Drinking Fountain

The Drinking fountain on Newport-on-tay
This is an example of a Victorian drinking fountain, which shows the use of cast-iron to decorative effect. The Macfarlane & Co Saracen Foundry in Glasgow produced a number of drinking fountains, of which this is an example, this fountain would also have had a finial and anornate drinking trough (now missing). In the catalogue, Macfarlane says: 'A supply of drinking water to the outdoor population, and also to the lower animals is now an acknowledged necessity of the changed circumstances of the times and the growing intelligence of the community, encouraging habits of temperance and humanity, and promoting the moral and physical improvement of the people.' Philanthropy coupled with the movement for improving social conditions; here Mrs Blyth Martin donated the fountain to the people of Newport. The Blyths were a Dundee family; Mrs Blyth Martin also gifted Blyth Hall on nearby Blyth Street to the community, in memory of her brothers.