Bartlett Memorial Fountain | Ironbridge History

Above: The Bartlett memorial obelisk raised on its steps at the front of the Square. It was built to give people clean drinking water at a time when that was far from guaranteed in the Gorge — a memorial that did a job as well as marking a name. Exact date unknown. · Early 1900s

For a hundred years the tallest thing in Ironbridge Market Square was not a building. It was a red granite obelisk on a flight of steps, with a drinking fountain at its base, and almost every old photograph of the Square has it somewhere in the frame.

It was put there in 1862 by Susanna Bartlett in memory of her husband, the Reverend John Bartlett. He had become vicar of Buildwas in 1823 and lived at Marnwood, just outside Ironbridge, and he was troubled by what he saw: townspeople drinking straight from the Severn, into which sewage was being tipped.

Today the same obelisk stands behind railings in the Waterloo Street car park, a few minutes' walk from where it began — one of the most easily missed monuments in the World Heritage Site.

Timeline

1823
- John Bartlett becomes vicar of Buildwas, living at Marnwood above Ironbridge.
February 1862
- The Shrewsbury Chronicle praises Bartlett for supplying water to Ironbridge at his own expense, and reports that his widow is planning a memorial fountain.
July 1862
- The fountain is unveiled in the Market Square with hymns, a children's procession and a hand-over by Mrs Susanna Bartlett (Wellington Journal).
- The supply comes from the Strethill grounds through iron pipes, through the kindness of Mr Darby.
April 1863
- Townsfolk ask for a "more convenient and important site". Mrs Bartlett agrees, and the fountain is moved within the Square to the centre of the steps beside the Tontine Hotel.
1960s
- The Square is restructured for buses. The fountain is judged to be in the way, dismantled and re-erected in the car park behind Waterloo Street, with benches and planted borders around it.
Today
- The borders are kept by the Gorge Green Gang.
- A campaign is raising funds — around £40,000 — to reinstate it as a working fountain in the Square with a seating area; the original steps and pedestals would not be reinstated.
- Ground investigations into relocating it took place in September 2022.

Then & now

The fountain today, railed off above the Waterloo Street car park. It stands a little apart now, easy to walk past without noticing, yet it is the same monument that once presided over market day. Look for the worn stonework at its base. Present day. — Drag to compare: the obelisk on its steps at the head of the Market Square, and the same monument today, railed off at the edge of the Waterloo Street car park.

The Bartlett memorial obelisk raised on its steps at the front of the Square. It was built to give people clean drinking water at a time when that was far from guaranteed in the Gorge — a memorial that did a job as well as marking a name. Exact date unknown. — Drag to compare: the obelisk on its steps at the head of the Market Square, and the same monument today, railed off at the edge of the Waterloo Street car park.

Why a fountain, of all things

A memorial usually says something about the person. This one says almost everything. Bartlett's concern was drinking water: in a river town with no clean public supply, a fountain was not a decoration but a piece of public health infrastructure.

Susanna Bartlett was a daughter of William Reynolds, one of the great Quaker ironmasters of Coalbrookdale, and she paid for the memorial herself the year after her husband's death. The water was piped in from Strethill, and the newspapers of the day were careful to record that this was done through the kindness of Mr Darby.

Local accounts have sometimes muddled the source, placing it at Marnwood. The contemporary reporting is clear: the supply came from Strethill.

The obelisk standing above the Square with shops and awnings ranged behind it. Its height is deliberate: on market day you could find it over the heads of the crowd, which made it the obvious place to arrange to meet. Exact date unknown.Early 1900s

The obelisk still in its place, with the first motor cars drawn up along the wall beside it. Two ages sharing one photograph — the Victorian drinking fountain and the vehicles that would eventually push it to the edge of the Square. Exact date unknown.Inter-war years

Moved for the buses

Bringing it back

The fountain in the Square

Market day at its height, with the Bartlett fountain raised on its flight of steps above the heads of the crowd. Look at how many people are wearing hats — nobody came into town bare-headed. For most families in the Gorge this was the weekly shop, the news and the gossip all in one. Early 1900s.Early 1900s

Looking up from the foot of the Market Place towards the Commercial Hotel, with the fountain commanding the entrance to the Square. Before traffic took over, this was the town's principal meeting place — you came here to trade, to drink and to hear what had happened. Exact date unknown.Early 1900s

Stalls packed in below the fountain steps, canvas awnings pulled out over the goods. Notice how the traders have used the slope of the Square — the steps make a natural grandstand, and children always ended up sitting on them. Ironbridge held its market here for well over a century. Exact date unknown.Early 1900s

Where it stands now

The former bank building today in cream and grey, standing above the parking bays. The proportions are unchanged — tall ground-floor windows built to look solid and reassuring, as bank frontages always were. Present day.Present day

Visiting today

The fountain stands in the Waterloo Street car park, about three minutes' walk from The Square.
It is railed, with benches and planted borders kept by the Gorge Green Gang — free to visit at any time.
Combine it with a walk through The Square and down to the Iron Bridge for the full before-and-after.

Sources & further reading

Shrewsbury Chronicle, February 1862.
Wellington Journal, July 1862.
Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Times, April 1863.
Shropshire Star reporting by Toby Neal on the fountain in the car park.
"Ironbridge '75" — Telford Development Corporation, 1975.

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The Bartlett Memorial Fountain