The Atlas Fountain stands in the grounds of

Castle Howard Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, within the civil parish of Henderskelfe, located north of York. It is a private residence and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. It has been designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and is now recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

, maintained by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

History

The Atlas Fountain and pond dates from 1850. It was exhibited at

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

prior to installation. It was designed by

William Andrews Nesfield William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881) was an English soldier, landscape architect and artist. After a career in the military which saw him serve under the Duke of Wellington, he developed a second profession as a landscape architect, designing so ...

and the sculpted figures were carved in Portland stone by John Thomas who was paid £1183 10s 3d (equivalent to £ in ) for his work. The figures were transported by rail from London to

Castle Howard railway station Castle Howard railway station was a minor railway station serving the village of Welburn and the stately home at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, England. On the York to Scarborough Line it was opened on 5 July 1845 by the York and North Mid ...

. The tazza, pedestals, shells and basin were made by local craftsmen. The water engineering was completed by James Easton, taking water from a stream in

Coneysthorpe Coneysthorpe is a small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near Castle Howard and west of Malton. The Centenary Way The Centenary Way is a route devised to celebrate the 100th anniv ...

and using a steam engine to pump it uphill to the Ray Wood reservoir. The fountain was turned on for the first time in October 1853. The fountain was overhauled in 1983 and again by The Earth Stone and Lime in 2012.

Description

A large globe of bronze dominates the fountain supported on the shoulders of

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. Four recumbent Tritons blow water through shells over

kneeling on a pedestal in the central tazza. Other jets fill the lower scallop shell basins, which overflow into the central basin producing a dramatic cascade of white water. The fountain is fed from the half-million gallon Ray Wood reservoir, to the east of the main house. Gravity feeds water into a chamber beneath the pond basin where pipes direct it to the main outlets in the Triton's shells. The pond is approximately in diameter.

References

{{commons category, Atlas Fountain 1853 establishments in England Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire Fountains in the United Kingdom Sculptures of Greek gods 1853 sculptures Sculptures of seashells Atlas (mythology)