Description

800/0/10086 MUSWELL HILL ROAD
03-MAR-03 Drinking Fountain in Highgate Wood

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 murmering 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.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26388440

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)