DRINKING FOUNTAINS / HORSE TROUGHS

Old fountains /drinking troughs remind passers by of  a time when horses reigned supreme as they helped move people and goods around. They are attractive and each adds a certain moral force to the surroundings in which they have been placed.  The item may have had a practical use – animals could drink from a lower bowl or a thirsty human could drink from an upper bowl. A plaque attached to the fountain may  recall a patriotic moment or make reference to animals upon whom humans relied  heavily.  Unfortunately in today’s fast flowing traffic and built up areas the surroundings where the fountains/ horse troughs were originally set, have changed and the intention  behind these public gestures have been reduced and lost.

Rondebosch

What purpose do these fountain/ horse troughs have to day?  None in the useful sense – I have never seen an animal or human drink from the waters. This would probably be frowned upon.  What they do have is a reminder of the past, when there was fewer human beings, less traffic and more open space around them.

George Pigot Moodie, a mining magnate,  gave a fountain/horse trough to the people of Rondebosch  in September 1891.  Of importance was the fact that it was also the first street light on the Cape Peninsula. Power came from a generator at his home Westbooke.  Moodie died there in November of the same year.  After the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 the new government bought the house as the local home of the governer general of the country.  Many years later during the presidency of Nelson Mandela 1994-1999 the house was renamed “Genadendal” Vale of Grace. Today the fountain is to be found where Belmont Road joins the Main Road, Rondebosch.

Mobray

At the corner of Durban and Camp Ground Roads, Mowbray there is another street light /  fountain/horse trough. It was donated by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in 1899.  Although the railways were making inroads into the carrying of goods, the horse and cart was still an important means of human beings and goods being transferred from one place to another.  The name on the plaque of the organization who donated it,  is reference to that importance.

Wynberg

Another attractive fountain, commemorating the coronation of Edward VII of Britain,  is situated in the Wynberg Park.  It is quite close to the road so is easly seen. Edward was Queen Victoria’s son. And because his mother reigned for such a long time, he had to wait until he was in his 60s before becoming King  in August 1902 reinging for approximately two years.

Simonstown

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria has its own fountain on Jubilee Square off St George’s Street Simon’s Town. It is similar to the Mowbray and Rondebosch examples and I have been told were all were made by the foundry of Saracens in Glasgow, Scotland.

 

At the other end of the Cape Peninsula the long reign of Queen Victoria was also remembered in Sea Point. A statue of the queen, perhaps a meter high, is atop  a fountain which rests on a base made of the heads of four lions. A  plaque erected by the women of Green and Sea Point,  indicates its purpose  - the jubilee of June 1897.

What purpose do these fountain/ horse troughs have to day?  None in the useful sense – I have never seen an animal or human drink from the waters. This would probably be frowned upon.  What they do have is a reminder of the past, when there was fewer human beings, less traffic and more open space around them.