Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain - South West View

The Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain (also known as the Victoria Fountain) is a

Grade II* listed 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 I ...

drinking fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

situated in

Victoria Park, London Victoria Park (known colloquially as Vicky Park or the People's Park) is a park in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England. It is the largest park in Tower Hamlets and one of London's most visited green spaces with approxim ...

History

The fountain was designed in 1862 by Henry Astley Darbsihire and erected by Baroness Burdett Coutts at a cost of £5,000. The fountain is made out of granite, and is a diameter

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...

with red granite columns, in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, and is situated near to the Hackney gate of the park. The opening of the fountain in 1862 was attended by 10,000 spectators. The year after the fountain was installed, ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

'' called Victoria Park the best people's park in London, due to its facilities such as the fountain. In his ''Dictionary of London'', Charles Dickens, Jr. described the fountain as "beautiful". In 1975, the fountain was given

status 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 w ...

. In 2011, the fountain was refurbished as part of a major restoration of Victoria Park. The fountain is no longer in public use.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 51.53707, -0.03965, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1860s architecture 1862 establishments in England Drinking fountains in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets