Description

1897. Polished granite. Small free standing gothic drinking fountain. Baptismal font style circular bowl on octagonal pier with scroll supports at splayed faces; corniced, open square columned canopy above, each face with round-arch and decoratively-tooled spandrels supported by central column and 4 corner colonettes with stiff-leaf capitals; this surmounted by ornamental pyramidal spirelet rising from decoratively-tooled gablets, inscribed E gablet reading '1897 Presented to the Town of Stonehaven by George Barrie, Law Agent and Notary Public, Edinburgh', tooled band course and square-plan stiff-leaf capital capped by metal colonette (probably for gas lamp, lamp now missing). Associated horse trough, probably later, adjacent (see below).

HORSE TROUGH: plain, rectangular granite horse trough on stand, with rectangular bowl beneath; 2 pink granite supports; 2 freestanding bollards.

Statement of Interest

Market Square Fountain was presented to the inhabitants of Stonehaven by George Barrie, a native of Stonehaven who became a law agent and Notary Public in Edinburgh. The granite used in building this fountain came from quarries at Aberdeen, Peterhead, Kemnay and Norway. The fountain is a small scale version of the more monumental Victorian civic fountains, such as those at South End Green, Hampstead, London, and at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The provision of fresh water for townsfolk was part of the drive for sanitary reform in mid-nineteenth century Britain. The formation of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals led to troughs being erected to provide water for horses, cattle and dogs in towns and cities.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17779774

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)