We’ve been diving into our restoration archive this week and procured this golden gem!
In 2018 – around the time of our monumental forge-in project in Parade Gardens ‘BathIRON‘ – we were commissioned by the Bath Preservation Trust: World Heritage Site Enhancement Fund to oversee the restoration of a landmark in another of Bath’s beautiful parks. This beautiful and highly ornate Victorian ‘Macfarlane’ drinking water fountain was cast at the famous Saracen Foundry in Glasgow around 1889. The cast iron fountain pedestal features lions, lilies, acanthus, berries and squares with a large eagle at the very top. It is situated in Grade II listed Hedgemead Park, owned and maintained by Bath & North East Somerset Council. Hedgemead Park was designed by T. B. Silcock on the site of a dramatic landslide which obliterated over one hundred houses, and established as a public park in 1899. This cast iron drinking fountain is thought to have been erected in the park around one year later. Drinking fountains were a common feature in Victorian parks at a time when mains water was still a luxury. Hedgemead Park’s fountain is no longer in working order, but there is still evidence of the metal brackets which project from its central column which probably had cups attached to chains to scoop water.
The Ironart team gave advice on preparing and painting of the drinking fountain before a small, dedicated team of volunteers from the Bath Preservation Trust carefully cleaned it back and repainted it. Small paint samples were taken for historic paint analysis to match the original verdigris green colour. The eagle was removed back to the Ironart workshop, cleaned and then repaired by our team. Once the old layers of paint had been removed from the eagle it was very clear it had at one point probably been dropped, fractured and then poorly repaired. Once it had been fully restored by our team it was regilded by a local expert gilder and conservator Krysta Brooks.
Back in situ, it looks magnificent and is well worth a visit next time you are passing by Hedgemead Park.
