Another day another water trough ........ just down the road in Brixton

Now I have no idea how many water troughs were made in the 19th century or for that matter how many have survived.

In London they were made and maintained by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association which is not the zippiest of names but neatly does the business.

It had been founded in 1859 as the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association and added the rest when it began providing fresh water for horses and cattle as well as fountains for the people of London.

According to Dickens’s Dictionary of London, in 1879 there were 800 fountains and troughs which on a hot day 30,000 people took advantage of the supply while a “single trough supplied the wants of 1,800 horses in day.”*

So I shouldn’t be surprised that in my pursuit of water troughs across the borough I should keep turning up fine examples of ones that have lasted the course.

And for this fine one I have Ali Knapp and Jean Watkinson to thank.

Ali had alerted me to its survival at the junction of Kings Avenue and Lyham Road and asked Jean to take some pictures.

All of which just leaves me to ponder on where the next trough will come from.

Pictures; the water trough at the junction of Kings Avenue and Lyham Road, 2015 courtesy of and Jean Watkinson

*quoted from Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Drinking_Fountain_and_Cattle_Trough_Association