Of Rain and Pants

I discovered today all about Pants. No, not what you might expect. In the Borders, East Lothian and Northumberland a Pant is 'water encircled by stone', i.e. a public water fountain.

There are several in Alnwick and I managed to photograph this one on a brief shopping trip on a very wet day.

St Michael’s Pant
This was erected in 1759, to replace one that had been there for a while but was not working very well. It is a great example of Gothic architecture and even has a gargoyle for a spout. It is topped by St Michael slaying the Devil in the form of a dragon. It was placed in the centre of the old grass market and supplied the town with drinking water from diverted streams. In the middle of the 18th century Alnwick was an important centre, as it was a main staging point on the Great North Road and the Turnpike road between Hexham and Alnmouth. Several Pants were erected to serve an increasing population.

After a serious outbreak of cholera in the town, water piped water was introduced and that water still flows today into a large trough.

There is a famous Neptune Pant in Durham and here is a Petition of 1864 to the Corporation from someone calling herself a Pant-Wife:

Oh, Corporation, will you hear
   This sad complaint frae me? 
It’s not about the brewers’ beer,
   Nor water frae the sea: -
Of Neptune’s water I complain,
   Relief, I hope you’ll grant,
I pray you let us have again
   Pure water frae the Pant.
 
Our skins and duds are yellow dyed
   With iron, lead and ochre,
Besides, our nerves are stiff and dried,
   Just like a kitchen poker;
You call yourselves Board of Health,
   I dinna want to flatter,
There cannot be much health, I think
   In pois’nous, dirty water.
 
   
And by an amazing coincidence I have just found a fellow Blipper was in Durham yesterday and posted a picture of the same Neptune who was on top of the Durham Pant!! And for another coincidence, as I found this blip, we were planning a trip to Durham for tomorrow and I wondered whether I could find the Neptune Pant!! Thanks Stuart.