Page 30 - The Tale of Two Fountains

THE TALE OF TWO FOUNTAINS
Mr E.H. Barwell, the Mayor of Northampton, accompanied by the Town Clerk, Mr John Hensman welcoming Queen Victoria5.
In the early 1980s, Arun was involved in the restoration of Beckets Well near the junction of Bedford Road and Cheyne Walk. This was when he first found out that E.H. Barwell was responsible for the renovation of the structure in 1843. Arun promoted and designed a number of historical plaques on buildings and sites of historic interest in Northampton, one of which is placed on Beckets Well and can be seen on the site today.
W.H. Barwell was also a Captain in the 5th Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteers and this connection with Samuel Isaac may have helped in Barwell & Co. getting the job of manufacturing the Northamp- ton Fountain. However, it must be stressed that Barwell & Co. was established and involved with numerous projects at the time.
The Northampton Herald, in its edition of 14th November 1863, published the details of the inaugu- ration ceremony on the 9th November 1863 which was also the birthday of the Prince of Wales. Some extracts are given below:
‘‘On Monday morning last, the fountain and lamp presented to the town by Captain Commandant Isaac was opened to the public.
Captain-Commandant Isaac while thanking Captain Barwell in connection with Mr Barwell’s name, also wished to mention the name of Mr Atkinson, the Modeller and Designer of the fountain, whose talents and ability the structure itself was the best evidence.
Captain Barwell thanked him on return on his be- half and on behalf of all those who had assisted in carrying out the design and said, in doing what they done, they had done their duty.”
In November 1864, Captain W.H. Barwell died suddenly. This was very unfortunate as he was responsible for manufacturing this magnificent fountain for the town. After his death, it ap- pears that the foundry was run by a number of Managers until his father, E.H Barwell’s death in 1870. Reference is made in local newspapers to William McMurdoch and Henry Pain, the latter was Manager at the time of E.H. Barwell’s death.
In 1869 there was a major fire at the Eagle Found- ry and a large area of the site was destroyed. It is believed from the description of the fire in the Northampton Mercury, that a number of work-
E.H.Barwell’s Grave at St. Giles Churchyard
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