St Lawrence and Mary Magdalene Drinking Fountain

Across the road from St Paul's Cathedral is a large monument but on closer inspection it turns out that this was a drinking fountain.

It is known as the St Lawrence and Mary Magdalene Fountain. I have walked past this monument many, many times and wondered what it was but today I stopped and photographed it so I could research it a little more when I got home.

The fountain was originally erected in 1866 outside the church of St Lawrence Jewry near Guildhall as a gift to the City of London from the Metropolitan drinking fountain and cattle trough Association. When the Guildhall was redeveloped in the 1970s the fountain was dismantled into 150 pieces and put into storage. It was restored and rebuilt in its present position in 2010. So now I know and if I could remember all these interesting facts I could really impress all those people who stop to look at the monument.

The water fountain was designed as a sculpture that produced drinking water into a bowl  when a metal knob was pushed.

Above the large drinking bowl is this relief which  shows Moses striking a rock from where  water still trickles down into the bowl beneath. To the left of Moses a woman holds a small drinking bowl to the lips of a small child. 

 So the next time any of you are in London, take a minute to look across the road from St Paul's Cathedral and have a look at the fountain yourself.