Page 7 - The Tale of Two Fountains

THE TALE OF TWO FOUNTAINS
PREFACE
Northampton goes back in history to the days before the Norman Conquest in 1066 when the Saxon settlement began to grow in importance. The Normans fortified the town with walls and a castle. It became the home of Parliament and the Treasury. The Speed map of 1610
illustrated on page one shows the layout of Medieval Northampton.
Since then Northampton has witnessed many events that have shaped its past history, from the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675 when much of the town had to be rebuilt, to 1968 when it was des- ignated for expansion to accommodate some of London’s overspill and provide for regional growth. Its central location and its historical importance remained dominant throughout its growth.
Our research focuses on the town’s Market Square which is one of the oldest and largest in England. The history of this distinctive urban space cannot be separated from its central focal point, the Fountain, which stood here from 1863 to 1962. It has been said that two identical fountains were made by a well-known local foundry run by Barwell and Co. One was installed in the Market Square while, according to a local tale, the other was shipped to Australia but was lost during its voyage as the ship sank. However, there is no evidence for this. In fact, our research indicates that the twin fountain was shipped to Bombay (now Mumbai) and erected there in 1867 at the Metro Junction in South Mumbai.
A lot of connectivity between Northampton and Mumbai exists in terms of the social and political history of England and India which we found fascinating and have tried to elaborate this in our re- search.
Our tale of the twin fountains unfolds as we head to Mumbai in search of the identical fountain. In 1996, after spending the best part of our visit to the city searching for its whereabouts, we finally found the Fitzgerald Fountain, relocated in the gardens of what was previously the Victoria & Albert Museum, now known as the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.
While Northampton is well-known for its shoe industry worldwide and its links with India for the leather and shoe trade, it also had notable foundries producing splendid metal castings in the 19th century. One of these was the Eagle Foundry run by Barwell & Co. where both the Northampton Market Square fountain and its ‘twin’ were produced. We trace their journeys to their destinations five thousand miles apart, one in Northampton and the other in Mumbai.
The researchers on this subject are Arun Kotnis who joined Northampton Borough Council in the 1970s as an Urban Designer and was Head of Design & Conservation and Jona Kotnis, who has been working as a Presenter/Broadcast Journalist with BBC Radio Northampton for over thirty-five years.
We hope that readers both in UK and India will find our research of interest. v