It is hard to imagine today how such a basic item as clean, drinkable water could not be freely available. Yet if you go back to nineteenth century Spalding you can see several prosecutions for people stealing water from private outside taps. It is against this background that in 1873 Miss Mary Ann Johnson gave Spalding Water Works £1,500 to lay water mains along Winsover Road as far as the Robin Hood pub, through Hawthorne Bank and along Holbeach Road to the Pigeon Inn thus reaching out to much of the expanding population of Spalding. In addition she gave money for a fountain to be erected in the Market Place to provide freely available water for the poor. There were issues with maintaining water pressure so the fountain was erected in Hall Place instead.
By the mid-twentieth century traffic had increased and from the 1930’s through to the 1950’s you can discover several road accidents that blamed confusion of traffic around the fountain including one fatality. The fountain had become an item of controversy with many wishing its removal whilst others desiring this gift to the town to remain.
In 1951 a meeting of the town’s Council agreed to remove this from Hall Place and the agreement was met with a roar of laughter as it had been such a divisory issue. However, they did not count on Councillor C.H.Peck in the following meeting of April 1951 coming armed with a petition to retain the fountain. Therefore the meeting took a vote and it was decided 11 to 4 to retain the offending monument.
The controversy rolled on a few more years with a “Spare the Fountain” campaign in 1954. However, it was decided at a later meeting to remove the fountain and the then clerk of works was instructed, “to get the bloody thing down the next morning so that they cannot change their mind.”
The fountain was reconstructed in a corner of Ayscoughfee Gardens in 1956, albeit without any water where it remained until 2022 when it was taken down to make way for a War memorial.
At this point controversy reignited with the local Civic Society and others campaigning for its restoration to Spalding Market Place. Opinions were split, with some regarding it as a beautiful piece of local heritage and others considering it a hideous carbuncle fit for a rockery.
Ultimately the fountain has been restored to the site of an old children’s paddling pool in Ayscoughfee gardens.
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