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Home/Architecture/Wordsworth drinking fountain- Grasmere

Wordsworth drinking fountain- Grasmere

Little seems to have been published on the internet about this drinking fountain in Grasmere.

Wordsworth drinking fountain - Grasmere
Wordsworth drinking fountain - Grasmere

Situated just opposite the Wordsworth Trust buildings, in the village of Grasmere in Cumbria, the monument is in memory of  Wordsworth.  

Given that the famous poet William Wordsworth lived some 500m at one stage from this memorial, maybe it is in memory of him however, we can not be certain of this?

Fresh cool lakeland water cascades from a brass tap in to a stone basin.  Above the tap is the date 1889.

No details seem to indicate what this date signifies, as it is almost 40 years after the death of William Wordsworth, the major romantic poet.

A stone canopy keeps the basin free from most of the Cumbrian weather and any debris.  This has the  inscription ‘In Memory of Wordsworth.’

From the basin the water trickles, in a sort of overflow way, through the upright canopy wall to the left and into a larger open basin, possible for a horse or large animal to drink from.

Wordsworth drinking fountain - Grasmere
Wordsworth drinking fountain - Grasmere

The clever design of this drinking station still has one further use for the water as it drops from the large basin into a small receptical from which a hound or dog could drink from.

From here the water leaves the multi-use watering station and exits to a drain at ground level.

Situated to the right of the canopy area, is a long flat stone a few centimeters off the ground supported on stone pillars.  We are not sure what this would be for as it seems too low for a seat and not high enough for mounting a horse from.

A guess would be that it could be to act as a small riser to help pack goods onto a mule or pony.  But this is purely a suggestion.  Maybe someone can let us know via the comments?

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January 28, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Architecture, Featured, Literature Tagged With: 500m, Amazon Co Uk, Amazon Uk, Basins, Canopy, Canopy Area, Centimeters, Clever Design, Debris, Drinking Fountain, Famous Poet, Grasmere, Guess, Lakeland, Mule, Overflow, Poet William Wordsworth, Pony, Receptical, Romantic Poet, Stone Basin, Stone Pillars, Tap, Water Trickles, Weather, Widgets, William Wordsworth, Wordsworth, Wordsworth Trust

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