Monument record MDR10029 - Pillar fountain, Melbourne Lane, Ticknall

Pillar fountain, junction of Melbourne Lane and Stanton Hill, Ticknall. Listed, Grade II. The fountain forms part of a fresh water supply system for the village of Ticknall, of which 16 other examples survive. (1) During 1913, Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe initiated a scheme to modernise Ticknall’s water system and so a number of stand pipes gravity fed from a reservoir and served by a wind pump were commissioned, supplied by Glenfield & Kenny Ltd. The water was mainly sourced from a stream in the fields west of Spring Cottage. To tap this source, a substantial pump was sunk in the area close by in 1914, though there was a delay to the implementation of the scheme as the carter employed to transport he equipment from Melbourne was called up on the outbreak of World War I. The fountains or pumps used to distribute the water across Ticknall were shaped as lion motifs, with the spout emerging from the lion’s mouth. Footings of the windpump can also be seen today along with the original well, still in situ. (2)