical proportions to its main shaft. All four sides are identical except the east face, which bears the spout, lion-head, engraving and operational button. The plinth features Greek key engraving and is filleted to a narrower base with fluted moulding set within a framed panel. This tapers upward to support the main shaft, itself panelled with raised cable moulding and topped by a beaded and curved cornice. A smaller shallow chamfered square cap with chevron-indented edging sits atop the cornice, crowned by a circular plate that rises to form an elliptical finial and culminates in a rounded point. Water issues from a lion-head spout on the east face, bolted within a cable-moulded panel mounted to the body. The water spills into a square rough concrete block basin beneath. Above the spout is a floriate medallion with a button to operate the fountain, though water currently runs constantly. The maker's name 'GLENFIELD Co LIMITED KILMARNOCK' is engraved below the spout.

The fountain is situated on the edge of the footpath in front of a modernised warehouse building adjacent to a row of terraced houses, on a steeply inclined street within the Coleraine Town Centre Area of Townscape Character on the west side of the River Bann.

Historical evidence suggests the fountain was in place by 1882, when it appears on the Ordnance Survey town plan marked as a rectangular structure. A bore hole was sunk in Captain Street in 1870 and spring water was found at 80 feet depth, indicating the fountain likely dates from 1870 or shortly thereafter. Glenfield Company Limited, established in 1865, expanded from manufacturing water meter castings into hydraulic pumps, sluice valves and waterworks fittings, many of which featured the distinctive lion-head spout typical of this period. The firm merged with The Kennedy Patent Water Meter Company in 1897, becoming Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd by 1899, the largest business of its type in the British Empire at that time.

The fountain is a rare surviving example of its type within Northern Ireland. It predates mains water installation and served the important social function of supplying fresh water to local residents, many of whom would not have had this facility within their own homes. It became an informal gathering point for the community. The ornate decoration and elliptical ball finial are indicative of the attention to detail given to street furniture in the late Victorian era, while the distinctive lion-head surround to the water spout is characteristic of fountains of this period.