Eastbourne: Curling drinking fountain

The evening of my arrival in Eastbourne, after six hours’ travelling on four trains, I was desperate to stretch my legs so went for a stroll along the beachside promenade. After 30 minutes or so, the sun was beginning to set and I was about to turn around to return to my hotel, when I noticed this magnificent drinking fountain, just across the road on the edge of Seahouses Square. 

Drinking fountains are one of my fascinations, and, over the years, I’ve written about many of them on this blog, so I couldn’t resist taking a good look at and many photographs of this one. The plaque on the side of the fountain reads:

This drinking fountain was donated in September 1865 by Mrs. Elizabeth Curling (1790 – 1873), who lived in Kent Lodge, Seaside Road (now Trinity Trees). The fountain was originally located in the middle of the road in Seaside, near the junction of Leaf Hall Road. It was first moved to the corner with Langney Road, probably in the 1950’s [sic] before being restored and relocated here on 21st December 2000. 

A nearby signboard that lists information about the area around Seahouses Square provides some additional facts. The drinking fountain

was donated by Mrs Curling in response to a serious outbreak of Scarlet Fever in 1863 when many children died.
Poor quality water was blamed. The fountain soon became a popular meeting point for the area and was known as ‘Speakers’ Corner’. 

As I suspected it might be, the drinking fountain has been grade II listed by Historic England, and the entry on their website gives the following information:

Cast iron structure. Rectangular with two intertwined dolphins on top supporting a lantern (restored), all raised on three octagonal Portland stone steps (restored). Mutule cornice above panels and fasces below. Alternate sides have tap, bowl and two small circular shelves on which rested the drinking cups (now missing). The other faces have oval inscription panels each engraved 'erected MDCCCLXV'. One has the biblical text 'Jesus said whoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again', the other, 'Jesus said whoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst'. … Old photographs show it originally had a gas lantern on top. 

Also on the Historic England website, on 30 September 2020, local historian Kevin Gordon posted the following comment:

The fountain was made by the Handyside Company of Derby and was originally installed opposite Leaf Working Men’s Hall in Seaside. It would have once had small troughs underneath for thirsty dogs, but these have since been blocked off. In Victorian times it became Eastbourne's 'Speakers Corner.
The fountain was donated by Mrs Elizabeth Curling (1790-1873) a local philanthropist. She provided a chapel at the Eastbourne Workhouse and gifts for the inmates at Christmas. She assisted schoolchildren with generous donations to local school funds and prizes.
When Mrs Curling died aged 83 in 1873, the Eastbourne Gazette said “The death of Mrs Curling will leave a blank not only in the public and private charities of the town, but in the hearts of all who had the privilege of her friendship. Distress, in whatever form it came before her, was sure to meet with sympathy coupled with a readiness to relieve it and the poor will feel that one of their best friends has been removed from them.” 

I then followed up on the information about the fountain’s manufacturer, Andrew Handyside and Company, and found a very comprehensive blog by Andy Savage, who has made it his mission to locate and document everything ever made by this ironworking company wherever the item is located around the world. And that led to the discovery that there is another drinking fountain, which is exactly the same model as the Eastbourne fountain, located on the beach at Alum Chine, in Westbourne, Bournemouth, in the English county of Dorset. The photographs on Savage’s blog show that the other fountain was in very poor condition when the blog was published in 2012; I don’t know what its current situation in. Savage’s research has uncovered more details about this model of drinking fountain:

This particular design of drinking fountain is listed as Design Number 24 on Page 42 of the 1879 publication "An Illustrated book of Designs for Fountains and Vases, costing from £1 to £1200 manufactured by Andrew Handyside".
The price for this fountain is listed in April 1880 as between £18 0s 0d and £20 5s 0d depending what finish was applied (no finish, bronze/marble paint etc).
According to the drawing it’s 6 foot 7 inches from the base to the bottom of the lamp support and includes a [sic] animal drinking trough in the base. Looking at the photographs of this fountain in Eastbourne it would appear that the animal drinking troughs have been covered up at some point. 

Of course, now I’m considering a visit to Alum Chine beach to check the other drinking fountain for myself.