Sites and Monument Record: White Memorial Fountain - Cross Well (SMR 1932)
Description
A large ornate cast iron drinking fountain centrally placed in the road junction at Denny Cross. It was erected c1894 at the expense of the White family. It stood on a low square stone plinth. The cast iron base was also square with four cusped conjoined basins at knee level. From the centre rose a pyramid stem with lion headed spouts near the top, then an acanthus scroll and a column with simple collars at either end. The whole was surmounted by a large single gas lamp, flaring outwards at the top and mounted by a knob finial. By 1917 this had been replaced by three small lights.
It was removed late in 1940 or early 1941 for scrap as part of the war effort, and the area landscaped after the war.
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Object detail
12 Nov 1940; Mr W T White agreed to the proposals as stated above and the balance and accrued income from the Maintenance Fund was transferred to the Common Good Fund. (Denny Town Council Minutes, A814.001/20)
The letter dated 12 Sept 1940 from the Burgh Council to the White Family in Indiana, USA, regarding the fountain noted that the family paid for the fountain and in 1894 LR James B White offered an annual income of £100 to keep the fountain in good repair. It was described as a massive fountain with a gas light on the top. Due to changes in hygiene it was no longer suitable as a drinking place and the changes in street lighting made it not suitable as a light any more (the blackouts also make it redundant). For these reasons and the need for iron for the war effort they proposed that they remove the fountain with the family's permission and erect either another or a few drinking fountains of a modern type and put the memorial inscription that was on the original one on to it/them at their (the council's) expense.
An article in the Falkirk Herald from 1949 refers to recent changes in the landscape in Denny and that the landscaping at the cross was nearing completion; the old fountain had “gone to the scrap heap”.
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