THE ROWLAND DRINKING FOUNTAIN
Phil John
Standing near to a wooden bus shelter on the southwest side of Victoria Gardens, Neath is a granite drinking fountain mounted on a square stone plinth. The fountain is supported by a rectangular segmented column and is under a canopy having four arched openings with a pyramidal top and an iron finial. An inscription on the fountain reads:
FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
THIS FOUNTAIN
WAS ERECTED BY MRS ROWLAND
WIDOW OF JOHN ROWLAND ESQUIRE
BANKER
OF THIS TOWN
1863
Mrs Sarah Rowland, of Glyn Clydach, initially proposed the erection of a public drinking fountain in remembrance of her late husband around November 1861. However, her generous offer came with conditions: the Neath Corporation was to provide the drinking water supply and maintain the fountain in a good state of repair, with Mrs Rowland agreeing to the site chosen for the fountain.
In view of the fact that the Corporation would incur the costs of supplying a continuous water supply, along with any repair work after installation, a sub-committee was assembled to consider Mrs Rowland’s proposal. At the time of the Corporation’s meeting in May 1862, the sub-committee had obtained a price of £6.00p per annum to supply drinking water 16 hours a day and whittled down the possible site for the fountain to two locations;
- The Corporation Field (now Victoria Gardens)
- Outside the Corn Market, Windsor Road, near the police station.
(the police station would be rebuilt in the1930s and is currently the David Protheroe public house).
After many meetings and by consent of Mrs Rowland, the final decision to place the fountain at the front of the Corn Market was eventually taken in January 1863. On seeing her gifted fountain for the first time Mrs Rowland was singularly unimpressed, stating that it looked better on paper than it did in reality. Therefore, in February 1863 Mrs Rowland offered to remove the fountain to some other less conspicuous place in the town and to erect another one in its place (the granite fountain was replaced with a bronze fountain designed by the Coalbrookdale Company; it was 13ft 6 inches (4.1m) in height and approximately 27ft 6 inches (8.3m) in diameter.
Faced with the prospect of having to pay for an additional water supply and the cleaning of two fountains, the Corporation considered erecting the granite fountain as a monument surrounded by iron railings; a proposal rejected by Mrs Rowland. After numerous meetings on the subject, a site for the granite fountain was eventually agreed and so in April 1864 the drinking fountain was commissioned opposite the west entrance to the covered market and adjoining the cattle market. Following the closure of the cattle market in the 1950s, the granite fountain found its way to Victoria Gardens (formerly the Corporation Field and known earlier as The Mera).
The grave of John Henry Rowland at Cadoxton
