Some Horse Trough snippets from the newsgroup alt.history.british
I'm looking for information about the history of horse troughs. Any ideas?
I've seen occasional coverage -- at least of surviving examples -- in
various books on historic street furniture and urban design.
In London, there was the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle
Trough Association (later the Drinking Fountain Association), the
archives of which are held by London Metropolitan Archives (in
Northampton Road, Clerkenwell). A link:
http://www.hmc.gov.uk/NRA/searches/SIdocs.asp?SIR=55780
The Drinking Fountain Association appears still to exist; the contact
address is:
The Drinking Fountain Association
Hoppingwood Farm
Robin Hood Way
London SW20 0AB
Might be worth contacting to see if they have a reading list on
historic troughs.
Cheers,
Harvey
I think Peter Ackroyd touches on the subject in his superb 'London; the biography',but dont take my word for it. The only one I'm personally aware of is the one in Park Crescent, London (Westminster, actually), opposite the top end of Portland Place. -- Cheers, Harvey
There's one in Benfleet Essex. Benfleet High Road I think, if you have a map, it's about half way between the A13 junction and Benfleet village, on a sharp bend. I'll check it out next time I'm passing. Jamie
Hi, just surfed in, and have some correcting info for you.
The horse trough mentioned in Benfleet on the High rd. is longer there. Came
past at the weekend to check some road names out for a song that I'm writing
and it has most definately gone. It's exact location was 'Cemetry Corner',
which is incidentley the title of the song.
However, I believe there to be one just down from Victoria Park in Hackney.
Cheers, Dave
I got a friend of mine who lives nearby to take a look. On one side it says. *Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Cattle Trough Association* On the other side, *1911 Coronation of King George V* It's now used as a flower pot. Jamie
There's one near the Railway Station at Walton on Thames. can't rememebr the name of the road though. Chris,
There's quite an interesting stone trough at Horbling, Lincs fed by a spring. However, Pevsner suggests that it was a communal washing trough rather than a horse trough - rather like the lavoirs which survive in France. He says "a deep open cistern feeds to three adjacent troughs and they compose like a piece of abstract sculpture." It was built in 1711. It used to sit pleasantly forgotten in a back street but I've got a feeling that it has now been tarted up. Heritage strikes again. I assume it would have been used as horse trough once its original function declined. Let me know if it's of interest to you. -- Phil C. _______________________________©2002 Google
Drinking fountains in Newcastle: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tynesidehistory/water.html
there is one in Kilkeel, Co. Down - originally in the Square, but now at the Greencastle Street/Knockchree Avenue junction. It bears the inscription; 'Be Kind and Merciful to All Animals - Metropolitan Cattle Trough Association, 70 Victoria Street, SW, [London].
©Biff Vernon 2002