Glasgow's Fountains - Times Past
In partnership with the Glasgow Times, our archivists are exploring Glasgow's fascinating history. This week, Barbara McLean writes about Glasgow's fountains.
Glasgow’s fountains, from her statement ornamentals to simple drinking spouts, have distinguished many of her parks, crosses and streets. Among our Glasgow Corporation Parks Department records are several brilliant photographs of some of these fountains.
One present-day survival is among the better-known fountains in the city. The Doulton Fountain in Glasgow Green was built for the Glasgow International Exhibition at Kelvingrove in 1888 and named for its manufacturers, Doulton & Company. It is a sculptural masterpiece which was designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. A figure of the Queen herself stands atop the fountain while its other sculptures reference Britain’s empire at the time which included Australia, Canada, India and South Africa.
When the exhibition closed, the company presented the fountain to the city and it was installed on the Green in 1890. However, what’s thought to be the largest terracotta fountain in the world fell into disrepair during the twentieth century. It was dismantled in 1999 and a project to restore it was undertaken. The photographs generated during the project are held among the papers of GUARD (Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division) held in the City Archives. The restored Doulton Fountain was moved to its present location in front of The People’s Palace and switched on during a ceremony in May 2005.
The Stewart Memorial Fountain in Kelvingrove is another such well-known fountain in the city. It’s named for a former Lord Provost of Glasgow, Robert Stewart of Murdostoun, and its sculpted designs tell the story of the city’s water supply. Stewart oversaw the immense and vital project to provide Glasgow with fresh clean drinking water from Loch Katrine in the Trossachs from 1859 onwards.
Like the Doulton Fountain, a woman stands at the apex of the Stewart Memorial Fountain. She is Ellen Douglas, the female protagonist of Walter Scott’s ‘The Lady of the Lake’ which is set in the environs of Loch Katrine. Other Trossachs lochs are named on the fountain (Venachar, Achray and Drunkie) while flora and fauna native to that area abound in the central portion.
Fans of astrology will be interested in the twelve ceramic roundels which wrap around the fountain and which each bear a sign of the Zodiac. Of course, the most fitting of these are the three water signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces as well as Aquarius, typically symbolised by the figure of a water bearer.
Another former fountain of Kelvingrove is the striking cast-iron Saracen (or Macfarlane) Fountain now in Alexandra Park. This forty-foot high fountain was cast by Walter Macfarlane & Co’s Saracen Foundry in honour of the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901 where it was the centrepiece. Like the Doulton Fountain, it too was gifted to the city and was moved to its current location in 1914. The fountain is supported by four seated classical women representing Art, Literature, Science and Commerce – all key strands of the 1901 Exhibition.
The simplicity of the Lady Anna Ure Primrose drinking fountain in Bellahouston Park stands in contrast to these ornamental showpieces. Built of solid granite, it was designed and sculpted by J. & G. Mossman, a family company which specialised in monumental sculpture. The fountain was commissioned in memory of Lady Anna, a philanthropist and wife of a former Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir John Ure Primrose. Lady Anna died the year before it was unveiled in 1914.
Some of the city’s fountains have not survived to the present day. Among their number is the Hamilton Memorial Fountain in Pollokshield’s Maxwell Park. Doulton & Company was also responsible for the construction of this fountain. It was built of white Carrara marble, perhaps more suited to sunnier climes than Glasgow’s. Like its fellow Doulton fountain in Glasgow Green, it became vandalised and weather-beaten, eventually falling into disrepair. Sadly, funding for its restoration could not be raised and the fountain was demolished in 1989.
Finally, not far from The Mitchell Library (where the City Archives and our collections are based) is the Cameron Memorial Fountain at Charing Cross. Named for Sir Charles Cameron, a newspaper editor and politician, the fountain is also a clock tower and is famous among Glaswegians for its noticeable lean to the side.
The collections discussed in this article are held by Glasgow City Archives. Please email archives@glasgowlife.org.uk if you have any questions.