Location: Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
An elaborate drinking fountain was presented to the town by the Grant family to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Originally located on the seafront at the intersection of the Kingsway and Market Street, it was relocated to the Brighton Street slipway in the late 1930s or early 1940s. The associated original elaborate drinking font was not re-sited, and was replaced by a single circular pedestal with fluted pillar.
In 1949, the structure was irrevocably damaged when hit by a car. It was demolished and removed. Some of the plaques were salvaged and are on display in Cleethorpes Town Hall. In 2013 the replacement pillar font was being offered for sale by Junktion Antiques.
The canopied drinking fountain is design number 20, an elaborate 18 feet by 4 feet fountain, sold by Walter Macfarlane & Co, and manufactured at the Saracen Foundry, Possilpark, Glasgow, Scotland. Seated on an octagonal tiered plinth, the open filigree canopy is supported by eight columns with griffin terminals which are positioned over capitals with foliage frieze above square bases.
The highly decorated cusped arches are trimmed with rope mouldings. Cartouches contained within each lunette offer shields for memorial: a swan, a crane, and a dedication shield. On each side arch faceplates provided a flat surface for an inscription using raised metal letters; often the useful monition, Keep the pavement dry. Civic virtues such as temperance were often extolled in inscriptions on drinking fountains.
Doves and flowers offer decorative relief on the circular, ribbed dome. The internal capitals contain flowers. The structure is surmounted with a lantern finial.
Under the canopy stands the font (design number 18.) A circular shaft, ornamented with water lilies, rests on a wide base with canted corners. Four lion jambs support four highly decorated quatrefoil basins. Rising from the centre is a pyramid shaped stanchion decorated with swan and bird decoration. A kylix-shaped lamp terminal with four consoles offer drinking cups suspended by chains.
Symbolism was popular in Victorian times. Griffins are symbolic of guardians of priceless possessions; owls are symbolic of guardians of the afterlife, lions are symbolic of guardianship; and cranes are recognized as a symbol of vigilance.
Glossary
- Canted corner, an angled surface which cuts of a corner
- Capital, the top of a column that supports the load bearing down on it
- Cartouche, a structure or figure, often in the shape of an oval shield or oblong scroll, used as an architectural or graphic ornament or to bear a design or inscription
- Console, a decorative bracket support element
- Cusped Arch, the point of intersection of lobed or scalloped forms
- Filigree, fine ornamental work
- Finial, a sculptured ornament fixed to the top of a peak, arch, gable or similar structure
- Frieze, the horizontal part of a classical moulding just below the cornice, often decorated with carvings
- Griffin, winged lion denotes vigilance and strength, guards treasure and priceless possessions
- Jamb, a projecting vertical post containing sculpture
- Kylix, a Grecian style drinking cup
- Lunette, the half-moon shaped space framed by an arch, often containing a window or painting
- Plinth, flat base usually projecting, upon which a pedestal, wall or column rests
- Quatrefoil, a type of decorative framework consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially-overlapping circles of the same diameter
- Stanchion, upright bar or post providing support
- Terminal, statue or ornament that stands on a pedestal
Memorial Drinking Fountains 
