A City Water Features Walk
Route & what to see
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london-footprints.co.uk |
A 2 mile walk through the City from Bank to West Smithfield looking at its water features.
From Bank Station/junction
go along Cornhill.
Old trough and pump 'erected in the year 1799 by the
contributions of the Bank of England, the East India Company, the
neighbouring fire offices together with the bankers & traders
of the ward of Cornhill'. It stands on the site of a well dating
back to 1282.
Left at Royal Exchange
Buildings
The fountain at the south end was erected in 1911 to
commemorate the Jubilee of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain
& Cattle Trough Association (MDFA). It has a bronze of
'Serenity' (currently
removed) under a Grecian
style red granite canopy. The figure is a 1993 copy by SR Melton
of J Whitehead's stolen original. The fountain at the north end
'Maternite' has a seated figure of a nursing mother by Dalou
(1879). The plinth by J Edmeston once supported columns and a
square dome.
Right along Threadneedle
Street then left into Adams Court
Interwar replica of a 16th century Italian fountain
featuring a boy and duck.
Exit into Old Broad Street
and go right. Right at Wormwood Street then left at Bishopsgate
to St Botolphs Church.
Two drinking fountains at entrance to churchyard.
Walk through the churchyard.
Water feature on the left (1972).
Cross Old Broad Street and
continue along New Broad Street. Left at Blomfield Street then
right along London Wall.
Two
water features in Finsbury Circus to the right not currently
accessable due to railway construction works.
Turn right into Fore Street
and go left along this road. Enter the gardens of Salters Hall to
the left (weekdays only).
Three water features.
Go up to St Alphage Gardens
and go right. Left at Wood Street crossing London Wall. Just
before the police station go through the courtyard to the left.
New water feature.
Continue through
Aldermanbury Square.
The Standard Chartered building has a carp pond in the
basement (view through window).
Right at Aldermanbury
On the corner with Wood Street is a drinking fountain with
its chained cup.
Return and walk through the
paved area to the right
Two raised ponds, one with a fountain featuring a lion's
head (relocated from Aldermanbury Square).
Cross Basinghall Street
Water feature in the open space.
Go south along Basinghall
Street. Walk through the Guildhall courtyard to the right.
Pond in front of St Lawrence Jewry Church.
Walk to the right along
Gresham Street.
Fountain in the sunken garden on the site of St John Zachary
Church (1181-1666).
Cross Aldersgate to St
Botolphs.
Drinking fountain at the entrance. The inscription reads 'In
Memorium James & Mary Ann Ward late of Aldersgate &
Islington from their daughter 1870'. Pond with fountain and fish
in the former churchyard.
Go south along Aldersgate
continuing along St Martin's Le Grand. Cross into the churchyard
of St Paul's Cathedral.
Paul's Cross by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1910) has a drinking
fountain on the west side featuring seahorses.
Walk past the east end of
the cathedral. Bear left out of the gate.
The Festival Gardens have a water feature supplied by lions'
heads (pictured in header). This was designed by Sir Albert
Richardson in 1951.
Cross Cannon Street
An elaborate fountain from Guildhall Yard has been relocated
here. The St Lawrence Jewry memorial fountain by John Robinson
(1866) was dismantled and stored in the 1970s. [more info]
Walk through the gardens
towards the Information Centre.
A standpipe provides drinking water.
Cross to the west end of the
cathedral. Go through Temple Bar into Paternoster Square.
The central column has water running down the granite
panels.
Walk through to Newgate and
go left.
The public space opposite the Central Criminal Courts (Old
Bailey) has a water feature (2006).
Cross to St Sepulchre
Church.
The drinking fountain on the corner was the first to be
supplied by the MDFA (in 1859) and still has its chained cups.
Its elaborate neo-Norman surround was dismantled in 1867 for the
construction of Holborn Viaduct. [more info]
Go along Giltspur Street.
Walk through the main entrance gate of St Bartholomew's Hospital
to the right.
There is a fountain in the central garden by Philip Hardwick
(1859) -
currently under wraps.
Return to West Smithfield.
There is a large planted trough on the south side and an
elaborate water feature in the garden of the Haberdashers' Hall
on the west side (view through entrance gates).
Walk around to the north
side where there is an entrance to the central garden (undergoing
restoration at present).
This has a fountain with a draped classical bronze figure of
Peace by J Birnie Philip (1873). She stands on a pedestal by
Francis Butler but it no longer has its octagonal domed canopy.
Resources
The Buildings of England London 1: The City of London by
Bradley & Pevsner
City of London publication in PDF format [click here] Note that some features have gone since
this was produced
City of London's Drinking Fountain project [click here]
Drinking Fountains website
london-footprints.co.uk 2011