St Bernard's Well, Water Of Leith, Edinburgh

St Bernard's Well, located by the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, was designed by Alexander Nasmyth in 1789 and restored by Thomas Bonnar Junior in 1888. The well features a Roman Doric temple built over a mineral spring pump room, consisting of an open rotunda supported by ten columns on a rusticated base. The entablature displays alternating paterae and triglyphs, topped with a lead dome and a pineapple finial. At the northeast of the base, there is a ten-panel studded timber door leading to the pump room, which has a tooled ashlar lintel inscribed with 'St Bernard's Mineral Well', along with a barred window at the southwest of the base.

The structure includes an ashlar T-plan stair with landings to the east, featuring ashlar treads and saddleback copes. The northwest walls are made of squared and snecked sandstone, capped with triangular coping and roll moulding.

At the southeast, the well is bordered by ashlar copes topped with cast-iron railings featuring spear-headed finials, while decorative cast-iron railings are present to the northwest. A pink granite and metal plaque is mounted on the wall, featuring a round arch supported by Corinthian columns and a reverse ogee-moulded base. This plaque is surmounted by an entablature with an armorial cartouche and foliate decoration. A metal medallion with a profile bust is centered in a recess above an inscription that reads: 'The Liberal Deviseth Liberal Things. Erected by the Lord Provost Magistrates and Council of the City of Edinburgh to commemorate the public spirit and generosity of the late William Nelson of Salisbury Green who having purchased, restored and embellished St Bernard's Well and the surrounding grounds gifted them to the corporation for the benefit of the citizens of Edinburgh in all time coming. January 1888. The Right Hon Sir Thomas Clark Bart., Lord Provost.'