VICTORIAN FOUNTAINS

This is a favourite of mine … to be honest is is a joint favourite because there is twin in Limerick. The only difference is one is yellow and the other is red and of course they have different names.

This is a wonderful 1870s drinking fountain which commemorated the life of one of Belfast’s Jewish benefactors, Daniel Jaffe. It had long suffered neglect and vandalism.

Eura documented the fountain, dismantled it and transported each element to Shropshire for repair. Replacements for missing components were cast from newly carved patterns or from existing components, fractured columns were repaired, and the drinking bowl was re-gilded.

The entire fountain was cleaned, painted, and test-assembled in before being located outside Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast. I could be wrong but it has been relocated a number of times and has spent some in the Botanic Gardens near Queen’s University.

Note: I would argue that there are three ornate drinking fountains in Ireland and a modified structure in Dublin which may have been an ornate fountain:

1. Richard Russell Fountain In Limerick
2. Jaffe Fountain In Belfast [almost identical to the Russell Fountain]
3. Queen Victoria fountain in Dun Laoghaire
4. 1929 Religious Shrine in the Coombe area of Dublin