Jubilee Public Drinking Fountain, Buckley Wells, Bury

BURY PUBLIC DRINKING FOUNTAIN - This fountain is an anonymous gift to the town of Bury, and has been erected near Buckley Wells, on the Manchester Road. It provides three horse-troughs and a man’s drinking-place on the remaining side, with access to pipe chamber also, while our canine friends are provided for on three sides. The angle ball terminals are placed as “fenders” to keep off the heavy traffic from damaging the work and are let down well into the concrete foundation. The work has been executed in the materials described on the drawing by Messrs. Goad, of Plymouth, with spirit and care, the kind of lock-jointing of so much importance in a work like these fits with great precision. Messrs. Perry & Co. executed the central bronze figure which feeds the troughs. The gift was offered to the town through Mr. W. Noar, of Bury. - T. R. Kitsell. [Builder 16 October 1897 page 298]

The fountain was built in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at a cost of about £600. It was Italianate in style with an ornate arched stone canopy supported on four short Ionic columns topped by a Scottish flying crown supporting an iron weathervane. Peripheral basins at different heights accommodated up to three horse, three dogs and two men to drink at the same time. Around the cornice ran inscriptions VIC REG 1897 60 YEARS and THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS/ IF ANY MAN THRIRST LT HIM/ COME UNTO ME AND DRINK. The carved decoration includes animal heads, coats of arms etc. Kitson’s own presentation drawing of the fountain was illustrated in the Builder of 16 October 1897. However, as built the fountain included three projecting horse troughs with the dogs’ bowls lowered and less ornate. The deign reflects his training in Edinburgh and his interest in classical architecture for which he had received the Wade Prize in 1892. The illustration in the Builder lists the materials employed as – base, Cornish granite; columns and vase – polished red Peterhead granite; upper part, Portland Stone figure, bronze (the work of Perry and Company and now lost). Although the fountain was completed in October 1897 its opening was delayed and the structure boarded up to allow the construction of a railway tunnel under Manchester Road (now Metrolink) and the laying out of a small park over. Thus, it was not until the summer of 1899 that the fountain and park were formally opened to the public 

It soon became an open secret that this anonymous donor of the gift to the town of Bury, was Miss Eliza Ann Openshaw, daughter of Oliver Ormrod Openshaw, one of the leading cotton manufacturers of the town. Arrangements for the gift were made through a local vet, William Noar, a widower and said to be her “constant companion,” on condition that Thomas Rogers Kitsell of Plymouth was given the commission. Kitsell was William Noar’s brother-in-law. Claims that he had lived for a time in Bury appear inaccurate, but it is certainly true that members of the Kitsell family, presumably including Thomas Rogers Kitsell himself, visited Noar in Bury on numerous occasions.

Reference    Builder 16 October 1897 page 308 and illustration
Reference    Public Sculpture, Grater Manchester page 241-242