Dufton Green And Fountain

The centre of the village is built around a green, on the north side of which is the Stag Inn. The village green is oblong in shape and is bisected by an avenue of lime trees that crosses it diagonally. Houses in the village were built from the 17th century onwards and the village has changed little over the last 100 years.
Dufton was a centre for lead mining in the 18th and 19th centuries. The London Lead Company (Quaker-owned) developed the village through the construction of housing, a school, a library and the installation of piped water. A fountain and circular water trough built by the Company forms a centrepiece on the green. The inscription on the fountain reads (translated from the Latin):
There is a clear pool, whose waters gleam like silver. It is not tainted by shepherds, or by their she-goats grazing on the mountain. Nor is it muddied by cattle, or by birds or wild animals, or by a branch fallen from a tree.